Doctor Shopping

Picture a drug abuser and you may think of a bum in ragged clothes. There is a new kind of abuser in town. Middle to upper class women and men addicted to prescription painkillers.

Colorful pillsImage sourced from http://bing.com

These abusers do not purchase their drugs from pushers in an alley– they doctor shop. They go from one doctor to another, describing their symptoms, asking for prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, viocodin, and percocet.

These individuals my not know that law enforcement does not consider doctor shopping harmless or a victimless crime. It is a felony and can lead to five years in prison.

Abuse of prescription drugs can start with a real need. Patients can become dependent on painkillers prescribed after surgery or serious injury. Their own physicians can keep prescribing the medications by accident or inattention. When that doctor finally refuses to continue the medication, the patient shifts to another — or several other – doctors, asking for pain relief medication.

Several states have instituted PDMPs (Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs). These programs allow pharmacies and physicians to cross check patients and prescriptions and identify – called red flagging – individuals who are filling multiple prescriptions for the same medications. Red-flagged individuals are monitored carefully and allowed to use only one pharmacy and one doctor.

Hospital emergency departments are also involved in doctor shopping because patients go in, apparently in acute pain, demanding relief. The emergency physician has no relationship or history with the patient and is very likely to prescribe at least a small amount of painkillers.

As more medical records are computerized, doctor shopping should become increasingly difficult.

 

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Embalming Fluid and Your Children

The young girl stood in front of her parents and their friends and started to read the list of all the drugs she and her friends had been able to buy in their small community. The long list included heroin, marijuana, cocaine, oxycontin, and finally, embalming fluid. Embalming fluid? What on earth do you do with embalming fluid?

Teenage girl accepting a marijuana cigarette Photo compliments of http://www.drugfreehomes.org

Smoking marijuana cigarettes or tobacco cigars and cigarettes laced with embalming fluid and PCP was popular in large cities several years ago. It is now becoming popular with young addicts in small towns.

Sometimes called fry, fry stick, or wet, these cigarettes produce hallucinations or paranoia and aggression. Users often think they posses super human powers and exhibit erratic behavior. The typical hangover includes crushing headaches and loss of memory.

The long-term effects of substance abuse of embalming fluid and PCP range from brain damage to death and can include kidney damage, lung damage, muscle damage, and spinal cord destruction. Most young drug users are unaware of the damage fry sticks can cause.

Early studies have concluded fry is highly addictive and can be addictive with the first use. It can also have important medical consequences of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, and mental health issues. Because embalming fluid is legal and available online, even young dealers can process their own fry sticks.

Law enforcement and hospital emergency departments are training employees to recognize fry stick users so they can receive proper treatment. Parents and health care professionals now have to educate themselves to stay ahead of their children in order to recognize this and related addictions.

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Admitting you have a Problem is the First Step to Recovery

Drug addiction is a very serious affliction that ruins the lives of many people. The addiction does not happen over the course of a day or two, it takes time. You may just do a drug every other weekend. Then it spills into every weekend once the winter comes along and then a few times during the week because your job or family are frustrating you. The need for the drug continues to increase and before you know it, you lose your job and all you care about is the drug.

This vicious cycle is all too familiar among drug addicts. The problem is that when you are addicted, you cannot see what is really happening. The drug will cloud your vision and take control of your life. Denial that a problem exists is one of the first signs of an addiction. If everyone else can see the problem except you, there is a good chance that other people are right. Admitting that you have a problem is one of the hardest things to do, but it is the first step at getting your life back on track.

Being able to admit that you have allowed yourself to become addicted can be extremely difficult. No one enjoys admitting that they screwed up. However, there are many directions to go to seek support if you want to overcome your addiction, including rehab centers, support groups, counseling and therapists as well as friends and family. When you have an addiction and are ready to admit that you have a problem, you will quickly find that you are greeted by many helping hands.

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Quit Smoking the Easy Way

One of the most difficult things for smokers to overcome when attempting to kick their habit is the routine. Taking a smoke break is a way to break up the day at work, and it is a social ritual that friends and co-workers perform together. One way to maintain the routine without suffering the negative effects of smoking is to switch to the electric cigarette. The electric cigarette is a battery-powered device that provides users with vapor. The vapor can be infused with nicotine to help to wean smokers off of cigarettes.

Rather than quitting cold turkey, a gradual reduction of nicotine intake can provide smokers with an easier path to quitting. Nicotine is a physical addiction that causes changes in the brain, making users want it more. Symptoms of nicotine withdrawal include increased appetite, depression and a decrease in heart rate. Nicotine remains in the body for about two hours with every dose. Smoking cigarettes usually means taking multiple does of nicotine, which means that the drug usually stays in the body for hours after taking a smoke break.

