Consciously Exploring Your Relationship with Drugs
Humanity has a complex, long-term relationship with a wide variety of drugs. In this article let’s delve into your personal relationship with drugs, how you frame them, and how you might upgrade these relationships to be more conscious and aligned with your path of self-development. Let’s include common drug sources like coffee, tea, and chocolate too, so this will be very inclusive.
My purpose here isn’t to encourage or discourage you from using any particular substances but rather to invite you to take a more conscious and honest look at your current frames, attitudes, biases, and behaviors, and dete...
Source: Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog - July 21, 2023 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Steve Pavlina Tags: Creating Reality Emotions Health Lifestyle Relationships Values Source Type: blogs
Matthew ’s health care tidbits: Oh, the DEA makes me sigh….
Each time I send out the THCB Reader, our newsletter that summarizes the best of THCB (Sign up here!) I include a brief tidbits section. Then I had the brainwave to add them to the blog. They’re short and usually not too sweet! –Matthew Holt
I have always thought that the dual role of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was an anacronym that severely hampers America’s complex relationship with pharmaceuticals. Congress deems some medicines legal and regulates them via the FDA, and deems others illegal and tells the DEA and other law enforcement agencies to attempt to control their supply. Leaving aside the basic...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 7, 2023 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Matthew Holt Adderall Controlled Substances Act DEA FDA regulations online prescribing Source Type: blogs
Drug Diversion – Can AI Monitoring Solve This Growing Issue?
The following is a guest article by Claire Reilly, Director of Clinical Operations at Imprivata and former Emergency Room Charge Nurse.
Although often overshadowed by major news and events, drug diversion – the rerouting of medications intended for patients by healthcare staff and is actually theft – has been a persistent problem in all healthcare settings. Pharmacies, doctors’ offices, hospitals, and care homes are all places drug diversion can occur if prescribing is not carefully monitored and managed.
In recent years, multiple factors have combined to create a perfect storm for drug diversion. Healthcar...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - January 19, 2023 Category: Information Technology Authors: Guest Author Tags: AI/Machine Learning Analytics/Big Data Clinical Healthcare IT Regulations Adderall Alcohol Abuse Artificial Intelligence Big Data Technologies Claire Reilly COVID-19 Drug Abuse Drug Diversion Drug Overdoses EHR Electronic Hea Source Type: blogs
Drug Prohibition Teams Up With Central Planning to Harm Patients —Again
Jeffrey A. SingerThere ’s a national shortage of the stimulant Adderall, used to treat people with ADHD. The drug, a combination of dextroamphetamine and amphetamine, is strictly controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration. As it does with opioids, the DEAsets quotas on the amount of the drug each manufacturer may produce in the coming year. These quotas are based upon what the agency believes the population of the United States will need in the coming year —what F.A. Hayek would call a “fatal conceit.”According to theWall Street Journal, a labor shortage caused production delays for Teva Pharm...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 17, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
How much should you trust BetterHelp, Talkspace, Cerebral and other mental health start-ups touted by celebrities?
When Pat Paulson’s son told her he was feeling anxious and depressed at college, Paulson went through her Blue Cross Blue Shield provider directory and started calling mental health therapists. No providers in the Wisconsin city where her son’s university is located had openings. So she bought a monthly subscription to BetterHelp, a Mountain View, California, company that links people to therapists online.
Her son felt uncomfortable with his first BetterHelp therapist. After waiting several weeks, he saw a second therapist, whom he liked. But she wasn’t available the following week.
Despite the switch and the wait, P...
Source: SharpBrains - July 11, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Kaiser Health News Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation 8 billion minds American-Psychological-Association BetterHelp cerebral medication mental health start-ups mental healthcare talk-therapy Talkspace teletherapy Source Type: blogs
Matthew ’s health care tidbits: Is Covid over for the health care system?
Each week I’ve been adding a brief tidbits section to the THCB Reader, our weekly newsletter that summarizes the best of THCB that week (Sign up here!). Then I had the brainwave to add them to the blog. They’re short and usually not too sweet! –Matthew Holt
I am beginning to wonder, is COVID over? Of course no one has told the virus that it’s over. In fact infection rates are two to three times where they were in the post-omicron lull and new variants are churning themselves out faster and faster. We still have 300 people dying every day. But since we went past a million US deaths, no one seems to care any more....
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 20, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Economics Hospitals Matthew Holt COVID Hospital at Home Hospital staffing Telehealth Source Type: blogs
Retail Pharmacy Paranoia is Understandable –But Patients Are The Real Victims
Jeffrey A. SingerThere is already ample evidence that the war on opioid prescribing has intimidated many pharmacies and pharmacists intorefusing to dispense legally ‐prescribed opioids. This is tragic for patients, but an understandable result of incredulouslawsuits brought by state attorneys general against pharmacy retailers CVS, Walgreens, and others for allegedly contributing to the opioid overdose crisis by filling opioid prescriptions —even as overdose deaths continue to mount while opioid prescribing continues to drop precipitously. (87 percent of those overdose deaths involve illicit fentanyl, more than a&nb...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 25, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
April 2021: An Eye on the Problem
A 3-year-old boy presented to the emergency department with lethargy. He was bradycardic and somnolent, responding only to physical stimuli. His vital signs were a temperature of 37°C, a heart rate of 50 bpm, a respiratory rate of 26 breaths per minute, a blood pressure of 92/41 mm Hg, and a pulse oximetry of 100% on room air.When awoken, the child answered questions appropriately but then fell back asleep quickly. His pupils were pinpoint. There were no signs of trauma. A cardiac examination demonstrated bradycardia, and the remainder of the examination was unremarkable.The child was given an IV fluid bolus and placed...
