Tag: substance use disorder
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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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Addiction Happens to All of Us
Addiction is that thing that no one cares about…until it happens to you or your loved one. But these days, nearly everyone has someone whom it’s happened to. When I first started in the field of addiction back in the late ’80s, the statistic was that a quarter of individuals were affected by a loved…
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Let’s Not Raise a Glass So Fast…to Alcohol
Alcohol is dangerous and deadly. It’s the most dangerous legal drug, and it’s the second-most deadly legal drug. Given this information, I am BEGGING for someone to explain to me how society has become so inured to the dangers of alcohol that we completely ignore them. Case in point: I watched the sixth season of…
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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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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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#1 Isn’t Always A Good Thing
On Tuesday, October 17, Mueller Communications LLC took the opportunity to point out that the United Health Foundation’s 2023 Health of Women and Children Report ranked the state of Wisconsin “last (50th) for excessive drinking among women and fourth-worst (46th) for alcohol use among youths” (Mueller email). One day later, on Wednesday, October 18, State…
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I’m Not Responsible for My Addiction — Or AM I?
Addiction is a disease just like heart disease is a disease. Both these diseases are preventable. Addiction is preventable through education and lack of use. Heart disease is preventable through following a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and not smoking. And both these diseases still occur – a lot – despite their both being preventable. So…
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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…
Guided by Guida 