Alcohol Detox and Withdrawal

Alcohol detoxification, although a misnomer, is more commonly known as alcohol detox. This treatment mechanism is for individuals with high alcohol dependence and it involves abrupt stop of alcohol intake allied with with the substitution of alcohol. This substitution is combined with certain drugs which pose similar effects so that there are no withdrawal symptoms.

The reason why the term detoxification is a misnomer is that the detox process do not involve removing the toxic substances from the body as the name suggests. Detoxification may or may not be necessary depending upon an individual’s age, medical status, and history of alcohol intake.

There are lot of alcohol drug detox available in the market. Some of these drugs include the Benzodiazepines such as chlordiazepoxide (Librium), diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan) or oxazepam (Serax). These mentioned varieties are most commonly used drugs whcih are used to reduce alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

What are some of the withdrawal symptoms?

Withdrawal symptoms in the case of Alcohol Detox include: feeling sick, trembling, sweating, craving for alcohol and just feeling awful. Sometimes, convulsions occur in a small number of cases. As a result, you drink alcohol regularly and depend on it to prevent these symptoms.

Delirium tremens (DTs) is a more severe reaction after stopping alcohol. It occurs in about 1 in 20 people who have alcohol withdrawal symptoms about 2-3 days after their last drink. Symptoms include: marked tremor (the shakes) and delirium (agitation, confusion and seeing and hearing things that are not there).

There are several alcohol treatment patterns in which Benzodiazepines can be used to treat alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The first option takes into consideration the varying degrees of tolerance. In it, a standard dose of the benzodiazepine is given every half hour until light sedation is reached. Once a baseline dose is determined, the medication is tapered over the ensuing 3–10 days. Other option is to give a standard dose of benzodiazepine based on history and adjust based on withdrawal phenomenon.

Personal Health Record

The Ditital Health Record is a wide electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician’s workflow.

Your Personal Health Record is utilized to provide personalized disease & drug information, wellness services, products, directories, and doctor appointments. It is your private and secure medical data repository. Access to any information by health care providers requires your verified permission.

Digital Personal Record is an internet-accessible application that provides a patient with a “form” that they simply print and fill-in using a pen or pencil could be included, as could an application that enables a patient to “view” and annotate a portion of the clinician’s actual office-based electronic medical record via a secure connection to the Internet.

In the United States, a group of companies including Walmart and AT&T have collaborated for the creation of a Web-based framework for PHRs, known as Dossia. The presonal health record is an evolving concept defined as a systematic collection of electronic health information about individual patients or populations. It is a record in digital format that is capable of being shared across different health care settings, by being embedded in network-connected enterprise-wide information systems. Such records may include a whole range of data in comprehensive or summary form, including demographics, medical history, medication and allergies, immunization status, laboratory test results, radiology images, vital signs, personal stats like age and weight, and billing information.

The PHR is an ill-defined concept that has been developing over several years. The term has been applied to both paper-based and computerized systems; however, current usage usually implies an electronic resource. In recent years, several formal definitions of the term have been proposed by various organizations PHRs can contain a diverse range of data but usually include information about: allergies and adverse drug reactions, medications, etc.

Drug Rehabilitation Fundamentals

Drug Rehabilitation is a term for the technique of medical or psychotherapeutic cure for dependency on substance mainly psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs like cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. The primary treatment known as drug rehabilitation is commonly followed by after care, follow-up, and vocational rehabilitation services. There are many different options available across the country including the famous ones known as new jersey rehab centers.

How families of the affected people can help?

1. Family can accept that addiction is a serious problem
2. Calmly discuss addiction and related problems openly
3. Start communicating honestly and openly to the other members in the family about their concerns
4. Plan one day at a time and start executing their plans
5. Start looking after their own needs and the needs of other members in the family
6. Stop protecting him by covering up the consequences of his drug / alcohol use
7. Not to feel or give the impression that the addict is doing them a favour by not ‘using’

Modern new jersey rehab centers apply various methods, both scientific and traditional, pharmaceutical and even spiritual, in order to keep their patient beat off their potentially deadly substance addictions. Some of current detoxifications techniques, which are particularly worth stating, are the Waismann Rapid Detoxification Method and the rehab method developed by L. Ron Hubbard.

