Most of us underestimate how much we drink during heavy parties. Enjoying a drink is one thing, but often it leads to more than safe drinking without awareness. We often underestimate our drinking levels and also forget about the harm we can cause other families and communities by our drinking. How can you curb your excessive consumption of liquor? As a medical physician for over 51 years, I strive to give you the best medical information on controversial medical subjects, and help your read betwwen the lines. You must come to your own conclusions. I have no ties to any organization, pharmaceutical, or lobby group. As an practicing medical acupuncturist since 1982, I find western medicine and medical acupuncture... »View More
Are you hoping to celebrate on New Year’s Eve with a drink and wondering whether you need to “pump and dump” or abstain from drinking altogether? Check out these resources on alcohol and breastfeeding. But first, maybe you’d like to test your knowledge with this fun alcohol and breastfeeding quiz. ~ You might be surprised what La Leche League has to say about drinking alcohol and breastfeeding. ~ Read my thoughts on the controversial Milkscreen test for alcohol in breast milk. Photo by Engindeniz~ Does the hops in ale or beer increase milk supply? ~ Check out what the Drug and Lactation Database has to say by typing in “alcohol” on this LactMed search page. ~ The American Academy of Pediatrics lists alcohol... »View More
Medication addiction Prescription medications can sneak up on you and lead to addiction. Many celebrities have recently fallen victim to prescription medication addiction and/or overdose. But its not just celebrities that need to be cautious its everyone who takes mood changing, psychoactive or pain medications. Every day medicines hold a punch that may be life changing, life changes you may not normally choose. A drug addict used to be someone who bought illegal fixes from a shady character in a back alley. But with more and more people admitting addiction to prescription drugs, your ’dealer’ can be the person you least expect to harm your health – your GP or chemist. Many doctors agree that powerful tranquillisers, sleeping pills... »View More
Alcohol-induced dementia in a functional alcoholic? Woman lives with alcohol-induced dementia Cheryl Thorson remembers well when she started drinking at age 16. But she can’t remember what happened 10 minutes ago. Thorson, 54, of Wausau drank for 27 years after she started in high school, and before she quit, “it was nothing for me to go into a tavern and drink a bottle of rum,” Thorson said. “I enjoyed it. It was good.” She was what counsellors would call a “functional alcoholic.” She held down good jobs and eventually became a business owner. She said she never got in a serious car crash because of her drinking and never got pulled over for drunken driving. Consequences came later in the form of alcohol-induced... »View More
Time to open the Duh File for yet another Duh Study: Magazine ads for alcohol target youths not yet legally old enough to drink. In other words, teen-agers. They’re kidding right? The companies can’t possibly trying to tempt young people by using images of young adults having a lot of fun and they just all happen to be holding on to a glass or bottle filled with alcohol. (Sarcasm doesn’t translate well to the Internet, does it?) Researchers decided to do a study about magazine ads and teens to determine if the Wine Institute, the Beer Institute, and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States were being truthful with their claims of not targeting young people with their advertising. What they found was this was not... »View More
An ongoing process: A qualitative study of how the alcohol-dependent free themselves of addiction through progressive abstinence Abstract (provisional) Background Most people being treated for alcoholism are unable to successfully quit drinking within their treatment programs. … Note: Cross posted from Twelve Step Facilitation.com. Permalink Related Reading: Share/Save (Source: Recovery Is Sexy.com) »View More
Yet another one for the Duh Files: Older alcoholics need more alcohol to get drunk. Really? Alcoholism is not something that is funny nor should it be joked about. It’s a serious problem that requires serious interventions. But who in their right mind doesn’t know or hasn’t figured out that the longer you abuse alcohol, the more alcohol you end up using? According to an Ohio State University press release about a study that looked at alcoholics and alcohol use, The findings suggest that older problem drinkers may have developed a tolerance for alcohol and need to drink even more than younger abusers to achieve the effects they seek. Really? To be fair though, the study also did find that binge drinking, something usually thought... »View More
An Opportunity for Prevention Abstract: Current US census estimates predict that by the year 2020, 18% of the population will be 65 years or older. As most adults in this age group have health care needs, it is vital that clinicians are competent in identifying and intervening in the most common health issues among older adults. The article in this issue by Blazer and Wu again reminds us that alcohol use, including binge drinking, is common among older adults and that despite popular culture, alcohol misuse does not disappear as one ages. As noted in the article, the findings are very consistent with other epidemiological literature. Blazer and Wu found that 13% of men and 8% of women reported at-risk drinking and that 14% of men and 3% of women... »View More
Sarah Jessica ParkerA great video from Face the Issue about the effects of drugs narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker.This is an anonymous quote from a young addict trying to reclaim their life.“ok, so pot, is fine let’s not get into that….but whenever i hang out with my friends they’re always drinking, which i don’t do, because i’m on pills.lots of pills, pills to sleep, pills to wake up, pills to dull the pain, pills to be numb… it’s ok, i have a prescription….but for a while i got off them. because i ran outbut the other day i found some codiene and i took it, with other stuff… and in my spnish class it started kicking in…and i felt… complete…which is terrible because... »View More