Inhalant Abusers Are Older Than You Think

My mom is doing what??

While traditional thinking has led us to believe that adolescents are the ones most likely to try inhalants, a new report has shown that a significant number of inhalant abusers are actually adults. The term inhalants, refers to the vapors from toxic substances which are inhaled in order to reach a quick high. People who abuse inhalants inhale the chemical vapors directly from open containers, also called “sniffing,” or breathe the fumes from rags soaked in chemicals, also called “huffing,” and “bagging,” where the user may inhale fumes from substances inside a paper or plastic bag. Some even go so far as to spray the substance directly into the nose or mouth, or pour it onto their collar, sleeves or cuffs and sniff them periodically. Inhalants can produce mind-altering effects; while chronic use can also cause irreversible damage to the brain, kidneys and lungs as well as death.

There are more than 1,000 products that can be abused by inhalants and can be found simply laying around the house. You know that glue you bought to help your daughter with her arts and crafts? It is one of the products most often abused as an inhalant. These are products that are easily purchased at drugstores and other stores alike throughout your neighborhood. As we have been under the belief that adolescents were the ones most likely to abuse inhalants, it has become commonplace for store employees to refuse to sell certain items that can be used as inhalants to those under 18. However, most don’t think twice when selling the same product to an adult, under the impression that they are all responsible enough not to abuse it.

Yet, as stated above, a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, has shown that 54 percent of treatment admissions related to inhalants abuse in 2008 involved adults ages 18 or older. For example, Erin Davis, a 42-year-old mother of a 16-year old daughter explained, “I am an adult, not a teenager, and know firsthand how these inhalants can destroy your life.” She explained that she inhaled computer duster for two years, starting when she was 38 years old and went on to say that, “the people that I used with were all over the age of 34.”

The findings from SAMHSA’s study highlight the magnitude of the inhalant problem among adults, finding that an estimated 1.1 million adults over the age of 18 have used inhalants in the past year. Now that’s a pretty big number. As H. Westley Clark, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., director of SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment said, “Inhalant abuse is an equal opportunity killer that does not discriminate on the basis of age, background, or gender. Although we have been understandably focused for many years on the danger huffing poses to our kids, these new data highlight the need for everyone to be aware of and effectively address the serious risks it poses to adults and all segments of our society.”


Tweet

Drunkorexia

Sure, we have all heard of Anorexia and Bulimia, the two most common eating disorders plaguing our society today, but Drunkorexia? What’s that?

While women are more commonly associated with eating disorders, more than a million males also battle the illness every day, especially in regards to college. Between fraternity binge drinking and the social norms of alcohol on campus, guys are also trying to find ways to control their weight while having a good time as well. That’s where the term Drunkorexia comes into play.

While Drunkorexia isn’t yet considered a medical term, it has become the new slang term used to describe the behavior of someone who skips meals in order to save calories for alcoholic beverages, as well as someone who abuses the overconsumption of alcohol to purge food. Among those that fall into the Drunkorexia category are college-age binge drinkers, starving themselves all day in order to offset the calories they consume that night in alcohol.

While one might think that anorexics would avoid alcohol because of its high calorie count, alcohol abuse by anorexics has become an increasingly common trend. Some drink to calm down or ease the anxiety of having indulged in a meal. Others consume alcohol as their only sustenance; while on the other hand, others still use drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine to suppress their appetites.

According to Douglas Bunnell, the director of outpatient clinical services for the Renfew Center, “There are women who are afraid to put a grape in their mouth but have no problem drinking a beer.” Our society has an obsession with being skinny and combined with the social acceptance of drinking and using drugs, problems can occur. As Bunnell states, “Both disorders are behaviors that are glorified and reinforced, binge drinking is almost cool and hip, and losing weight and being thin is a cultural imperative for young women in America. Mixing both is not surprising, and it has reached a tipping point in terms of public awareness.”

Psychologists stress that the main cause of Drunkorexia is addiction itself. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “alcoholism and eating disorders frequently co-occur and often co-occur in the presence of other psychiatric and personality disorders.” While, as stated earlier, Drunkorexia isn’t considered a medical term yet, a growing number of researchers have begun to examine the psychological and neurological links between eating disorders and substance abuse.


Tweet

Relieving Stress with Alcohol May Increase Stress Later

“I don’t drink every night; I’m just having fun with my friends!” or “We’re celebrating tonight, so let’s go big!” or “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!”

Have you ever said or thought any of those statements?

When you can’t immediately see the negative consequences that go along with your actions, it is very easy to make the leap to “if nothing bad is happening now while I’m young, then my actions won’t cause any negative consequences in the future as well…right?”

Wrong. In regards to alcohol abuse and binge drinking during adolescence, the exact opposite has proven to be true.

Binge drinking is defined as consuming more than four or five drinks in a single session. According to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 36 percent of youths between the ages of 18 to 20 reported at least one binge-drinking episode during the past 30 days. The majority of college students are between the ages of 18 and 20, and with finals right around the corner, many will turn to binge drinking as a way to let loose and try to take away from all the stress final papers and tests bring. However, many don’t realize that while they may feel as if they are relieving stress now, in reality they may be shaping themselves up for even more stress among other negative consequences in adulthood, as a result of binge drinking.

