Archive for January, 2010

Neurons are the building blocks of the nervous system. It is estimated that there are 100 billion neurons in the human brain. Neurons are complex and have many components. It is sometimes helpful to get an understanding of the brain and specifically neurons to get a clear picture of what drugs and alcohol do to the brain. Here’s some information on neurons:Glial Cells: Commonly called the “glue” of the neuron is the support structure of neurons. Glial cells provide neurons with nutrition, insulate them, and collect cellular debris when they die. Astrocytes form the physical support structure of the neuron. They also provide nutrients and clean up the debris around the neurons. Oligodentrocytes produce the insulation for the neuron (myelin sheath) in the central nervous system. Finally, Schwann cells produce the insulation for the neuron in the peripheral nervous system. Myelination increases the speed of axon transmission of action potentials and the myelination of various areas of the brain during development roughly parallels their functional development. Myelination of the sensory and motor areas occurs within the first year of life and myelination of the prefrontal cortex continues into adolescence and adulthood. This process can be highly effected by drug and alcohol abuse. Dendrites receive chemical messages from neighboring neurons. The Cell Body contains the nucleus (genes), mitochondria, ribosomes, etc… The Axon Hillock adds up the resulting chemical from neighboring neurons. The Axon transports electrical signals and chemical products of the cell body. The Presynaptic Bulb stores the chemical messengers that can bind to neighboring neurons. The Synapse is the junction between one neuron and a neighboring neuron. The neuron is made up of ions (Cations + and Anions -). With all the complexity of the brain and body, there are only 5 primary ions: Potassium Ions (K+) found in bananas, oranges, etc., Sodium Ions (Na +) found in salt, Chloride Ions (Cl-) found in salt, Calcium Ions (Ca+) found in milk, and protiens (A-) found in meats or produced by mitochondria cells. These Ions can pass through the Neuron Membrane (Differential Permeability) and the relative concentrations of ions on either side of the membrane create a dynamic equilibrium. The balance, or imbalance, of ions creates an electrical charge in the cell of roughly -70 mv. When a neuron is stimulated the electrical balance within the neuron changes and an action potential can be generated. An Action Potential is a sudden change in voltage in the neuron. An action potential is an all-or-none response. This means that the action potential does not vary and is generated when a voltage threshold is passed. It is the action potential that activates synaptic vesicles in the synaptic bulb to release neurotransmitters. Autoreceptors are proteins that regulate internal processes related to the production and release of neurotransmitters. They bind to their neuron’s own neurotransmitter receptor sites and it is these autoreceptors that are affected by external substances such as drugs. When autoreceptors are disrupted by drugs, neurotransmitters are disrupted. There is something called down-regulation and up-regulation of dendrite receptor sites. Down regulation is a process of decreasing the number of receptor sites due to excessive amounts of a neurotransmitter over an extended period of time (Cocaine for example, decreases the number of dopamine recpetors in the brain). Up Regulation is a process of increasing the number of receptor sites to the scarce amounts of a neurotransmitter over an extended period of time (Depression is thought to be an increase in the number of serotonin and norephinerine recpetors). Anti-depressants were developed with the processes of up-regulation and down-regulation in mind, no pun intended. Understanding the processes of the neuron and the neuron’s make up are an integral part of understanding how drugs can modify the brain.

