File this one under Strange but True. Researchers have uncovered evidence that people with a certain condition can get drunk without drinking. They’ve dubbed it Auto-Brewery Syndrome, a condition where the body creates alcohol inside the stomach He was acting drunk but swore he was sober. Turns out his stomach was making its own beer.…
Medical News Today reports that a pilot study appearing in Journal of Breath Research has revealed there’s a promising breath test on the horizon that could offer close to real time opioid detection almost anywhere: a person’s home, a drug treatment facility, the roadside, “emergency response situations, and other areas with limited healthcare access.” The…
Another Black Friday has come and gone and that means we are in the full throes of the holiday season. The marketing campaigns, bright lights and holiday music have already told us that this is the “festive” time of year. And it’s true, the holiday season is a time for fun, joy and merriment, but…
Picture a typical urgent care on Saturday night. In one roomette, a man is sitting on the bed holding his bandaged arm. He has cut it on a broken window and says it’s pretty bad. In another bed a teenage girl is complaining of intestinal pain. She’s been out of the country and wonders if…
So-called “Magic Mushrooms” are now legal in a couple major cities and this development has many in the mental health and addiction recovery fields wondering about what this means. Is the decriminalization of a previously “scheduled” drug a sign of impending harm on those who partake, or do these substances actually have utility in treating…
In August, the renowned New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote an opinion piece about the pioneering step Seattle has taken regarding drug users: anyone caught with a small amount of drugs—even heroin—isn’t prosecuted. Instead, that person is steered toward social services to get help. Kristof characterizes it as “a partial retreat in the war…
The number of people suffering from substance use disorder who think they won’t end up in jail is probably large—especially if they have good jobs and therefore consider themselves to be ‘functional alcoholics/drug users’. ‘Functional addicts’ who are able to hold down a job and otherwise keep pace with life’s responsibilities never think the worst…
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and is a way to help people work through traumatic life events. WebMD explains it’s a nontraditional therapy that’s growing in popularity, especially for treating PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder, which people can experience after military combat, physical assault, rape, or car accidents.) Note that because it’s non-traditional,…
Have you seen the articles saying that drinking less is trendy, or trending? “The New Sobriety, Where it’s OK to Drink a Little,” one headline proclaims, and the subhead explains “Everyone is sober now. Even if …they drink a little?” In the article itself, “Sobriety has become ‘the new black’,” is quoted from another website.…
If you’re at all knowledgeable about addiction (such as if you know it’s officially called substance use disorder), you likely know about sober family members being called codependent, and the need to set boundaries with a person drinking to excess or taking drugs. Otherwise, you’re “enabling,” not helping, which is not healthy for you, either.…
