Tag: drug testing
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Meet the New Drugs…Just Like the Old Drugs…
So with all these “new” drugs on the market that people are misusing, testing, as in direct biomarkers using fingernails, is the only way to know what’s being used.
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Who’s Zooming Who?
As of September 20, SAMHSA is reporting that, “For substance use specifically, of the 29.0 million adults who perceived that they ever had a substance use problem, 72.2% (or 20.9 million) considered themselves to be in recovery or to have recovered from their drug or alcohol use problem” (samhsa). As you know, if you’ve read…
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Umbilical Cord Tissue: Faster Answers; Better Outcomes
Umbilical Cord Tissue: Faster Answers; Better Outcomes My last blog was all about screening neonates for substances of abuse and why we don’t screen often enough. I didn’t answer that question – because I don’t understand why we don’t, but you can read the blog here: https://the4csofaddiction.wordpress.com/2023/12/01/knowledge-is-power-and-more-is-readily-available-through-neonate-screening-for-drugs-of-abuse/ Now, let’s say we learned our lesson, and…
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Knowledge Is Power, and More Is Readily Available through Neonate Screening for Drugs of Abuse
Every single baby born in the US is required to be screened for phenylketonuria (PKU), which is “a rare condition in which a baby is born without the ability to properly break down an amino acid called phenylalanine” (Medline). Annually in the US, 1 in every 10,000 to 15,000 babies born is diagnosed with PKU…
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Test It, and You Will Know
How many people have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs)? Mental illness? Substance use disorders (SUDs)? The disease of addiction? …in the US? What about in Canada? The United Kingdom? Czechoslovakia? We think we have statistics, but as everyone knows, statistics lie. As an example, think about surveying a community regarding whether or not a sports…
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Flushing Out the Lies
I count people’s drinks. I don’t mean to do it, and I’m not proud of it, but I imagine it’s a learned behavior. I grew up with addiction around me, and believing that people would adhere to the limits they set for themselves was difficult, at best. So I started counting drinks, and I’ve never…
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Syphilis or FASDs? Why Not Address Both?
Wisconsin is having a spate of congenital syphilis cases, so much so that Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services issued a memo to healthcare providers, including health departments and tribal health clinics, about the need to test pregnant people for the bacteria that causes the infection. The memo indicates that “The number of congenital syphilis cases…
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Defining Recovery
I am not a person in long-term recovery, but I have not had an alcoholic beverage since August 16, 2015. The last time I was intoxicated was in 2008, I believe. It was while on a wine tour in Italy, and the grappa did me in. Not a good last day in Florence, and I…
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Cold Cuts, Sushi, and Alcohol
I googled the three questions below and copied the first answer that popped up: “Can I eat cold cuts while I’m pregnant?” “The safest course of action to protect your baby is to avoid deli meats until after pregnancy. If you plan to eat deli meats anyway, we highly suggest cooking them until they are steaming.…
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The Other Face of Stigma
I recently read an article in Women’s Health magazine about a triathlete whose friend suggested she have a growth on her arm looked at. The athlete disregarded the suggestion. Time went by, and now her brothers also expressed concern about the growth. At that point, if I’m recalling the article correctly, the athlete went to…
Guided by Guida 