Relapse
Running Away From Unhealthy Behaviors
Jun 25th
Drug abuse changes all aspects of an individual’s life. There are so many detrimental behaviors that become ingrained throughout active addiction, one of which is inactivity. Moreover whatever healthy aspects of an addict’s life are overshadowed by the atrocious amounts of toxins in their system. Therefore it is crucial in sobriety to be active and healthy, in fact, it may be able to reverse or at least improve some of the damage done. Scientists have known for some time that exercise sparks growth of new brain cells in mice, particularly in the hippocampus, the area related to memory and learning. They recently also found that it boosts the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which stimulates the rate at which nerve cells bind to create new pathways, increasing the brain’s storage capacity. Getting your body in motion gets your mind moving—both enhancing mental agility in the short term and protecting against cognitive decline in the long term.
Running for A Healthy Mind
The best brain-boosting results come from heart-rate-raising exertion—specifically, running. In a study conducted by Charles Hillman, PhD, and published in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, when subjects were given memory tests both before and after 30-minute bouts of running on a treadmill, lifting weights, or sitting quietly, those who ran were significantly quicker and more accurate on the second round of tests, while the others demonstrated no change at all.
“Other types of exercise, such as yoga, might have a stress-reducing meditative component,” Baker says, “but it’s aerobic exercise that seems to make the most difference to the brain.”
There are a few theories as to why this might be: One is that dramatic changes in blood flow could bring more growth factors to the brain from other parts of the body, helping to limber up connection-forming neurons, whereas with an activity such as weight-lifting, those growth factors are likely to remain in the muscles. Another is that it improves energy metabolism, ensuring that the noggin receives sufficient glucose and fuel. And a third is that it literally clears out the gunk that makes us dullwitted. Evidently, our brains, similar to our hearts, teeth, and lifestyle can suffer from a buildup of bad stuff. Getting regular exercise over time can increase both gray and white matter in the brain and make a huge difference in how well you process and track information, stay on task, and allocate your mental resources. Considering that addicts and alcoholics have had time depleting those resources it’s about time to put all that new found energy in sobriety to good use.
Wide Awake….
Jun 24th
Drug addiction exacts a variety of ill effects on a user’s health. Among other things, drug addicts often experience disrupted sleep. The mechanism behind how the substances may change a user’s circadian rhythms remains unknown but new research on mice is providing some insight. Sleep is extremely important and our R.E.M. cycles are important, circadian rhythm genes help to regulate the brain’s reward system and could influence the addictive properties of drugs such as cocaine. Circadian gene deficient animals exhibited increased activity in the dopamine neurotransmitter system in the brain, which is heavily stimulated by cocaine use. The next step is to ascertain the affects of this gene in humans and perhaps find a link between those with low levels and the connection to habitual drug use.
Wide Awake
For example, in one study, human patients addicted to cocaine took much longer to fall asleep. Also, EEG measures of their brain activity showed that they experienced much less deep sleep than did people who did not use the drug. When the subjects were sleep deprived, their immune system had a reduced ability to fight infection. In another study, heroin patients with less than one year of methadone treatment had poor sleep, the possible cause of which could be measured at the molecular level, Gordon says. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging of these patients showed some energy-indicating molecules in their brain had failed to recover properly after sleep deprivation. Scientists also have determined that cognitive deficits characteristic of people who regularly use the street drug ecstasy may be based on drug-induced changes in sleep neurobiology. Their altered sleep patterns, cognitive deficits, and impulsivity may be worsened by high levels of catecholamines, brain chemicals that the body produces in response to stress.
Although the neurobiology underlying the sleep disturbance can be directly related to the disease process itself, it is often impossible to determine cause and effect. Therefore, it is important to study both sleep and the disease simultaneously to get a full understanding. Researchers also are trying to identify the neurobiological factors that help explain a recovering addict’s vulnerability to relapse.
“Drug addiction is characterized by compulsive drug taking, which occurs even though addicts understand that the behavior is harmful to them. It is also a chronic disorder. Addicts find it extremely difficult to suppress drug taking and often relapse, even after years of abstinence,” says Laura Peoples, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.
The compulsive nature of the behavior and the ever present vulnerability to relapse suggests that drug addiction is accompanied by long-lasting changes in those parts of the brain that control motivation and behavioral choice. Recent findings have led to a new hypothesis, that experience- and activity-dependent adaptations cause a progressive and persistent increase in the response of specific neurons to specific signals that promote drug-seeking relative to the signals that facilitate other motivated behaviors.
