Later, feeling regret for food choices made, the individual will purge calories. Purging is usually done by self-induced vomiting or by the use of laxatives.

An article posted on Seattle PI discussed the possible removal of ipecac from store shelves in the state of New York. State legislators must decide whether the substance should be placed behind the pharmacy counter in order to prevent those with eating disorders from stocking up on it.

The legislation is being pushed through to Governor Cuomo by Debbie Begeny, of the Buffalo suburb of Kenmore. Begeny’s daughter died of cardiac arrest related to her anorexia nervosa after using ipecac for many weeks. Many with eating disorders use the substance to purge unwanted calories from their bodies.

Traditionally, ipecac has been used in the household as part of standard first-aid kits. When a child ingested a toxic chemical, parents were advised to use ipecac to induce vomiting. However, pediatricians now rarely advise the use of ipecac for this purpose. The legislation would place the substance behind the counter and require the documentation of the consumer using ipecac to prevent any individual from stocking up at home.

Several prescription medications can cause problems with patients’ sex life, but it can be difficult to pinpoint which medication is responsible, or if life factors are part of the problem. Factors like stress, emotional disturbances and anxiety can all interfere with sexual performance or complicate the side effects from medications.

Medications like antidepressants are long-known to cause sexual side effects like erectile dysfunction and decreased sexual interest, a problem estimated to affect up to 50 percent of patients who are receiving treatment for depression. This is especially true with SSRI antidepressants, which can also prevent a patient from reaching orgasm. Tricyclic antidepressants cause similar problems. Because patients may stop taking these important medications due to sexual side effects, physicians are encouraged to talk with patients about sexual problems and modify the dosages if needed, but only under a doctor’s supervision.

For people with high blood pressure and heart problems, certain medications, such as lisinopril or enalapril can cause impotence. Even some eye drops in the beta-blocker family of drugs can cause sexual problems. For male patients fighting high cholesterol who are taking medications like fibrates or statins, the inability to become aroused may also be a problem.

A range of other conditions – including acid reflux, epilepsy, anxiety, chronic pain or ulcer treatments – also have prescription treatments that are linked to a lack of interest in sex and the inability to perform sexually. Many patients may not be aware that these side effects can occur, making patient education a critical component whenever a prescription is started. If patients suspect their medication may cause sexual dysfunction, they may stop taking it and put their health or lives at risk.

Instead, patients can be switched to a different medication or their dose can be adjusted. Taking medications at different times of the day may also help with sexual problems. In some cases, medications for erectile dysfunction are not recommended to treat sexual problems caused by other medications because additional side effects can occur.

For some patients, just giving the medication time can help ease sexual problems. The problems may lessen as the medication is taken for longer periods. Sometimes patients can set aside times to engage in sexual activity, based upon when they took their medications, in order to help offset some of the side effects.

As physicians and patients work together to discuss and explore side effects and options, a right combination of medications with decreased sexual problems can often be reached, preventing dangerous self-adjustments to prescriptions and helping ensure successful treatment for illnesses without compromising the benefits of a healthy sex life.

A recent Medical News Today report examined how individuals recovering from opiate dependence reported acute withdrawal symptoms. While these symptoms can pass relatively quickly, individuals with this addiction also report that it is often weeks or months before they report feeling “normal.”

Often referred to as “protracted abstinence syndrome,” the period of time after opiates are withdrawn from the system generally involves a cluster of vague, depression-like symptoms that can include reduced concentration, poor sleep quality, a low energy level and even anhedonia.

French researchers set out to examine this phenomenon in mice. The animals had chronic morphine exposure and demonstrated decreasing physical dependence after the morphine was withdrawn. After four weeks, the mice no longer had any physical withdrawal. By contrast, after weeks of abstinence, the mice had low sociability and despair.

When the mice were treated with the antidepressant fluoxetine, researchers found that they were able to prevent the development of both social aversion and despair behaviors. The group believes the fluoxetine was successful because it targets the serotonin system, which is known to influence the mood.

The senior author on the study explained that the findings from this research suggest there is a direct link between an abstinence from morphine and depressive-like symptoms. She says the study suggests a causal effect of serotonin dysfunction in the depression features that are associated with abstinence.

For too many individuals, that method of coping is through substance use, abuse and addiction. A desire to feel good can be powerful, pushing a person to try different things to achieve that goal. If the substance makes the person feel good, they associate that with feeling safe.

Unconsciously, the individual begins to associate the consumption of the substance with feeling better. As a result, the next time he or she does not feel safe, the substance is consumed once again. Before long, this becomes a habit, creating an addiction to the substance. While this is a common occurrence and often referred to as a coping mechanism, it is not the only action an individual may take to push away pain.

Believe it or not, addictions come in many forms and an individual does not have to begin consuming a substance like drugs or alcohol to develop a coping mechanism or an addiction. A number of individuals have been known to develop an addiction to television, walking, eating, exercising, reading, smoking, the Internet, coffee and even celebrities.

Individuals in all walks of life have implemented coping strategies. Whenever a person understands what things need to happen to feel better, they will quickly navigate to those things. The problem in coping mechanisms arises when the individual relies on these things to feel better or cannot achieve a positive frame of mind without them.

The difficulty in breaking this cycle is that many people do not understand why they take a certain action. While it may be clear to the individual that he or she is taking a drug or consuming alcohol to escape pain, it is not always clear that another individual spends hours exercising to try and accomplish the same thing. Coping mechanisms come in many forms and while they can be important in certain situations, they can also be debilitating when they become a way of life.

In some cases, this way of life becomes mental illness. As a coping mechanism, many individuals have learned to manipulate the mind in order to survive certain situations. In extreme situations, disassociation, multiple personalities and amnesia are all ingenious and remarkable coping mechanisms that individuals of all ages have been known to learn in order to survive intolerable situations.

When this behavior is “learned”, this opens up a whole new area of debate over whether or not mental illness is a disease or only a coping mechanism. Effectively identifying the proper association is the first step to treatment. We all need ways to cope with certain situations, but when coping mechanisms become all-consuming and we cannot function without them, an addiction is born.
 

A Science Daily release focused on a study that found more than 230,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans sought treatment for the first time at VA healthcare facilities between 2002 and 2008 throughout the nation.

Those treatments that have been identified as most effective for PTSD typically require 10-12 weekly sessions. The challenge is that fewer than ten percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with newly diagnosed PTSD complete this recommended dose of treatment.

The study found that there are groups of veterans that are less likely to receive adequate care than others, such as male veterans, those under the age of 25, veterans who received their PTSD diagnoses from primary care clinics and veterans living in rural areas.

According to Dr. Karen Seal, head researcher for the study and practitioner at the San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center, the majority of veterans with PTSD attend at least one mental health follow-up visit, yet there are sill barriers to care that prevent the majority from completing PTSD treatment, including barriers at the system-level and personal.