Keeping you in-the-know about addiction and recovery.
Possible New Alcohol Withdrawal Treatment
Reviewed by: gbaumbach Some 20 million Americans suffer from alcoholism or alcohol use disorder. And the problem has only intensified during the pandemic. One of the significant challenges to recovering from an addiction to alcohol and many drugs is withdrawal. That’s what happens to your body when an addictive substance
Methamphetamine Overdose Deaths Rise in the U.S.
Reviewed by: gbaumbach According to a new study published in JAMA Psychiatry, methamphetamine (meth) overdose deaths in the U.S. rose sharply from 2011 to 2018. The research was conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The rapid rise in deaths was
Drinking and Brain Health
Reviewed by: gbaumbach With so many American’s battling addiction to alcohol (20 million-plus as of this writing), many in the medical community have been anxious to better understand alcohol’s long-term effects on the brain. In a new paper in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), researchers from Australia and the U.K.
New Factors Found to Predict Alcoholism
Reviewed by: gbaumbach Over 20 million Americans suffer from alcoholism. Scientists have long wondered whether it would be possible to predict those most at risk, allowing for early intervention strategies. Researchers at University of Chicago Medicine have just published the results of a study in the American Journal of Psychiatry
America’s Other Deadly Epidemic
Reviewed by: gbaumbach Many will remember 2020 as a year of endless and sometimes painful challenges. From a deadly pandemic to job losses, isolation, the loss of social connections, and more, it was a difficult time. Sadly, it was also a year marked by a record number of drug overdose
Aware Recovery Care Using New Technologies to Help Clients
Reviewed by: gbaumbach The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us all – but probably few as much as those working through an addiction to drugs and/or alcohol. Stress, isolation, lack of structure, limited access to physical and mental health care, and changes in treatment paradigms have all increased the risk of
FDA Adds Warnings Labels to Common Sedatives
Reviewed by: gbaumbach Americans are an anxious bunch. So much so that 92 million prescriptions were written last year for a sedatives class called benzodiazepines (benzos). The most commonly used drugs in this class are alprazolam/Xanax (38%), clonazepam/Klonopin (24%), and lorazepam/Ativan (20%). As is the case with virtually all prescription
Physicians Anxious to Prescribe Addiction Treatment Drug, Cannot
Reviewed by: gbaumbach A new Florida study examines the access resident physicians in that state have to buprenorphine, an FDA-approved medication shown to successfully decrease opioid use, overdose events, and deaths associated with opioids. The findings are disappointing. When questioned in a survey conducted by the University of South Florida
Possible New Treatment for Alcohol Withdrawal
Reviewed by: gbaumbach Anyone who’s gone through alcohol withdrawal knows that process can be challenging. Symptoms can include the following (courtesy of WebMD): Mild Symptoms: “Mild symptoms usually show up as early as 6 hours after you put down your glass. They can include: Anxiety Shaky hands Headache Nausea Vomiting
Dangers of Alcohol Consumption During Pregnancy
Reviewed by: gbaumbach For most of human history, little was known about the effects of alcohol consumption on fetal and child development. That began to change in 1973 with the publication of Recognition of the fetal alcohol syndrome in early infancy in the journal Lancet. That paper coined the term
COVID-19 Threatens to Explode Drug and Alcohol Abuse in Massachusetts and Surrounding States
Reviewed by: gbaumbach While the COVID-19 pandemic dominates much of Massachusetts’ and the region’s news, another health crisis is ballooning just out of focus. Addictions to alcohol and drugs are skyrocketing in the Bay State and its neighbors – as are overdose deaths. While 2020 numbers for Massachusetts have yet
The Pandemic’s Grim Toll
Reviewed by: gbaumbach According to a report just published in The Guardian, many addiction treatment programs in the U.S. have been forced to cut back services or close altogether due to financial losses suffered during this pandemic. The Guardian cites a September 2020 survey conducted by the National Council for