Timeline For The Benefits Of Quitting Smoking Cigarettes

 

It is amazing how quickly the body begins to heal when you quit smoking. This is what happens if you quit cold-turkey:

1. Pulse, hand temperature and blood pressure go back to normal within 20 minutes.

2. It only takes eight hours for blood-nicotine levels to drop by almost 94 percent.

3. Within a half-day, the normal carbon monoxide and oxygen levels in your blood have been restored.

4. It takes only one day for quitting-related anxieties to reach their peak.

5. Related irritable behavior peaks after about two days. Meanwhile, taste and smell start to be restored.

6. After three days, most nicotine-linked chemicals have exited your body. Your breathing will improve as tubes inside your lungs relax.

7. At about the same time, cravings and withdrawal symptoms will reach their peak and begin to decline.

8. Within 10 days, most people find that their cravings reduce to once or twice daily.

9. Tooth and gum blood circulation returns to normal about 10 to 14 days after you quit smoking.

10. It takes around three weeks for nicotine-induced changes to the brain to partially reverse themselves.

11. After around three weeks, the sleeplessness and emotional effects of quitting should come to an end.

12. It takes around two to 12 weeks for your risk of a heart attack to begin dropping.

13. You will find it less difficult to walk after about three to 12 weeks. Coughing should also come to an end.

14. Although people often gain some weight when they stop smoking, resistance to insulin becomes normal after almost two months.

15. Within nine months, people feel more energetic and sinus congestion reduces substantially.

16. It takes around 12 months to reduce stroke and heart disease risks by approximately 50 percent.

17. Within about a decade, your lung cancer risk will have fallen by around 40 percent.

18. After thirteen years, you are no more likely to lose teeth than the average person.

19. Two decades after quitting, studies show that most health risks have returned to normal levels.

You will gain the most if you quit early, but it is never too late to benefit. Please visit our website regularly for more stop smoking tips.

Can Legalized Marijuana Reduce Prescription Painkiller Overdoses And Deaths?

The American Academy of Pain Medication reports that 1.5 billion people around the world suffer from chronic pain. For many of those people, opioids are their painkillers of choice. Opioid overdose killed more than 16,500 in the United States in 2010. While that number continues to rise, surprising news from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania indicates that prescription painkiller overdoses are actually declining in states with medical marijuana legislation on the books.

Prior to 1999, Oregon, Washington and California were the only three states with active medical cannabis laws. Between 1999 and 2010, ten more states legalized marijuana for medical use.

The study, funded by the Center for AIDS Research and the National Institutes of Health, concluded that the opioid overdose rate declined by 24.8 percent in the states that legalized medical marijuana between 1999 and 2010.

The biggest problems with taking Percocet, OxyContin, Vicodin, or other opiates are the high risk of overdose and becoming physically and mentally dependent on the drug. Now that medical cannabis use has been approved in certain states, residents in those states can opt for marijuana treatment instead of risking addiction and overdose on prescription painkillers.

Dr. Marcus Bachhuber is a VA Scholar at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia and the lead study author for the research conducted at the University of Pennsylvania. Bachhuber treats patients suffering with chronic pain and reports some patients feel that marijuana worked better to relieve their pain than prescription painkillers did.

The study's findings seem to suggest that more patients in states where they have access to medical cannabis may be choosing that option. With fewer people using opiates to manage pain, there are fewer overdoses. Researchers also pointed out that state funded public education programs focusing on painkiller abuse may also contribute in part to the lower overdose rates reported in those states.

With more states considering the legalization of marijuana, more statistics will become available to help researchers determine if a decrease in opioid overdoses will be a benefit associated with the enactment of medical marijuana laws.

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The Most Addictive Prescription Drugs

 

Prescription drug addiction is a serious and life-threatening problem that affects many thousands of people and their families. As the pharmaceutical industry continues to develop new and stronger drugs, the risks of addiction are steadily mounting. Following here is important information about Prescription Drug Addiction that consumers need to be aware of.

Many types of people can fall victim to this kind of addiction. It is therefore important to understand that there are many different types of drugs to which a person can become addicted. The three main classes of drugs are stimulants, depressants and opiods.

Stimulants are drugs that activate our nervous system. They increase our brain activity and make us more alert and energetic. Depressants do just the opposite: they act as a tranquilizer on the central nervous system and relaxes the mind and body. Opioids are pain killing drugs which can cause a euphoric or dream-like effect on the user.

