Tag Archives: ADHD

Straight, No Chaser: Prescription Drug Abuse

Toxicology/Drugs, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PrescriptionDrugAbuse_logo

Many times over the years, I’ve had to explain to patients such as chronic sufferers from migraines, low back pain and other conditions that even if they weren’t “drug-seeking,” they still could be addicted to various medications. In the conversation about the drugs that are most frequently abused, once you get past marijuana and alcohol, you’re talking about prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Think about it, if you can get a physician to prescribe pain or other medications with mind-altering properties (known as psychoactive medications), it’s a relatively simple way to get a “clean” supply of “high-quality” drugs.
Now if you paid attention to that last sentence, you’ll note the quotes, and perhaps you picked up on the irony. Prescription and OTC drugs are meant to be safer than illicit drugs. However, that’s only true when they are taken exactly as prescribed for the reasons prescribed. When misused or abused, prescription and OTC drugs can be addictive and put abusers at risk for adverse health effects, including overdose and death. In many cases these risks are pronounced when taken at the same time as other drugs or alcohol.
The classes of prescription drugs most commonly abused are the following:

  • Opioid pain relievers, such as Vicodin or Oxycontin
  • Stimulants for treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), such as Adderall, Concerta, or Ritalin
  • Central nervous system (CNS) depressants for relieving anxiety, such as Valium or Xanax
  • OTC drugs are cough and cold remedies containing dextromethorphan

What these medications have in common is the mind-altering properties that can be produced when taken other than prescribed (i.e. by a different person and/or in a different dose than prescribed). These can produce effects that some would describe as pleasurable, all the while causing other damage to your body.

 PrescriptionDrugsLarge

What I’d like to accomplish next is to advice you how your children or others with access to your medicine cabinet may be abusing drugs.
Taking a medication prescribed for somebody else. We all have heard time and again to never take medicine prescribed for someone else’s use. Unaware of the dangers of sharing medications in general or pain medications specifically, people often unknowingly participate in this form of abuse by sharing their unused pain relievers with friends and family members. In fact, most teenagers who abuse prescription drugs receive them for free by a friend or relative.
Taking a drug in a higher quantity or in another manner than prescribed. Most prescription drugs are dispensed orally in tablets, but abusers sometimes crush the tablets and snort or inject the powder. This hastens the entry of the drug into the bloodstream and the brain and amplifies its effects. This is dangerous and produces unintended effects, including death.
Taking a drug for another purpose than prescribed. All of the drug types mentioned can produce pleasurable effects at certain quantities, so taking them for the purpose of getting high is one of the main reasons people abuse them. Unfortunately they can also produce deadly effects at certain qualities. A common example is the use of ADHD drugs (e.g. Adderall) to improve students’ academic performance. Although these drugs may boost alertness, there is little evidence they improve cognitive functioning for those without ADHD. There is evidence they produce adverse effects under certain circumstances.

prescription addiction

Finally you should be concerned that prescription opioid abuse has been shown to be a first step to heroin use. Pain medications such as Oxycontin and Vicodin have effects similar to heroin. In three recent studies, nearly half of young people who inject heroin surveyed reported abusing prescription opioids before starting to use heroin. In fact, some individuals reported taking up heroin because it is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription opioids.
In other words, pay attention to what’s happening with medications in your home and possession.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2016 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress
 

Straight, No Chaser: Prescription Drug Abuse

Toxicology/Drugs, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

PrescriptionDrugAbuse_logo

Many times over the years, I’ve had to explain to patients such as chronic sufferers from migraines, low back pain and other conditions that even if they weren’t “drug-seeking,” they still could be addicted to various medications. In the conversation about the drugs that are most frequently abused, once you get past marijuana and alcohol, you’re talking about prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Think about it, if you can get a physician to prescribe pain or other medications with mind-altering properties (known as psychoactive medications), it’s a relatively simple way to get a “clean” supply of “high-quality” drugs.
Now if you paid attention to that last sentence, you’ll note the quotes, and perhaps you picked up on the irony. Prescription and OTC drugs are meant to be safer than illicit drugs. However, that’s only true when they are taken exactly as prescribed for the reasons prescribed. When misused or abused, prescription and OTC drugs can be addictive and put abusers at risk for adverse health effects, including overdose and death. In many cases these risks are pronounced when taken at the same time as other drugs or alcohol.
The classes of prescription drugs most commonly abused are the following:

