Drug Addiction Treatment Blog

If we are going to talk about alcohol poisoning, let me take a moment to speak briefly about “binge drinking”. Binge drinking, which at least 44% of the college population has taken part in between the years of 1994-2004 takes the lives of about 50 college students every year. In excess of 1400 college students die each year from alcohol related injuries. Binge drinking is defined, by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more alcohol drinks for women.

Alcohol poisoning generally occurs when a person consumes a large quantity of alcohol over a short period of time. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, which can definitely be lethal and is capable of producing various physical, emotional and behavioral effects as it acts upon different parts of the brain.

At a low level of alcohol consumption, inhibitions are reduced with vision, movement and speech impaired. With a greater amount of alcohol coordination, reflexes and balance is affected and after that the consumption of more alcohol affects a person’s brain to the point where it’s ability to control respiration and heart rate is impaired. Lastly, a person’s heart rate can drop extremely low and breathing can cease resulting in coma or death.

To better understand alcohol poisoning, the body generally oxidizes about one ounce of alcohol (one drink) per hour. Depending how much one drinks, what they have in their stomach and how quickly they drink, it may take 45-90 minutes after a person stops drinking for them to reach their highest level of intoxication. This is why, the person who has been abusing alcohol and has passed out must be watched very closely.

Some of the symptoms of alcohol poisoning are unconsciousness, vomiting (often without awakening), shallow breathing and clammy, pale skin. If you suspect alcohol poisoning, call 911 immediately. If you suspect the person may have a problem with alcohol or is alcoholic, do your best to get them to an alcohol treatment center or drug rehab for a thorough evaluation. It is better to be safe than sorry.

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Vicodin ® addiction is a growing crisis in the United States. While illegal drugs like cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin remain in the headlines many individuals may be surprised to know that Vicodin ® addiction could lurk right behind them as one of the most widely-abused drugs of addiction. In fact, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration believes Vicodin ® may be the most abused prescription drug in the country. Nationwide, its use has quadrupled in the last ten years, while emergency room visits attributed to Vicodin ® abuse soared 500 percent.

Vicodin ® is a narcotic that can produce a calm, euphoric state similar to heroin or morphine–and despite such important and obvious benefits in pain relief, evidence is pointing to chronic addiction. Pure hydrocodone, the narcotic in Vicodin ®, is a Schedule II substance, closely controlled with restricted use. But very few prescription drugs are pure hydrocodone. Instead, small amounts of are mixed with other non-narcotic ingredients to create medicines like Vicodin ® and Lortab ®. This means they can be classified under Schedule III with fewer restrictions on their use and distribution.

Vicodin ®–one of more than 200 other products that contain hydrocodone–is regulated by state and federal law, but it is not controlled as closely as other powerful painkillers. The lack of regulation makes them vulnerable to widespread abuse and addiction through forged prescriptions, theft, over-prescription, and “doctor shopping.” Vicodin ® pills have been sold for $2 to $10 per tablet and $20 to $40 per 8 oz bottle on the street.

Subject to individual tolerance, many medical experts believe dependence or addiction can occur within one to four weeks at higher doses of Vicodin ®. Published reports of high profile movie stars, TV personalities and professional athletes who are recovering from Vicodin ® addiction are grim testimony to its debilitating effects.
Vicodin ® is structurally related to codeine and is approximately equal in strength to morphine in producing opiate-like effects. The first report that Vicodin ® produced a noticeable euphoria and symptoms of addiction was published in 1923; the first report of Vicodin ® addiction in the U.S. was published in 1961.

Every age group has been affected by the relative ease of Vicodin ® availability and the perceived safety of these products by professionals. Sometimes seen as a “white-collar” addiction, Vicodin ® abuse has increased among all ethnic and economic groups. DAWN data demographics suggest that the most likely Vicodin ® abuser is a 20-40 yr old, white, female, who uses the drug because she is dependent or trying to commit suicide. However, Vicodin ®-related deaths have been reported from every age grouping.

Examples of how severe Vicodin ® addiction has become:

• An estimated 7 million dosage units were diverted in 1994 and over 11 million in 1997.

• In 1998 there were over 56 million new prescriptions written for hydrocodone products like Vicodin and by 2000 there were over 89 million.