The path to abusing prescription drugs is often a complicated one. Most abusers in fact do not start out intending to abuse a certain drug. In the majority of cases, they are prescribed a drug by their physician to treat an existing underlying condition, and over time, the person may develop a dependency on that drug or they may have poor coping skills for dealing with various emotional and physical issues.

For instance, a person may be prescribed antidepressants to treat a generalized social anxiety disorder. If the person is suffering from feelings of loneliness and depression due to their disorder, they may become prone to abusing the drug if the anxiety is not emotionally dealt with. In other cases, a person may use stimulants to gain energy to handle a demanding project or job; however, if they fail to use proper work-life balance, this can result in addiction as they continue to rely on stimulants to push themselves further.

Part of the problem is also over-diagnosing of certain prescription drugs. One example is oxycodene, an opiod, which is estimated to be prescribed by physicians over six million times a year, mostly as a sedative.

As we can see, these types of addictions are both common and life-threatening. Any prescription drug use needs to be carefully monitored by a physician for the correct dosage. Those who fear that a family member has developed an addiction to a drug should seek immediate help.

Prozac Vs. Zoloft Explained

Prozac and Zoloft are antidepressants that are used to treat a number of psychological disorders. They contain selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs that act to rebalance the chemicals in the brain. Their effect on serotonin, a neurotransmitter that creates a feeling of happiness and well-being, is particularly profound. These two drugs are often compared because of their similarities but they have significant differences as well.

Similarities

Both are 2nd generation anti-depressants that are safer than those that came before them. They are unlikely to cause weight gain and do not have a sedating effect. These SSRIs are often prescribed for depression as they have been found to relieve symptoms in up to 70% of the cases. Their levels of effectiveness are fairly even with no study conclusively favoring one over the other for major depression. Doctors can prescribe either depending on the exact diagnosis. It is difficult to know which one is best for an individual so they generally recommend what they think is a better fit, start with a low dosage, and observe for side effects.

Applications

Prozac is used to treat bulimia nervosa, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and major depressive disorder in adults. It is also approved for treating children with depression ages 8 and up, as well as children with OCD ages 7 and up. Meanwhile, Zoloft is used for the treatment of social anxiety disorder, severe premenstrual syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorder, and major depression in adults. It is also suitable for children with OCD with ages 6 and up. Note that these drugs take time to work. Expect to take them religiously for up to four weeks before feeling the changes.

Differences

Prozac and Zoloft are available in low doses that are suitable for daily intake. However, only Prozac can be prescribed for a strong weekly dose. Their other differences lie in their side effects. Using Zoloft increases the chances of experiencing diarrhea more so than Prozac does. This might become an issue for people who are prone to stomach distress like those with IBS. On the other hand, Prozac has a higher tendency to cause sleep disturbances and dry mouth.

What Is Ibogaine Treatment For Addiction?

Of the many treatment methods that are currently used to treat heroin addiction, none has substantial effect on a psychological level. They majorly serve to treat the addiction or help victims manage it, but never really treat the addiction with the intention of reducing or completely curing the disease. However, among the many unconventional and experimental treatments that have been tried, Ibogaine has indicated some promising results.

What is Ibogaine?

Ibogaine is a psychoactive substance derived from certain trees and shrubs found in native African rainforests. The natural psychedelic is cited to have been used by African pygmy tribes (and other tribes) for ritual and medicinal purposes.  

Ibogaine Treatment for Addiction

Several separate researches that have been carried on Ibogaine (since 1960s) have indicated that the substance can effectively treat various forms of addictions: heroin, cocaine, alcohol, methadone, methamphetamine, steroids, and other drugs. When used as type of interruption therapy, the psychedic induces dream-like visions to the patients (while they are awake) followed by feelings of instructive replays of the various pivotal life effects that may have contributed to their addictions. Some are also confronted by negative emotions and fear that in a way drive the addiction disease.  If used for addiction treatment, it's recommended that supplemental treatments such as intensive counseling, therapy, and aftercare are applied to achieve maximum results from the Ibogaine treatment.

Side Effects

Although Ibogaine has been implicated as treatment for various forms of addiction in unprecedented number of studies, it's been associated with a number of negative side effects, including loss of motor coordination (making it difficult for patients to walk or stand without assistance), vomiting, nausea, and dry mouth. Ibogaine can also agitate certain types of heart conditions and can cause fatal reactions with certain foods (such as foods that contain citrus and bergamot oil). What's more, the psychedelic can have detrimental effects when administered alongside other psychotropic medications and is therefore not recommended for dual-diagnosis (simultaneous treatment for addiction alongside mental or emotional disorders).