  • Opioid pain relievers, such as Vicodin or Oxycontin
  • Stimulants for treating Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), such as Adderall, Concerta, or Ritalin
  • Central nervous system (CNS) depressants for relieving anxiety, such as Valium or Xanax
  • OTC drugs are cough and cold remedies containing dextromethorphan

What these medications have in common is the mind-altering properties that can be produced when taken other than prescribed (i.e. by a different person and/or in a different dose than prescribed). These can produce effects that some would describe as pleasurable, all the while causing other damage to your body.

 PrescriptionDrugsLarge

What I’d like to accomplish next is to advice you how your children or others with access to your medicine cabinet may be abusing drugs.
Taking a medication prescribed for somebody else. We all have heard time and again to never take medicine prescribed for someone else’s use. Unaware of the dangers of sharing medications in general or pain medications specifically, people often unknowingly participate in this form of abuse by sharing their unused pain relievers with friends and family members. In fact, most teenagers who abuse prescription drugs receive them for free by a friend or relative.
Taking a drug in a higher quantity or in another manner than prescribed. Most prescription drugs are dispensed orally in tablets, but abusers sometimes crush the tablets and snort or inject the powder. This hastens the entry of the drug into the bloodstream and the brain and amplifies its effects. This is dangerous and produces unintended effects, including death.
Taking a drug for another purpose than prescribed. All of the drug types mentioned can produce pleasurable effects at certain quantities, so taking them for the purpose of getting high is one of the main reasons people abuse them. Unfortunately they can also produce deadly effects at certain qualities. A common example is the use of ADHD drugs (e.g. Adderall) to improve students’ academic performance. Although these drugs may boost alertness, there is little evidence they improve cognitive functioning for those without ADHD. There is evidence they produce adverse effects under certain circumstances.

prescription addiction

Finally you should be concerned that prescription opioid abuse has been shown to be a first step to heroin use. Pain medications such as Oxycontin and Vicodin have effects similar to heroin. In three recent studies, nearly half of young people who inject heroin surveyed reported abusing prescription opioids before starting to use heroin. In fact, some individuals reported taking up heroin because it is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription opioids.
In other words, pay attention to what’s happening with medications in your home and possession.
Feel free to contact your SMA expert consultant for any questions you may have on this topic.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what 844-SMA-TALK and http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2014 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress.

Straight, No Chaser In the News: So Fluoride's Bad Now?

