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Ways to Help a Recovering Senior Addict Parent from a Distance
Photo via Pixabay By Marie Villeza, Guest Columnist When your senior parent is fighting addiction in a recovery treatment center, and you live far away, it becomes difficult to identify what you can do to help her. Recognized as an “invisible epidemic,” many relatives of seniors hooked on drugs or alcohol first have problems accepting…
Read MoreHow Do You Know If You Are Addicted?
Babies Can’t Be Addicted “Babies Born Addicted,” “Addicted Babies,” “Babies with Addiction,” and similar headlines appear nearly daily in the media. This is because babies exhibit horrible withdrawal symptoms if they are born physically dependent on opioids, and it pulls at our heartstrings to see them suffer. But it misleads media consumers, policymakers, and family…
Read MoreSilence Is Acceptance
I like a million other people who have commented on your blog live with debilitating chronic pain each and every day…… I wanted to know from you is there a place where we chronic pain sufferers can go to plead our cases, to be heard? Is there a way we can get our word…
Read MoreCongratulations to American Scientists Hall, Rosbash, and Young
Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young’s Genetic Discovery Three American scientists, Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young, jointly won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They earned the prestigious award for discovering the genes that control circadian rhythms. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute issued a press…
Read MoreDo Opioids Impact Life Expectancy?
Meet Rachel and Lorna Meet Rachel * and Lorna. They are very different women, but they have one thing in common: they both used opioids. One morning, Rachel maneuvered her maroon Civic into a parking place at a local breakfast joint to buy opioids from her dealer. Accompanied by her two-year-old daughter and her brother,…
Read MoreInsomnia Is More Than an Inconvenience
“Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care, The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, Chief nourisher in life’s feast.” ‒William Shakespeare, Macbeth Why We Need Sleep Shakespeare may be complicated, but the universal need for sleep is not. The “Chief nourisher” is, indeed,…
Read MoreHarvey and Irma: A Harvest of Friends, Family, and Tolerance
We Believed in a Melting Pot Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were tragedies, but if there was a silver lining, it was that they brought out the best in people. They reminded us that humans can overcome partisanship and tribal differences to help one another. For generations, many of us took pride in thinking of the…
Read MoreHow We Force Hurricane Victims Into Withdrawal
Facing the Wrath of Hurricanes As of this writing, Hurricane Irma is about to invade Florida. It is reported to be a Category 5 storm. Many people are evacuating, while others cannot leave their homes and must prepare to shelter in place. The region will inevitably experience catastrophic effects, and this is on the heels…
Read MoreThe Good News Hiding Inside a Hurricane
A Hurricane Hits Hard Hurricane Harvey has brought despair and heartache. The devastation will be with us for years to come. Whether we are in Texas or in other parts of the world, we feel the intense pain that the storm has brought. With continual wars and conflict throughout the world, it sometimes is hard…
Read MoreTwenty Questions to Ask Political Candidates
Preparing for Election Season The United States is approaching a new election season. Most people are aware of the opioid crisis and the imperative to solve it. As voters, we are tasked with choosing the people who can make a positive difference. Now is the time to evaluate the ability of each candidate’s potential…
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