Are We Ready For Synthetic Heroin?
Many of the synthetic drugs streaming like toxic rivers through American cities have their origins in labs that weren’t trying to create addictive street drugs. But once a potent psychoactive compound emerges from a lab--intended purpose notwithstanding--its appearance on the street is only a matter of time. Knowing that, it’s concerning that researchers have just discovered how to synthetically modify yeast to create the active compounds in opioid drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin and morphine. (Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News)
Source: Forbes.com Healthcare News - August 16, 2015 Category: Pharmaceuticals Authors: David DiSalvo Source Type: news
Team makes Vicodin component in yeast, says 'home brew' opiates still not feasible
Earlier this summer, a flurry of scientific papers and news reports warned of the likely arrival, sometime soon, of "home brew heroin" -- opiate drugs that might be brewed using yeast, just like beer or wine are, possibly in the privacy of your own home. (Source: Los Angeles Times - Science)
Source: Los Angeles Times - Science - August 14, 2015 Category: Science Authors: Eryn Brown Source Type: news
U.S. Medical Groups Join to Fight Prescription Painkiller Abuse
Special task force aims to curb 'epidemic' of addiction to narcotic meds such as Oxycontin, Vicodin
Source: HealthDay
Related MedlinePlus Pages: Pain Relievers, Prescription Drug Abuse (Source: MedlinePlus Health News)
Source: MedlinePlus Health News - July 29, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
High Praise: Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Save Lives
It helps alleviate pain of chronic illness, one of its isolated compounds helps hurry the mending of broken bones, and it makes eating Funyons a transformative experience. But medical marijuana’s greatest benefit may be that it prevents numerous cases of pain-killer addiction and death. A new study released by the University of California-Irvine in conjunction with the RAND corporation, a non-profit global think tank, shows a correlation between states that have legalized marijuana and reduced rates of opioid addiction. They studied treatment admissions for opioid addiction and opioid-related deaths in the ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - July 27, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Meet The Man Who Helps Hollywood Stay Sober
Until two years ago, Jon Paul Crimi kept his career, and his client base, mostly a secret.
He has a 20-year background as a fitness trainer and used to be an actor -- but now when he gets a phone call and finds himself on an airplane two hours later heading to a movie set, he isn't going there to act.
Instead, Crimi is a professional sober coach who works with some of Hollywood’s most elite and others struggling with substance use disorders. He has been sober himself for 15 years.
“The best sober coaches are the ones who had a lot of experience struggling with sobriety," he told The Huffington Post in an interview ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - June 29, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Generic Vicodin Tops Medicare List
Powerful painkiller hydrocodone acetaminophen was the most widely prescribed drug under Medicare Part D in 2013, often by primary-care doctors. (Source: WSJ.com: Health)
Source: WSJ.com: Health - May 4, 2015 Category: Pharmaceuticals Tags: PAID Source Type: news
Number of babies born in withdrawal from prescription painkillers is on the rise
Each year, an alarming number of babies born in the United States spend their first few days withdrawing from drugs, often prescription painkillers their mothers took during their pregnancies. This problem, called neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), has increased fourfold since 2004, according to a report published online yesterday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
NAS occurs in many babies whose mothers took a type of medication called an opioid during pregnancy. (Two commonly used opioids are OxyContin and Vicodin.) These drugs easily pass from the mother’s bloodstream to the baby’s. They can be addicti...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - April 27, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Claire McCarthy, MD Tags: Drugs and Supplements Pregnancy prescription painkillers Source Type: news
An Ancient Fix For Backache
Too many doctors refuse to think outside the narrow confines of the mainstream medical establishment – especially when it comes to chronic back pain.
Back pain is one of the most common reasons Americans go to the doctor, which explains why it’s also one of America’s biggest businesses.
But I never cease to be astounded when patients come to my wellness clinic with back pain and tell me they’ve already had a barrage of dangerous Big Pharma prescriptions pushed at them.
These drugs include highly addictive opiates like Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin.
Meanwhile, big bucks are also made when doctors push ...
Source: Al Sears, MD Natural Remedies - April 7, 2015 Category: Complementary Medicine Authors: Dr. Al Sears Tags: Anti-Aging Source Type: news
Norco 5/325 (Hydrocodone Bitartrate and Acetaminophen) - updated on RxList
(Source: RxList - New and Updated Drug Monographs)
Source: RxList - New and Updated Drug Monographs - February 27, 2015 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: news
Drug Overdose Is a National Crisis: It's Time to Act
Unfolding before our eyes is a national public health crisis: fatal drug overdose has increased more than six-fold in the past three decades. Today, more Americans are dying of drug overdoses than traffic accidents, primarily from heroin and prescription pills like oxycodone and Vicodin. Every single day, 120 people die in the U.S. of a drug overdose.
My son died at the age of 25 after battling the disease of addiction for nearly a decade. Today, there are more than 22 million Americans who are fighting drug addiction and millions more who are affected by seeing this disease tear down a loved one.
The debilitating dis...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - February 14, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Clinton Foundation To Help Make Anti-Overdose Drug Much More Affordable
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Naloxone, a medication known as the “overdose antidote,” can reverse the effects of an overdose from opioid drugs like heroin, Vicodin, OxyContin and morphine. Although Naloxone has saved tens of thousands of lives, and has been approved for use against drug overdose by the Food and Drug Administration since 1971, it's typically only administered by medical professionals.
That began to change last April, when the FDA fast-tracked the approval of a device called Evzio. The device administers Naloxone as an auto-injectible, similar to the way epinephrine can be injected with an EpiPen. And it’s...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - January 27, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
Report highlights the dangers of opioid painkillers
Whenever I read or write about the overuse of so-called opioid painkillers it is with mixed feelings. As a lifelong back-pain patient who once depended on them for pain relief, I appreciate the challenge posed by opioids to people in pain and their doctors. People in agonizing pain want it to stop, but opioids are often a poor long-term solution. Doctors want to help their patients, so they may prescribe opioids for extended periods despite well-founded reservations.
At the same time, the epidemic of abuse of these painkillers has led to numerous deaths. Like many Americans, I know people whose lives were destroyed—who e...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - January 15, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Daniel Pendick Tags: Addiction Drugs and Supplements Pain Management hydrocodone opioids oxycodone Source Type: news
Addiction Is a Disease That Shatters Lives -- It's Time to Say ENOUGH #WeAreShatterproof
I know how terrible the disease of addiction can be.
Three years ago, my son Brian -- 15 months clean but unable to handle the shame and stigma of his disease -- took his own life. He was just 25 years old. He had struggled with addiction for nearly a decade and tried time and again to get clean and stay healthy. But addiction is a dark and lonely road for those who walk it.
Brian's death shattered my family, and tragically we are not alone. Our story is shared by hundreds of thousands of other parents across the country. Every day, about 22 million Americans struggle with addiction, and it's only getting worse. Fatal ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - December 23, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
FDA approves new opioid painkiller said to last 24 hours
Federal regulators gave the green light to a once-a-day opioid pain-relief pill that is up to 24 times more powerful than a single Vicodin but is designed to thwart the immediate release of its full — and potentially lethal — payload. (Source: Los Angeles Times - Science)
Source: Los Angeles Times - Science - November 21, 2014 Category: Science Source Type: news