Public Health, General Health and Wellness, , , , ,

fluoride-drinking-water

To my regular readers: Wow. This is important to me because it continues to be important to you. A few days ago I posted Medical Myths, Health Fraud Scams and Your Boogie Men. (Please review this.) A day later dozens of you ask me the same question. Instead of responding individually, I’ll use this forum to discuss the topic.
Let’s review. Your concerns involve an Internet article from a source (to which I won’t offer free publicity or page clicks) alleging that fluoridated water is not good for you. (The article also conveniently takes a swipe at immunizations, because … why not?) It alleges that an article in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet cites researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health who note an association between fluoridated water and ADHD. (Be  reminded that association is not causation.)
Let’s parse the claims made in this article.
1. Have you ever heard of the source of the article? Neither have I. Have you factored in the credentials of the authors? Consider this tidbit from my previous post: “The Internet often provides you just enough information to confuse you, misdirect you, steer you toward someone’s agenda or paralyze you into inactivity.” The U.S. is a country with freedom of speech and a free press. Unfortunately, this licenses most anyone with a slant or opinion to print anything. That places a special burden on you to be an active, investigative consumer of information. Think critically about these types of claims, as I attempted to demonstrate in the aforementioned post.
2. Have you ever heard of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)? Consider these quotes from the CDC website: “Community Water Fluoridation – For 65 years, community water fluoridation has been a safe and healthy way to effectively prevent tooth decay. The CDC has recognized water fluoridation as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.” (emphasis mine) “Nearly all naturally occurring water sources contain fluoride—a mineral that has been proven to prevent, and even reverse, tooth decay.”
3. Have you ever heard of the World Health Organization (WHO)? WHO deems the evidence so overwhelming in favor of the safety and effectiveness of low doses of fluoridation in drinking water and toothpaste that the organization passed a resolution attesting to its safety in 2007.
4. Have you ever heard of the Harvard School of Public Health? As many of you know, I went there, not only for school but in my own quest for the facts about this fluoridation rumor. It’s easier than you may think to just go to the source. I made a simple phone call. In short, to suggest that the Internet article is an overstatement is an understatement.
5. If such a discovery was poised to change everything we know about drinking water and toothpaste, don’t you think it would be on the front pages of the newspapers and the lead story on the news? Has that happened?

Fluoride

Here’s what the writers of the Internet article could have responsively stated as a reflection of the data:
There are ongoing concerns that use of fluorine can cause health problems if used inappropriately. This finding was reaffirmed in a recent study. However, overwhelming data exists that forms the Standard of Care in medical practice worldwide, namely that in the amounts provided in drinking water and toothpaste, fluoridation is not only safe and effective, but the benefits to oral health far outweigh any theoretical adverse effects. Continued research will define the parameters of safe use of fluoridated products.
Now what does this all mean? Consider these two quotes from my previous post:
“I see at least 20 posts everyday on the Internet that, because they’re spoken with confidence or certainty, you take as truth. Without regard to the source, you’re willing to try or do things that if you actually understood some basic anatomy, physiology or chemistry, you’d ignore – especially when tried and true methods (that you likely aren’t optimally utilizing) are available to you.”
Take away: Don’t stop brushing your teeth with toothpaste and water. (Thank you on behalf of all who communicate with you on a regular basis.)
“These Internet articles and sales pitches assert that they, the authors (or salesmen), alone know the truth, and that everyone else, including your government and your physicians are part of some global conspiracy.”
Take away: Don’t encourage a new cult of non-brushers to join this bandwagon by spreading the word. (Thank you on behalf of all breathing, smelling beings … and dentists, though of course their practices might thank you if you do.)
In sum, we have the weight of 65 years of medical evidence with the endorsement of the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (i.e., the foremost authorities on these matters in the world) and governments around the world that continue to endorse and permit use of fluoridated water among its citizens. You have a single article from a largely unknown Internet source, with no comparable credentials to comment on such matters, that misstates findings and alleges that its authority on these matters is superior to dozens of years of case history usage of fluoridation.
Based on this one Internet article, how many of you have decided to disavow toothpaste and start cleaning your mouth with oil — without asking about the safety and efficacy of that particular endeavor? To you, I ask: Do you know anyone that knows anyone that knows anyone that has suffered the alleged consequences of fluoridation?
Allow me to leave you with the same summary from a previous post: Don’t forget that you’re not alone in pursuit of protecting your health. Your physician, dentists and other members of your healthcare team know the variety of medical options available, and they choose the best one for you from those options. You also have access to healthcare information and advice through 844-SMA-TALK (844-762-8255) and www.sterlingmedicaladvice.com. You’re not alone in your effort to live a better, healthier life. Keep in mind the years of study that went into the education your physicians obtained in order to practice medicine. Let that provide you with confidence and guide you when deciding where to get honest and accurate answers.
Feel free to contact your SMA expert consultant for more honest and accurate answers to any questions you have on this topic.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what  http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2014 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress