FDA Panel Votes to Toughen Restrictions on Hydrocodone Combination Drugs

By Join Together Staff | January 28, 2013 | 1 Comment | Filed in Government, Healthcare, Prescription Drugs & Prevention

A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted Friday to strengthen restrictions on hydrocodone combination drugs, such as Vicodin. The panel recommended that the FDA make the drugs more difficult to prescribe.

Supporters of the panel’s recommendation say it could help reduce addiction to painkillers, The New York Times reports. The agency is likely to adopt the panel’s proposal, the article notes.

The panel made the recommendation in a 19-to-10 vote. Opponents were skeptical the proposal would be effective against prescription drug abuse. They also were concerned the changes would make it more difficult for patients in chronic pain to obtain relief. At the two-day FDA hearing about the proposal, opponents noted it would require frail nursing home residents to make a trip to the doctor’s office to obtain pain prescriptions.

The proposal forbids refills without a new prescription, as well as faxed prescriptions and those called in by phone. Distributors of the drugs would have to store the drugs in special vaults. Nurse practitioners and physician assistants would be banned from prescribing the drugs.

Some panelists said the proposal could have the unintended effect of increasing abuse of other drugs, such as heroin.

“Many of us are concerned that the more stringent controls will eventually lead to different problems, which may be worse,” said Dr. John Mendelson, a senior scientist at the Addiction and Pharmacology Research Laboratory at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco.

The FDA convened the panel at the request of the Drug Enforcement Administration. If the FDA accepts the panel’s recommendation, it will be sent to the Department of Health and Human Services, which will make the final decision.

Living Free Every Day®

Ruled by Rage

Today's Scripture
"Discipline your son while there is hope, but do not [indulge your angry resentments by undue chastisements and] set yourself to his ruin." - Proverbs 19:18 
Thoughts for Today
This week we are looking at five types of dysfunctional families (described in The Thin Disguise by Pam Vredevelt) that can lead to the development of eating disorders. Perhaps you or someone you know has a loved one struggling with an eating disorder. Or perhaps you will identify some potentially harmful characteristic that needs to be addressed in your family.
In the "Rageaholic Family" only the parents (one or both) are allowed to express feelings. The predominant feeling is rage or anger. Unfortunately, the children are taught to believe that they are responsible for that anger. Mothers in rageaholic families may have anger and rage from their family of origin, and in some cases the daughter becomes an "emotional receptacle" for that rage. Although the mother is in actuality angry with herself and her parents, she pushes that anger onto her daughter.
Children in rageaholic families learn to repress their anger completely. This repressed anger can cause stress, bitterness and depression, leading to many types of inappropriate behavior.
(Note: We are grateful to Pam Vredevelt for her keen insights.)
Consider this …
Although there are appropriate times to discipline our children—always in love—we are not to be controlled by anger. And sometimes anger vented on children does not even relate to their behavior—it comes from a parent struggling with rage or bitterness caused by something else altogether. Today's scripture makes it clear that angry resentments and undue chastisements can lead to our child's ruin.
Prayer
Father, forgive me for sometimes taking out my anger on my children. Help me to admit when I've been wrong and allow my children to see that they are not at fault for my unfair words and actions. Help me to be sensitive to my children's honest feelings and to allow them to feel safe in expressing them. In Jesus' name …
These thoughts were drawn from …
Seeing Yourself in God's Image: Overcoming Anorexia and Bulimia by Martha Homme, MA, LPC. Written by a counselor with experience helping those with eating disorders, this study is born from her own struggles in adolescence. The group challenges members to find their identity in Christ as they overcome this difficult struggle. This guide offers understanding of distorted body image, denial, and the family systems influence. It also explains how to break free of social pressures and how to restore the temple and tie the recovery process together. A companion booklet Seeing Your Loved One in God's Image, can be used as a quick reference guide dealing with issues associated with eating disorders. Note: This curriculum was written especially for small groups, and we encourage people to use it that way. However, it can also be used effectively as a personal study for individuals or couples.
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Ivy League Universities Unveil New Programs to Combat Drinking

By Join Together Staff | January 25, 2013 | 1 Comment | Filed in Alcohol, Prevention & Young Adults

This fall, seven of the eight Ivy League universities introduced new alcohol policies in an effort to combat high-risk drinking, the Yale Daily News reports.

The new policies at Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard emphasize educational programming over direct disciplinary approaches, the article notes.

“We are in a wave where many universities are trying to curb high-risk drinking,” Yale Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Affairs Melanie Boyd told the newspaper. “There is a lot of research that high-risk drinking has risen in recent years.”