Bottom Line

For Ibogaine treatments to be universally accepted in the healthcare fraternity, there must be enough evidence that its benefits surpasses its potential to cause harm, which currently necessitates continued research and clinical experiments. Nonetheless, preliminary results regarding the development of the Ibogaine into clinical, therapeutic, and medicinal treatments are quite promising.

What Is Alcohol-Related Psychosis?

 

Most people are aware of a medical condition known as alcoholism, or an addiction to alcohol. However, there aren't as many people who are aware of just how severely addicts suffer. In addition to the drastic and complicated effects of alcohol withdrawal, addicts can experience equally painful symptoms while still consuming alcohol. One of the most debilitating and misunderstood alcohol related medical conditions is called Alcohol Psychosis.

What is Alcohol Psychosis?

Alcohol Psychosis is a medical condition that affects long-time alcoholics. Most of the symptoms are neurological in nature and can severely harm a person's quality of life. In fact, the symptoms are so severe, the condition is often confused with schizophrenia, making diagnosis difficult. People who suffer from Alcohol Psychosis will endure relentless hallucinations or persistent delusions. In addition, sufferers may also experience other equally severe symptoms in conjunction with the hallucinations, such as paranoia and aggression.

Who is Affected? 

It is rare for anyone suffering from alcoholism to experience Alcohol Psychosis. Only 3% of the alcoholic population will experience psychosis due to their alcoholism. However, the vast majority of those who endure Alcohol Psychosis are alcoholics who have abused alcohol for a prolonged amount of time.

How is Alcohol Psychosis Diagnosed?

Although Alcohol Psychosis often closely mimics schizophrenia, there are a few important factors that can help differentiate the two conditions. Typically, symptoms of Alcohol Psychosis begin to manifest at a much later date in the sufferer's life than symptoms of schizophrenia do. Alcohol Psychosis only occurs after years of chronic alcohol abuse. In addition to this, those who suffer from Alcohol Psychosis will find that their symptoms significantly decrease as their alcohol consumption does. Although some people may experience an increase in symptoms as they go through withdrawal, they will often find symptoms completely disappear once the alcohol has finally dissipated from their systems.

Alcoholism drastically and negatively affects addicts in hundreds of unfortunate ways. Alcohol Psychosis is arguably the most serious potential complication on the list. Just as with alcoholism itself, however, there is hope for alcohol induced psychosis in the form of abstinence and recovery.

IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING WITH ALCOHOL ABUSE, THERE IS TREATMENT AVAILABLE
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Get The Facts About Panic Attacks

The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that around 4 million Americans routinely experience panic attacks, and if you are one of them, you can testify as to how alarming and stressful one can be. A panic attack is a strong, often sudden feeling of extreme anxiety, unease or helplessness, often lasting for several minutes and sometimes accompanied by a shortness of breath, a racing heartbeat and a feeling of lightheadedness.

Although panic attacks can be triggered by a specific event or situation, they can often occur for no obvious reason, making them even harder to deal with and leading to fear that another panic attack will happen. There are other symptoms of panic attacks, and these can include a heavy feeling in the chest (or chest pains), trembling muscles, tingling in the hands or feet, a flushed face and sweaty palms, as well as the uncontrollable and terrifying feeling of panic. Many people describe the feeling as a total loss of control, sheer and utter panic or even the certainty that they are going to go crazy or die.

Because the fear of having another attack is part of the aftermath of a panic attack, many people understandably avoid potential situations in which they might feel anxious or lose control. Some people who have experienced panic attacks even reach the point where they rarely leave their home or other so-called safe zone, a condition called agoraphobia. Most agoraphobics do not enjoy their condition; the fear of having another attack, especially in public, forces them to adopt that extreme behavior.

It is possible to effectively treat anxiety disorders such as panic attacks, although many people are too ashamed to seek help or the condition remains undiagnosed and therefore untreated. In recent years, the shift has been away from old-fashioned techniques using analysis to treat panic disorders, and towards CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy). The therapy focuses on how to identify and eliminate the feelings and thoughts that cause the anxiety and the panic. An educational campaign is being carried out by the National Institute of Mental Health to convince people that panic attacks can be treated successfully.