Source: The Tox Cave - April 1, 2021 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
CBD and other medications: Proceed with caution
Products containing cannabidiol (CBD) seem to be all the rage these days, promising relief from a wide range of maladies, from insomnia and hot flashes to chronic pain and seizures. Some of these claims have merit to them, while some of them are just hype. But it won’t hurt to try, right? Well, not so fast. CBD is a biologically active compound, and as such, it may also have unintended consequences. These include known side effects of CBD, but also unintended interactions with supplements, herbal products, and over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription medications.
Doubling up on side effects
While generally considered safe...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - January 11, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Katsiaryna Bykov, PharmD, ScD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Marijuana Medical Research Safety Source Type: blogs
Given cognitive strengths and needs are diverse, what brain training may work best for each person and under which conditions?
Does ‘Brain Training’ Actually Work? (Scientific American):
If there were an app on your phone that could improve your memory, would you try it? Who wouldn’t want a better memory? After all, our recollections are fragile and can be impaired by diseases, injuries, mental health conditions and, most acutely for all of us, aging.
… our team is currently leveraging the power of citizen science. Similar to a large-scale study in the United Kingdom (Brain Test Britain, promoted by Cambridge University and the BBC), we are seeking to recruit thousands of participants to help us uncover the potential merits of memory train...
Source: SharpBrains - September 29, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Health & Wellness Technology aging Brain Game Center brain training Brain-exercises Brain-games cognitive decline cognitive needs cognitive strengths cognitive-benefits cogniti Source Type: blogs
Large UC study to investigate when and how brain training transfers (or does not) to broader cognitive and health benefits
Anja Pahor and Aaron Seitz
Nationwide project seeks to understand how brain exercises produce cognitive benefits (UC press release):
How does memory training lead to cognitive benefits? Aaron Seitz, director of the Brain Game Center for mental fitness and well-being at the University of California, Riverside, has wrestled with this question for several years.
Now he and Susanne Jaeggi, an associate professor at the UC Irvine School of Education; and Anja Pahor, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at UCR; are ready to address it by launching a nationwide project that seeks to engage 30,000 people in different variants o...
Source: SharpBrains - July 16, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Health & Wellness Technology Brain Game Center Brain-exercises Brain-games cognitive decline cognitive-benefits cognitive-skills Memory-Training mental-fitness public-health Wo Source Type: blogs
Update: Moderate lifetime drinking may lead to lower Alzheimer-related beta amyloid deposits in the brain
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Time for a new edition of SharpBrains’ e‑newsletter.
#1. First of all, it’s not all bad news this month. Study finds that moderate lifetime drinking may lead to lower Alzheimer-related beta amyloid deposits in the brain
#2. And, talk about personalized medicine! This fascinating study showing how brain imaging (fMRI) + machine learning + intensive, non-invasive neurostimulation = targeted treatments that can maximize efficacy and minimize side effects: Reinventing depression treatment via transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (TMS)
#3. Also, not a minute too soon … Meditation apps have gone mainstream in ...
Source: SharpBrains - April 24, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Attention and ADD/ADHD Brain Teasers Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Health & Wellness Technology Adderall Alzheimer-disease Alzheimers-disease beta-amyloid brain teaser for adults Brain-Imaging brain-teaser Source Type: blogs
Study finds mixed results of Adderall as cognitive enhancer (seems to boost emotion more than cognition)
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Over the past 15 years there has been growing awareness that many college students without an ADHD diagnosis use ADHD drugs. On some campuses, rates of self-reported non-medical use have exceeded 30% of students.
The primary reason students report taking ADHD drugs is to enhance their academic performance. And, the strong majority of students — over 80% in a study I conducted — believe it is helpful for this purpose.
Furthermore, students who report problems with attention are more likely to report non-medical use than other students; this suggests that some self-medicate to address their perceived attention difficu...
Source: SharpBrains - April 15, 2020 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Dr. David Rabiner Tags: Attention and ADD/ADHD Cognitive Neuroscience Education & Lifelong Learning Health & Wellness academic-performance. Adderall ADHD-drugs cognition cognitive-functioning college college students emotion mental health neurocognitive Source Type: blogs
Mindfulness Versus Microdosing: Get High on Being Present
Microdosing has become very popular, and many people believe it’s a life changer. It involves taking a small amount — a fraction of a dose — of a hallucinogenic drug to achieve psychological benefits while minimizing any undesirable side effects.
Most microdosers ingest LSD (lysergic acid diethyl amide) or mushrooms (psilocybin), which are psychedelics that can create profoundly intensified sensory perception. These drugs became popular in the 1960s and ’70s, and for anyone who used them then, they too espoused the drugs’ mind-altering effects. The difference back then was that people weren’t microd...
Source: World of Psychology - December 22, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Ora Nadrich Tags: Addiction Medications Mindfulness Hallucinogens LSD lysergic acid microdose psilocybin Source Type: blogs
Top 25 Psychiatric Medications for 2018
Psychiatric medications are an important part of treatment for many people with mental disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder, ADHD, schizophrenia, anxiety, and others. They play an important role in helping to alleviate the most serious symptoms, allowing people to better focus on their lives and on other treatment types, such as psychotherapy. Psychiatric medications are an important part of many people’s treatment plans for obtaining the most effective treatment for a mental health concern or mental illness.
It’s good to know what drugs are being prescribed most often for mental disorders in the U.S...
Source: World of Psychology - December 15, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: John M. Grohol, Psy.D. Tags: General Medications Psychiatry psychiatric meds psychiatric prescriptions Source Type: blogs