There is a new program airing on VH1 called Sober House with Celebrity Rehab’s Dr. Drew Pinsky. The show follows Celebrity Rehab clients through the extended care, or transitional living, experience. Throughout extended care/sober living rehab history owners of rehabs have been approached by various media organizations requesting permission to document the sober living experience with cameras. Every extended care rehab I have worked at has been approached. While the offer is always tempting, most rehabs have always declined because we feel that the sensationalization of clients struggling with a serious addiction isn’t really ethical. There are arguments to be made for both sides though. On the one hand it exploits a person’s personal struggles with addiction, but on the other hand it educates the public on the process of addiction and the rehab experience. With the new show Sober House the public will, for the first time, be able to see where the real work of staying sober starts. Everyone in the treatment business knows that 30 days of primary treatment is not enough for anyone. That is why every primary 30 day facility in the Nation, with the exception of a few, now offers extended care treatment. Sober living and extended care treatment is exponentially more intense and requires much more operational man power than people think. Most people think that “sober living” is just what the name implies, a residence where people who are sober live together. But, it is actually much more! Running a sober living, or transitional addiction treatment program, requires a much more experienced and savvy staff than primary treatment requires. The freedom a sober living arrangement allows makes it much harder to keep track of a client’s progress and because clients are experiencing the “real world” for the first time sober, it creates a plethora of crisis that the treatment staff has to deal with on a daily basis. So I expect Dr. Drew’s new show, Sober House, to be much more interesting than Celebrity Rehab could ever be. For additional information contact info@hawaiiislandrecovery.com

What Is Alcohol Abuse

What are drinking problems? How serious is alcohol abuse among young people? What is the trend in drunk driving? What help is available for alcoholism?
To some college students, heavy drinking that leads to vomiting is not alcohol abuse but simply having a good time and being “one of the gang.”
To many whose religion requires abstinence, simply tasting an alcohol beverage is not only alcohol abuse but a sin.
To many activists, a married couple quietly enjoying a drink with their dinner is guilty of abusing alcohol if they happen to be twenty years of age.
To the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an accident is alcohol related (and implicitly caused by alcohol abuse) if a driver who has consumed a drink is sitting at a red light and rear-ended by an inattentive teetotaler.
In American Society
Our historical background and multi cultural population have created wide and strong disagreements in American society over what constitutes alcohol abuse.
Our Colonial tradition taught us that alcohol is the “good gift of God” to be used and enjoyed by all, including small children.
Our temperance and Prohibition experiences taught us that alcohol is “demon rum,” the cause of almost all poverty, crime, violence, and other problems. So convinced were they that alcohol was the cause of virtually all crime that, on the eve of Prohibition, some towns went so far as to sell their jails. Temperance systematically promoted both fear and hostility toward alcohol beverages, much of which continues to this day.
Repeal of Prohibition left us with a society in which the majority of people enjoy alcohol beverage in moderation, but a large minority (today about 1/3) of the population abstains. And a substantial proportion of American abstainers favor imposing prohibition again on the entire population . The prohibition impulse has never died and has re-emerged in a different form today.
Alcohol policy actually results not from science, logic, or evidence, but from a continuing struggle between those who wish to use alcohol beverages and those who don’t want them to. Repeatedly throughout our national life, movements have emerged to promote abstinence by persuasion, but failing to succeed, they have then resorted to coercion. The current neo-prohibition movement attempts to reduce consumption in general and to prevent it entirely among targeted groups, such as those under the age of 21.

