Opioids are a class of drug. Prescription opioids include oxycodone, codeine, morphine; illegal ones include opium and heroin. Opioids are very addictive. They trigger a temporary euphoria in the brain, which sets up a dopamine reward reaction. Users need to take more and more opioids to reach same level of pleasure, which can lead to dependency …
Handwritten prescriptions will be outlawed as of March 27th. Yes, come that date, all doctors in New York will be required to issue digital prescriptions under a new state law which aims to curb opioid abuse. This law will make New York the first state to mandate digital prescriptions and moreover, penalize any doctor who …
Frequent use of opioids causes long-lasting changes to the structure and biochemistry of the brain. Many of these changes are the reason why opioids are so addictive. In particular, opioids target what is called the “reward pathway.” Our brains are hardwired to reward activities that are beneficial, such as drinking water or eating, with feelings …
Patients in recovery from dependence of opioid prescription pain medication show signs that the body’s natural reward systems are normalizing. Researchers Scott C. Bunce, PhD, of Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, and colleagues found evidence of “physiological re-regulation” of disrupted brain and hormonal responses to both drug- and nondrug-related. For the study, researchers …
Researchers have discovered a similar pattern of grey-matter loss in the brain across a broad range of psychiatric disorders, suggesting that mental illnesses with differing symptoms could arise from the same neurological basis. Their findings challenge the assumption of differentiating mental disorders by symptoms rather than by brain pathology. Dr. Amit Etkin of Stanford University, …
A new bill, called the Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment Act, has been introduced to the U.S. Senate and would remove federal limitations on how many patients a certified opiate addiction treatment doctor could treat. This would open doors for more health care providers to treat a larger number of patients with opiate addiction. “We’ve …
Americans who are addicted to prescription painkillers tend to get them for free from friends and family. However, new study shows that people who use these opiates are also likely to gravitate towards doctors or dealers for their fixes. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine, U.S. government researchers found that …
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