Due to the symptoms that nicotine causes and the amount of tar in cigarettes, many smokers struggle to kick their habit. Electronic cigarettes offers the twin advantages of replicating the action of smoking and allowing the smoker to gradually reduce their nicotine intake.

The electric cigarette is abut the size of a ballpoint pen. Even though they mimic the actions of smoked tobacco, there is no actual smoke or combustion. Users can load in flavors to turn the device into a miniature hookah. Even though it looks and acts like a cigarette, the electric cigarette is both a conversation starter and an effective way to kick a smoking habit. If other methods have failed, picking up an electric cigarette is a healthy and effective way to quit smoking.

Filed Under: Addiction, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

Attitude Is Everything

You have an addiction.  You have been with your addiction for a long time.  You have finally come to the conclusion that your addiction is not good for you.  Your loved ones have known this forever and have been trying to tell you, but somehow you never heard them.  For maybe the first time you are finally hearing what they have to say, and it is making sense.  It is time to overcome the addiction.  What seemed like an endless battle that you could never win, while it still seems difficult, now looks to you like you might just be able to do this.  You really think this is the time, the time for you to get out from under that addiction and be the person you should be.  What changed?

This is an amazing decision, life changing.  However the train to sober town has many bumps and derails time and time again.  What will make this the one way trip you need it to be?  It will be your attitude.  You have to want to do this for you.  People, doctors, television shows, can all tell you time and time again this is not good for you, but until you are willing to do the work, no amount of counseling, cajoling, crying, begging or pleading will make you do it.

The good news is that once you do make the decision, if you keep that attitude, nothing will stop you from conquering the addiction.  The tunnel between addicted and sober is a difficult crawl to sobriety.  You will need to muster every bit of strength you have ever had.  Your body will go through grueling changes, as well as you having to surrender a life you may have been living for years.  Keep your eye on the other end of that tunnel and you will arrive in sober town healthier and happier than you have ever been.

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The Responsibility Flaw: MichaelsHouse.com

You are a master of control. Of this you have no doubts. You can manipulate your body, shaping it into an undeniable precision. There is no temptation you can’t refuse. There is no indulgence you can’t ignore. Life does not define you. It must instead bow to your whims, meet your needs – and this certainty has led you to believe that all substances (even those deemed dangerously addictive by the masses) will be of no harm to you. You won’t succumb to obsession. You will instead merely sample the wanted tastes and then cast them away. You’re sure of this.

You’re wrong.

Countless individuals have considered this philosophy before you and far more will consider it after. It is known as Responsible Drug Use, but its reality is far different than its name promises. The belief is that a person can partake in recreational substances but must limit his amounts. Moderation is the point and caution is to be adhered to.

But that same caution is quickly forgotten when an individual overestimates his own abilities.

Responsible Drug Use (despite how appealing it may seem) is not an answer to addiction or abuse. The process is too reliant on the human condition and this destines it therefore to fail. No strength of will is enough to combat this problem. There will only be a false sense of security, which will allow users to take more than they should and become suddenly dependent on the tastes.

It is important then that all individuals abstain from recreational substances. Should that prove impossible, however, then institutions like MichaelsHouse.com must be immediately sought. There should be no hesitation.

Trying to conform to the notions of Responsible Drug Use is as futile as it is harmful. A disease must instead be eradicated through good sense, determination and intervention. Help is needed – and it is fortunately available.

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Choosing Help: Rehab-International.org and Other Organizations

It is the easiest of tragedies, the quick obsession – days become tributes to an addiction, with all hope replaced to inhalations, the tastes and textures of a chosen substance. Individuals become dominated by their own denial; and ending abuse seems to be little more than an impossibility. There is no desire to change. There is no concept that such change is even necessary. Instead there is only the simple refusal of sense and the far simpler indulgence. These users believe themselves to be alone and intend to stay that way.

This cannot be allowed.

Substance abuse, simply explained, is a disease. It demands a reliance on chemicals that will only harm an individual, leaving them incapable of making wise decisions. There is no value to be found here, only eventual pain. But even the knowledge of this is not enough to sway most opinions. The addiction is far more appealing than battling it – to overcome it would require effort that seems too much, too long and too demanding. Apathy is far simpler.

It is also far more devastating, however.

Those suffering from substance abuse cannot be left to fend for themselves. They must instead be aided by those who understand their worries and their woes. Casual relationships are not enough (though friends and family are obviously to become involved, offering the necessary compassion and support). Groups like Rehab-International.org instead become the worthy choice – granting professional care and a variety of treatment options. Information is given. Explanations are provided. And abuse is defined to what it truly is: an illness that can be cured.