Close to 40 percent of college students in the United States engage in binge drinking, and that number has remained virtually unchanged for decades. Almost 2,000 college students in the U.S. die each year from alcohol-related injuries. An estimated 600,000 students are injured while under the influence, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Administrators from Dartmouth launched the National College Health Improvement Project in 2010. This project includes 32 colleges and universities that are collecting data on the effectiveness of alcohol regulation policies on campus.

At Yale, all off-campus parties must now be registered with the Dean’s Office. Two new committees have been formed to address alcohol and drug use among students. Students at several Ivy League institutions said a number of new alcohol-related policies are aimed at fraternities and sororities. Dartmouth has instituted a ban on punch at parties held by fraternity and sorority houses, and conducts random walkthroughs at the houses by safety and security officers.

Emergency Room Visits for ADHD Drugs More Than Doubled from 2005 to 2010

By Join Together Staff | January 25, 2013 | Leave a comment | Filed in Prescription Drugs

Emergency room visits involving attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs more than doubled from 2005 to 2010, according to a new government report. The number of visits involving ADHD medications that were used non-medically almost tripled during this period.

The report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found in 2005, there were 13,379 emergency room visits related to ADHD drugs. Such visits jumped to 31,244 in 2010, Newswise reports.

Non-medical use of ADHD medications rose from 5,212 in 2005, to 15,585 in 2010. Other pharmaceutical drugs were involved in nearly half (45 percent) of emergency room visits involving ADHD stimulant medications and about one fifth involved illicit drugs (21 percent) or alcohol (19 percent).

The report found emergency room visits for nonmedical use have not increased among children and adolescents, but they have increased among adults aged 18 or older.

“ADHD medications, when properly prescribed and used can be of enormous benefit to those suffering from ADHD, but like any other medication they can pose serious risks – particularly when they are misused,” SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde said in a news release. “This study indicates that a better job has to be done alerting all segments of society – not just the young – that misuse of these medications is extremely dangerous.”

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Siberian Psychologists Whip Addicts Clean

The bizarre beating "treatment" doesn't enjoy mainstream support—but some recipients swear by it.

Natasha receives her "treatment."
Photo via

By Sarah Beller   THE FIX

01/07/13

Siberian psychologists are taking a hardline approach to helping people with addiction: literally beating it out of them. The practitioners claim that lashing addicts on the buttocks with a willow cane can help those for whom more conventional methods have failed. Practitioners Dr. German Pilipenko and Professor Marina Chukhrova say that their treatment is grounded in science: "We cane the patients on the buttocks with a clear and definite medical purpose—it is not some warped sado-masochistic activity," insists Professor Chukhrova. The pair say that addicts suffer from a lack of endorphins, and that pain can stimulate the brain to release the feel-good chemicals, "making patients feel happier in their own skins." Mainstream doctors dismiss the practice, saying that exercise, acupuncture, massage, chocolate or sex are all better at stimulating endorphin secretion. Dr. Pilipenko admits, "we get a lot of skepticism...but so do all pioneers." The Siberian Times reports that "the reaction of most people is predictable: to snigger, scoff or make jokes loaded with sexual innuendo." And one recipient of the treatment, 41-year-old recovering alcoholic Yuri, says his girlfriend accused him of simply visiting a dominatrix. But he adds that although "the first strike was sickening...Somehow I got through all 30 lashes. The next day I got up with a stinging backside but no desire at all to touch the vodka in the fridge. The bottle has stayed there now for a year."  

Natasha, a 22-year-old recovering heroin addict with several months clean, says, "I am the proof that this controversial treatment works, and I recommend it to anyone suffering from an addiction or depression. It hurts like crazy—but it's given me back my life." She receives 60 strokes of the cane per session (drug addicts get double the dose of alcoholics), at a cost of about $100. Her "therapy" is hardly for the faint-hearted: "With each lash," says Natasha, "I scream and grip tight to the end of the surgical table. It's a stinging pain, real agony, and my whole body jolts." But she also insists, "I'm not a masochist. My parents never beat me or even slapped me, so this was my first real physical pain and it was truly shocking. If people think there's anything sexual about it, then it's nonsense." Professor Chukhrova stresses that care is taken to ensure clients' safety: "The beating is really the end of the treatment. We do a lot of psychological counseling first, and also use detox. It is only after all the counseling, and heart and pain resistance checks, that we start with the beating." The doctor adds that the willow branches used are "flexible and can't be broken nor cause bleeding." And the practitioners are also at pains to deny any ulterior motives: "If any patients get sexual pleasure from the beatings, we stop immediately," says Professor Chukhrova. "This is not what our treatment is about. If they're looking for that, there are plenty of other places to go."