Posted by EthelM - 05/15/09, 11:35 am
As many of you know, my son's DOC was, or is, Oxycontin, which eventually progressed to Heroin, due mainly to the lower cost. I am really wanting a ban on this dangerous drug. The company Pharm Purdue lied about it, was found guilty, yet it still making millions of dollars off of it. The drug is not only abused by people like my son, but also by people who get it from their M.D.'s. They often times are the ones selling it to people such as my son. It shouldn't be so easy. I could go on and on, but I will stop for now. I'm getting too frustrated.
Posted by EthelM - 04/09/09, 02:07 pm
I know we have talked about the book Beautiful Boy before. I'm almost finished with it, and I can't say enough how much it meant to me to have the chance to read it. I borrowed a copy, but will buy my own very soon, because I want to highlight so much of it. David Sheff has put into words exactly how I feel, how I have felt, and everything I have experienced in the last 2 and a half years. It is amazing that our lives are so different, but our feelings and even experiences are almost identical. If you want to read it, get a copy that you can write in, because I'll bet you will want to highlight a lot, I know I do.
Posted by mgs1 - 04/02/09, 12:47 pm
ABC News April 1, 2009
Cocaine Cravings Increase Over Time
Study: Desire for Cocaine Increases Over Time
By Dan Childs
Cocaine addicts drug cravings may increase, rather than decrease, over time after cocaine use has stopped, finds a study on rats by the National Institute on Drug Abuse published in Nature.
Researchers say rats addicted to cocaine are about four times as persistent in trying to obtain a dose of the drug 60 days after quitting than they were after one drug-free day. Experts say this finding, if applicable to humans, could have huge implications for treatment of cocaine addiction.
Its one of those things where absence makes the heart grow fonder, said Jeffrey Grimm, first author of the study, released today, and experimental psychologist with NIDA, which is based in Bethesda, Md. The importance of this is that a lot of people have the idea that cravings get lower over time.
We were kind of expecting to see cravings diminish over time and were surprised to see them progressively increase.
Cues Are Key
In the experiment, researchers focused on cues, or reminders of the drug. For the rats, the cue was a red light that turned on when researchers made the drug available. For humans, cues can range from seeing a bag of cocaine to something as simple as holding a rolled-up dollar bill.
When addicts receive the cue, their cravings for cocaine intensify.
Dr. Herbert Kleber, director of the division of substance abuse at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, said the new study reinforces findings drug craving from a study he authored in 1986, based on testing of humans.
[These studies] emphasize the need for intensive relapse training so addicts can cope and, equally important, the development of medications that will either decrease or block these feelings, Kleber said.
This study emphasizes the importance of treatment that is intensive enough and long enough to deal with heightened craving, and it points out the fallacy of many managed-care programs that dont permit patients to be in treatment long enough to get help with this.
Grimm agreed. In terms of implications for treatment, if someone goes into treatment for two months and comes out, they might be coming out when they are most sensitive to drug cues.
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