The findings from a study done by researchers from the Loyola School of Medicine, suggest that alcohol exposure during puberty permanently alters the system by which the brain triggers the body to produce stress hormones. In essence, exposing young people to alcohol could permanently disrupt connections in the brain that are normally formed during puberty and are necessary to ensure healthy adult brain function.

In addition, teenage binge drinking has also been linked to damage to one’s prospective memory. Prospective memory is the cognitive ability to remember to carry out an activity at some future point in time. For example, you use your prospective memory when you remember to pay your rent on the first of the month. Imagine forgetting to pay your rent on time and getting evicted from your house or apartment. How horrible would that be?

And it doesn’t stop there; these examples are only two on a long list of ways in which binge drinking as an adolescent can affect you well into adulthood. Other negative consequences that may occur in adulthood as a result of binge drinking include:

An increased risk of anxiety
An increased risk of depression
An increased risk of stroke or heart-related death in men with high blood pressure
An increased risk in developing alcoholism
Face social exclusion as adults
Find themselves with a string of criminal convictions in adulthood
An increase in the risk for hemorrhagic stroke

When you reach for the bottle the night you finish your finals take a minute to think about your future.


Tweet

Drug Rehab and Alcohol Treatment Center Smoking Bans

Can smoking cigarettes during your drug rehab and alcohol treatment determine whether you have recovery success or not? Rehab centers are beginning to think so.

Recently, a new tobacco-free policy was instituted at an Ohio women’s drug abuse treatment center. While tobacco-free treatment facilities began in New Jersey during the 1990’s, this treatment center was the first in Ohio to go tobacco free. Tobacco-free facilities have begun to make their way to other parts of the country as well.

Now did banning smoking really make a difference at the treatment center in Ohio? Yes…just not in the way they were expecting.

In a study done during the first few months after the tobacco-free policy was instituted, it was found that both smokers and non-smokers alike were more likely to leave treatment early. The researchers also found that the percentage of patients who completed their program at the women’s center decreased from 70 to 42 percent. The success rate wasn’t the only thing that dropped, the average number of days that patients remained in the program dropped from 61 to 48 days. Those are both pretty substantial decreases in just a few months.

Drug rehab and alcohol treatment facilities have generally tended to allow patients to smoke because many believe that treating someone for smoking in addition to other substance abuse is just too difficult and will likely end in failure. In addition many facilities fear that simply, banning smoking will cause them to lose business. The other train of thought is that since many patients use cigarettes as a crutch to help them cope while trying to defeat other addictions, their smoking could pose to be just as much of a problem.

Gretchen Hammond, who works for Amethyst Inc. in Ohio stated, “You behave very similarly with a cigarette as you would with any drug. For example, if I’m having a bad day I’ll try to smoke it away verses talking to someone or going to therapy and working on the problem.”

Now which train of thought is better? There is no definite answer yet. The results from the previously mentioned study in Ohio, don’t necessarily mean that treatment centers shouldn’t try and implement smoking bans, but rather shine a light on the challenges that are associated with implementing a new policy which goes against years and years of conventional thinking.

Have you ever tried to change an extremely stubborn friend’s mind? It’s hard isn’t it? With no definite answer, the question remains, to ban smoking in treatment centers or to not ban smoking?


Tweet

Getting Dressed Up For An Alcohol Related Accident

With prom and graduation right around the corner, these next few months should be some of the happiest moments of one’s teenage years, not a time clouded by tragedy. Sadly the two seem to go hand in hand more often than they should.

Annually, parents and communities nationwide are forced to face the sad reality of mourning the death of a young life cut off before its prime. A national study of more than 2,500 eleventh and twelfth graders found that 90 percent of teens believe their peers are more likely to drink and drive on prom night, and that 79 percent believe that the same holds true for graduation night. However, this belief doesn’t necessarily translate to concern over the dangers of drinking and driving on prom and graduation night. According to the study only 29 percent and 25 percent of teens say that driving on prom night and graduation night, respectively, is dangerous.

Every year between the months of April, May, and June, YouTube, Facebook, newspapers, and television alike are laden with tales of tragedy about carless and drunk driving on prom and graduation nights. Unfortunately, an “it won’t happen to me” attitude has become prevalent in teens today diminishing the truth that this is a very real problem- Alcohol abuse. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2007, there were 380 teen alcohol-related fatalities during prom and graduation season. In 2001 alone, there were 1,012 fatalities of children under the age of 21 as a result of alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

It’s no secret that children under the age of 21 are drinking alcohol. To help keep teenagers safe during these monumental occasions, Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) recommend that parents maintain an open line of communication with their children in regards to drinking, and set clear and straight-forward rules for major events such as prom and graduation.

Prom and Graduation should be joyous occasions for everyone, where kids get dressed up for dancing and fancy dinners- Not for funerals.


Tweet