And Young People
Prohibition for those under the age of 21 currently enjoys wide support in the United States and is imposed by force of law. Often it is enforced with a vengeance. “Carter Loar, a senior at Park View High School in Loudoun County, Virginia was suspended for ten days in February for violating the school’s alcohol policy.” Carter’s violation was using mouthwash at school. School officials confiscated the contraband and “He was charged with violating the school’s alcohol policy which prohibits the possession or use of alcohol on school property. As part of his ten day suspension, Carter was required to attend a three day Substance Abuse Program sponsored by Loudoun County.”
Mr. Loar was a victim of “zero tolerance,” which is now all the rage. But what does such a zealous level of intolerance accomplish and what messages does it send our young people? It probably achieves about as much as the scare tactics characteristic of the temperance movement and is almost certainly counter-productive.
One apparent message is that those who promote such intolerance have lost touch with youth, another is that they are unrealistic and impractical, and another is that their alcohol education messages are not credible.
Youthful Drinking
While a continuing barrage of newspaper articles, TV shows, and special interest group reports claim that drinking among young people is a growing epidemic, the fact is quite the contrary. Drinking among young people, like drinking among the larger population, is actually on the decline. For example, look at the statistics on drinking among high school students.
The proportion of high school seniors who have ever consumed alcohol is down.
The proportion of high school seniors who have consumed alcohol within previous year is down.
The proportion of high school seniors who have consumed alcohol within previous 30 days is down.
The proportion of high school seniors who have recently consumed alcohol daily is down.
The proportion of high school seniors who have consumed 5 or more drinks on an occasion within previous two weeks is down.
Drinking among young people continues to drop. For example, the proportion of young people aged 12 through 17 who have consumed any alcohol during the previous month has plummeted from 50% in 1979 to 16% in 2006, according to the federal government’s annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Thus, while one in two were drinkers in 1979, significantly fewer than one in five were in 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available. College student drinking attracts much attention in the press. But the proportion of college freshmen who drink continues to decrease. Freshmen entering college in 2006 reported the lowest rates of drinking in the 41-year history of the national college Freshman Survey. The proportion reporting occasional or frequent beer drinking dropped to an historic low, down 43% since 1982.
Drunk Driving Fatalities
While we must do even more to reduce drunk driving, we have already accomplished a great deal. Alcohol-related traffic fatalities have dropped steadily.
The U.S. has a low traffic fatality rate (drunk, as well as sober) and is a very safe nation in which to drive. And it’s been getting safer for decades. There are now fewer than one and a half deaths (including the deaths of bicyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, auto drivers, and auto passengers) per one hundred million vehicle miles traveled. Alcohol-related traffic fatalities have dropped from 60% of all traffic deaths in 1982 down to 39% in 2005 (the most recent year for which such statistics are available).
Alcohol-related traffic fatalities per vehicle miles driven has also dropped dramatically — from 1.64 deaths per 100 million miles traveled in 1982 down to 0.56 in 2005 (the latest year for which such statistics are available).
The proportion of alcohol-related crash fatalities has fallen 35% since 1982, but the proportion of traffic deaths NOT associated with alcohol have jumped 53% during the same time. We’re winning the battle against alcohol-related traffic fatalities, but losing the fight against traffic deaths that are not alcohol-related.
The declining proportion of accidents involving intoxication is good news. However, we can do even more to reduce drunk driving deaths. Through our individual actions we can do much right now to protect ourselves and others.
Health Problems
While the moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with better health and longer life than is abstinence, the heavy consumption of alcohol, especially over a period of many years, can lead to serious health problems and even death.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is an irreversible condition associated with excessive consumption of alcohol by pregnant women and is, therefore, completely preventable. Each and every case of FAS is a needless tragedy. Victims suffer serious physical deformities and often mental deficiencies. And, they suffer these problems for their entire lives. While most cases occur among alcoholics who consume alcohol heavily throughout their pregnancies (usually in combination with smoking and often illegal drug use), no one knows for certain what level of alcohol consumption is safe for a pregnant woman.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists recently conducted a study including 400,000 American women, all of whom had consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Not a single case of FAS occurred and no adverse effects on children were found when consumption was under 8.5 drinks per week. While it would appear that moderate consumption is safe, the safer choice would be to abstain.
Of course, tobacco and illegal drugs are clearly to be avoided, and a pregnant woman should maintain good nutrition and see her physician on a regular basis throughout her pregnancy.
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is probably the most widely recognized medical complication of chronic alcoholism. It is a grave and irreversible condition characterized by a progressive replacement of healthy liver tissue with scars, which can lead to liver failure and death. Fortunately, the abuse of alcohol is down and so is cirrhosis.
Death rate for cirrhosis fell dramatically between 1970 and 1992, the most recent year for which information is available. During that period, death from cirrhosis:
dropped 29.8% among black men
dropped 15.3% among white men
dropped 47.9% among black women
dropped 33.3% among white women
Help is Available
Numerous other health problems are associated with heavy alcohol consumption, which should be avoided. Many people find organized programs very useful in helping them reduce their consumption to moderate levels. For those who either choose or need to quit drinking entirely call Today Hawaii Island Recovery at 866-515-5032 or visit our website at www.hawaiiislandrecovery.com