• From 1990 the average consumption nationwide has increased by 300%. In the same period there has been a 500% increase in the number of Emergency Department visits attributed to Vicodin abuse with 19,221 visits estimated in 2000.

• In 1997, there were over 1.3 million Vicodin tablets seized and analyzed by the DEA laboratory system.

Source: National Institute on Drug Addiction

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It has taken some time but, researchers have come to the conclusion that addiction and alcoholism are diseases and like other diseases, are chronic and those afflicted are subject to relapse. From a medical perspective, addiction can be compared to diabetes in that it will require long term treatment, lifestyle changes, medication at times and if not monitored, relapse will occur.

Experts with The National Institute of Drug Abuse feel it is not reasonable to expect a recovering addict or alcoholic to maintain lifelong abstinence with just one treatment or rehab experience. Furthermore, Dr. George Koob, a professor with the Scripps Research Institute agrees. His research has shown that approximately 80 percent of the addicts and alcoholics who experience detox return to drug or alcohol use within a year.

Discovering why addicts and alcoholics are so prone to relapse is an area great concern to all of us. One aspect we identified is that of craving. The incredible desire an addict or alcoholic still feels for the substance days, months or even years into recovery. Research has shown us that the cravings that the addict or alcoholic experience could be directly related to the long term changes in brain function, due to the drug and alcohol abuse. In essence, the brain has become conditioned to function under the influence of a drug and does not function efficiently without it.

Secondly, it has been established that cravings can be a conditioned response to triggers that the recovering addict or alcoholic may encounter, for example old people, places or things associated with the person’s prior drug or alcohol use. Relapse triggers, as they are termed, can create powerful emotional and sometimes physical responses that can lead up to incredible urges to use drugs and alcohol again. It is for this reason individuals early in sobriety are urged to change so many aspects of their life. With all of this said, it is clear that a person’s relapse is usually preceded by other difficulties which result in the addict or alcoholic feeling angry, lonely, depressed or in self pity.

The issue with relapse that is infinitely grave is not necessarily the fact that the addict or alcoholic has used or drank again, but the quantity and frequency with which they use is almost identical to right before they began their recovery. Very few, ease their way back into their drug or alcohol use. They begin as if they never stopped.

An experiment performed by Dr. Koob demonstrated that when alcohol was removed from alcoholic or addicted rats for three or four days and then returned, the rats consumed 50 percent more drugs or alcohol as they consumed before. As common as this behavior is among the people that relapse, it is one of the most misunderstood.

There is good news and that is if a relapse is caught early, it can prove to be a very valuable educational tool. The recovering addict or alcoholic might then practice the principles taught to them with more willingness and motivation than ever before.

It appears that for those people that are able to maintain long term recovery from drug addiction and alcoholism the solution is much greater than just abstaining from drugs and alcohol. The other part of the equation lies in being able to identify cravings, wait out the feelings and become aware of what actually triggered them. Through becoming aware of what triggers the craving, the recovering person can make effective changes in their “life style “ which can result fewer urges to drink or drug.

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A study of Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step oriented self-help programs finds that they can help most people recover from alcoholism and drug addiction, even those who are not religious or have health problems.
The Pacific Institute on Research and Education (PIRE) reported that researchers tracked a group of 227 alcoholics and addicts over three years and found that those who had attended AA or other self-help programs after addiction treatment or a drug rehab had higher rates of abstinence, and drank less if they did relapse. The results cut across gender and religious lines and held regardless of psychiatric history or whether the patient had previously attended AA or other similar programs.
“Here’s a widespread, chronic disorder that seems to respond well to an inexpensive resource — mutual-help groups such as AA,” said study co-author Robert Stout, Ph.D., director of the Decision Sciences Institute at PIRE. “Not only do we need to get more addicts engaged in these groups, but we also need to gather evidence on this issue and make sure that the public, policy-makers and practitioners know about it.”

Added co-author John F. Kelly: “There is a clear dose-response relationship: If you don’t go to any meetings, you have the worst outcomes. If you go to a few, you have a little bit better outcome, and if you go to a lot, you have an even better outcome.” Kelly is the associate director of the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Addiction Research Program.

The study was published in the August 2006 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

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