There is no doubt that a reliance on substances exists. There is also no doubt, however, that this reliance can be defeated. It simply requires an individual to first accept his problem and then allow others to help him conquer it.

It is possible and it is necessary.

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The Time of Treatment: lapalomatreatment.com

It’s an assumption of immediacy, a belief that addiction can be defeated in one simple morning. An individual finally agrees to seek help, allowing his friends and family to secure him the necessary support. He is not certain he approves but is willing still to try. His life has been altered. His control has been lost. Equilibrium must therefore be restored – and treatment promises to offer this. He accepts.

But his abuse of a substance has ruined his judgment, his perception of time – he is familiar only with the effects of a drug, the fast consequences (injected always into the blood and able always to satisfy). Healing therefore is thought to be just as quick. A day should yield results. An evening should offer success.

It doesn’t.

Too often do individuals believe that treatment will be a swift process, able to be mastered within mere hours. The truth, however, is that it is a careful labor – demanding a user’s full attention, devotion and strength. The majority of programs involve 12 steps (each a slow increase of ability); but there is still the need to continue with therapy and sponsorship even when these steps are done. It is a lifetime of dedication. It is a constant care.

It is also a necessity.

Addiction is a disease that can be cured only though diligence. Programs will offer the tools and techniques to counter cravings; doctors will provide relief from the physical effects. But success is still ultimately reliant upon the individual and his willingness to battle temptation each and every day.

And this is why organizations like lapalomatreatment.com are so important: they offer the knowledge to understand substance abuse and the support to overcome it.

Treatment is not an easy ideal. It is, however, still one that can be achieved. Patience is simply required.

Filed Under: Addiction, Drugs, Health Tips Tagged With: , ,

Consequences Of Substance Abuse – Know How To Get The Point Across To Your Kids

Substance Abuse
Image by kevinliuzzo via Flickr

To warn your son or daughter that consumption of narcotics and other harmful substances will not be tolerated because it will lower your status and prestige in society is not a smart move. It is only going to send the message across that you value your status more than the health of your child.

Such an approach may even encourage the child to opt for substance abuse as a form of rebellion. Rather, your opposition to addiction and substance abuse should be based on logic and pure fats.

Thankfully, there are numerous resources on and off the internet that have documented the negative impact of substance abuse. Great countries have fallen in the past because bulk of its population became victims of addiction. All great human beings and achievers have advised against such harmful habits.

The physical, mental, social and economic consequences of addiction and substance abuse should be laid out very clearly. There are innumerable instances where individuals with potential to achieve greatness have fallen behind because of substance abuse. Depending on the likes and dislikes of your child, you should take role models who have avoided substance abuse and others who have become victims of the same.

You must be prepared for the possibility of your child indulging in substance abuse despite these precautions and lessons. You must understand that there will be a certain level of curiosity and the child may feel that trying the substance once may not cause any harm.

To be prepared means that you will not commit the blunder of berating your child or scolding it when substance abuse does occur. Rather, you will be in a position to proceed further and point out that the same old arguments still apply notwithstanding the child’s curiosity. Blowing up is only going to push the problem underground. It is best to avoid such a scenario by good communication.

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Defeat Substance Abuse – Constants Efforts Is The Only Way Out

Substance abuse and addiction is a global problem. It is present in rich, poor, big, small, powerful and weak countries. There are as many reasons as there are number of human beings on the planet. Hence, you cannot afford to relax against substance abuse.

To simply give a lecture once a week on the risks of addiction to your child is not going to suffice. Rather, the message has to be hammered home in such a manner that there is absolutely no scope of any misinformed decision.

You must accept the fact that you cannot decide on the issue of substance abuse and addiction on behalf of your child. You might not have felt the curiosity to try narcotics and drugs. However, that may not be the case with your child. You should provide sufficient grounds for the child to understand how a moment’s weakness can be disastrous for the entire life.

Needless to say, you cannot succeed in this war all alone. You will have to get in touch with parents of all your child’s friends. You should involve the educational institution and social organizations where your child is a member. With more and more children spending more time on internet and social networking websites, you should consider the risk of these forums leading to substance abuse and addiction habits.

Opting for institutionalized measures will sound very good but you never know whether the message has gone across. Arranging a lecturer in school on the risks and hazards of tobacco and alcohol may not yield any real returns.

You will have to maintain constant efforts at home as well to make sure the message gets across. Adolescence or teenage happens to be the most vulnerable age. Once this phase passes, it is just a question of watching out for symptoms and signs that something may be wrong.

Filed Under: Addiction, Drugs, Health Tips Tagged With: , , ,
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