It’s Harder If You Start Young
Jun 11th
Young and Loaded
A NIDA-funded study has demonstrated that the relapse rate for heroin addicts increases with time and that the probability of long-term abstinence depends on the age of first drug use. Those who start daily heroin use at a younger age are more likely to relapse than those who start later. Heroin is not the only type of drug that has ill effects if consumed at a young age.
Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana. For example, the risk of using cocaine is much greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it. Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. So there is more of a risk that a marijuana user will be exposed to and urged to try more drugs. To better determine this risk, scientists are examining the possibility that long-term marijuana use may create changes in the brain that make a person more at risk of becoming addicted to other drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine. Therefore, if during the crucial developmental stages there are chemicals added to the brain chemistry evoking feelings of happiness, belonging, and/or excitement; the brain will be more likely to consistently resort to those methods (drugs) in order to experience those emotions due to the lack of practice in experiencing those feelings organically.
Want vs. Consequences
Jun 1st
Relapse
Relapse prevention is crucial to an addict’s recovery. Relapse, although it doesn’t have to be, is a prominent feature of addiction, and one of the most painful. Most people who struggle with addiction will have one or more relapses – the return to drug use after a drug-free period – during their ongoing attempts to recover. This can be extremely frustrating for patients and for families, as they have already experienced great pain. Even more interesting, researchers could prevent these relapses by treating rats with a molecule that blocks glutamate signals, suggesting that this chemical might be investigated as a new treatment to prevent relapse in former cocaine-addicts. “Since wanting a drug is more directly connected to relapse [than liking it], glutamate could prove a promising target for new drug developments designed to treat cocaine addiction,” Vorel says. “Considering all the social and economic aspects of drug abuse, pharmacological intervention alone may not solve the burden. But it could help cocaine abusers which number 1.8 million in the U.S. alone.”
Relapse happens with all addictive drugs not just cocaine there are multiple – and often interactive – factors can increase the likelihood of relapse. These are some of the commonly cited precursors:
- drug-related “reminder” cues (sights, sounds, smells, drug thoughts or drug dreams) tightly linked to use of the preferred drug(s) can trigger craving and drug seeking
- negative mood states or stress
- positive mood states or celebrations
- sampling the drug itself, even in very small amounts
The motivation to seek a drug, once triggered, can feel overwhelming and sometimes leads to very poor decision making: the user will pursue the drug, despite potentially disastrous future negative consequences (and many past negative consequences). The most confusing part about relapse for someone who is not an addict, is that decision to relapse is made from a sober state of mind. The importance of a strong program and a defined support group is the foundation upon which a better decision process can be made.
Brain-imaging is aiding the medical field to understand the paradox of the decision to pursue a drug reward despite knowing the consequences. For example, very recent imaging research shows that visual drug cues as short as 33 milliseconds can activate the ancient reward (“go”) circuitry, and that this process does not require conscious processing – it can begin outside awareness. By the time the motivation does reach awareness the reward circuit has a strong head start. This head start means the area of the brain is responsible for weighing the consequences of a decision and for helping to “stop” the drug thoughts is already behind in the process and without a sufficient block or contrary action the addict is well on their way to relapse.
A Program For Recovery
May 6th
Treatment for Addiction
Substance abuse programs, can be the introduction to the program that can provide lasting sobriety. Interestingly, medical professionals do not have any pharmaceutical remedies for drug/alcohol addiction, which is often resistant to talk therapy only. Furthermore, relapse rates run as high as 40 to 60 percent for many types of substance abuse. Although, Heroin addicts often benefit from methadone, a synthetic opioid that thwarts cravings by substituting for some of heroin’s effects; naltrexone, an opioid receptor blocker, helps alcoholics kick their habit by reducing the desire for alcohol. But most victims of drug dependence are left with no antidote to the neurological havoc their habit has wrought in their brain.
“We have very few medications for the treatment of addiction,” says Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), “and it’s urgent” that more such drugs are developed.
The urgency for drugs that aid the detox process are crucial. More importantly they allow the user to be open to new ideas and calm the mind enough to seek change. While in the grip of detox, the addict wants nothing more than to stop the pain. Therefore, advancements in medications for addiction give the addicted a better chance of gaining a foothold in changing and laying the foundation for a way of life that requires responsibility to ones own journey. Currently, the only miracle cure “medicine” for lasting sobriety has been adhering to a 12 step program post-treatment, developing a fellowship, and being of service.