Stages of Drug Rehab

1. Natural detox and medical detox are both the means by which an individual overcomes their physical addiction to drugs and alcohol. During detox, the individual may experience a number of withdrawal symptoms – uncomfortable sensations that occur as the system readjust to life without drugs or alcohol.
2. Counseling. Once the detox process is complete, the individual is free to begin counseling. Counseling and therapy represent the true heart of any alcohol and drug rehab program as the individual is able to explore and address the root causes of his or her addiction. There are three primary types of counseling available at most rehab programs: individual, group and family.
3. Aftercare. The final component of addiction treatment, aftercare helps individuals adjust to life without drugs and alcohol. When an individual leaves a rehab program, they face a number of challenges, including stress, temptation and distraction. Aftercare helps the individual cope with these issues in the healthiest manner possible. This is the speciality in the new jersey rehab.

How quickly do antidepressants work?

Most treatment guidelines suggest that antidepressants may take many weeks to work. It is argued that even if the current treatment seems ineffective, it should be persisted with for several weeks or even months. The Mood Disorders Unit interprets the evidence differently.
If medication is likely to be effective, evidence of at least some improvement should appear in the first ten days or so, whether it is an improvement in mood, sleep, or other features. For melancholic and psychotic depression, the rate of improvement is generally slower (but relatively constant). It may, in fact, appear painfully slow.
If no improvement is noted in the first two weeks after commencing an antidepressant, the dose of that drug may need to be increased, a change to another class of antidepressant may be required, or ‘augmenting’ strategies (the addition of quite differing drugs) may need to be introduced. Unfortunately, when changing from one drug to another, days to weeks may pass before success can be established. It might also be the case that non-drug strategies will be more effective in bringing the depression to an end.

Augmentation of antidepressant drugs
The effectiveness of some antidepressants can be increased by the use of adjunctive or augmentation drugs, for example, thyroid hormones or lithium.
There is increasing evidence to suggest that the new ‘atypical’ antipsychotic drugs may also have augmenting effects on antidepressants, often working rapidly and also being able to be ceased rapidly in many instances. While not investigated formally, the benefits of such augmenting drugs may only be relevant to melancholic and psychotic depression.

SSRI Pregnancy Concerns

SSRIs (antidepressants) have had somewhat of a panacea status with physicians prescribing the meds for all sorts of off label usage, particularly during the boom of the drugs existence over the past half decade. However, there has been a steady reporting of concerns related to the drugs as time progresses. Most people have heard about the adolescent suicide risk associated with the medication, and a new study is reporting that mothers taking the drugs put their newborns at risk for being under-weight and having respiratory problems.

”There was a significantly greater incidence of respiratory distress (13.9% vs. 7.8%) and longer hospital stays for infants born to depressed mothers on SSRIs than those born to untreated depressed mothers, the team reports in the Archives of General Psychiatry.”

Obviously, people should consult with their psychiatrists or health care providers for specific treatment information. I think the overall effect of some of these stories is going to be that people are more cautious about taking the drugs, and asking more pointed questions about their treatment.

What to Do About Antidepressants If You Are Nursing

There is no evidence to support fears that taking an antidepressant while nursing I harmful to the infant. Dr. Cynthia Neill Epperson of Yale University is one of the many researchers who have put this to the test. She recruited infants of depressed mothers, some breast-fed and others not, and then measured the level of antidepressant (in her work, Zoloft, which targets   serotonin) and of serotonin in the infants’ blood. Reporting on her work, Epperson states that she detected no Zoloft in their bloodstreams and that there was no change in the level of serotonin in most of the infants. She concluded, with the scientist’s reserve, that “it does not appear that the administration of Zoloft in breast-feeding women is likely to have a physiologic effect on their children.”
 Many depressed women derive much-needed joy from breast-feeding and become even more upset when deprived of the opportunity. Physicians who still caution against combining antidepressants with feeding except when the illness is severe recommend substituting a bottle once or twice a day to further reduce any possible risk. As always with depression, each sufferer should take into consideration all the known facts and with the of her doctor   make an informed decision. What is right for one person may be wrong for another.

Zoloft withdrawal and depression

Zoloft is a member of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor family, which increases serotonin levels in the synapse by blocking serotonin reuptake into brain cells. Zoloft is a drug that was released by the Pfizer corporation in 1991 which aimed at fighting depression. The FDA approved Zoloft in October of 1997. 

Depression Medication

Antidepressants or depression medication are drugs specially designed to overcome the problems in brain chemistry that cause depression.
Antidepressants are much more specific than painkillers. The SSRI drugs (marketed as Prozac, Seroxat, Lustral, etc) work specially to raise the levels of serotonin in the brain. Others raise the levels of noradrenalin. Lack of these mood-enhancing substances can cause depression. Raising their levels, a process that usually takes about 10 days, is usually very helpful.
There are side effects but they are often mild, short-lived and pale into insignificance as the depression improves.