Forum: Close to Home
Topic: How can science help us deal with the problems of addiction?
Topic Posted by: Close To HomeDate Posted: Wed Mar 18 15:22:22 1998
Posted by: Louisa Morgano (wwrp65f@prodigy.com )
Date posted: Thu Apr 2 19:55:40 1998
Subject: Treatment for heroin
Message:
I have a friend who is addocted to heroin and wants to borrow $3,000 for a treatment that is only one day and reverses the effects of heroin. Actually I read something about it but didn't pay much attention to it. I know that is where the money will go because I am supposed to take that person myself. I want to hear any comments on the subject. I am not of big means but will gladly give my last dime to help out this person. PLEASE advise me
Posted by: question for scientist please
Date posted: Tue Mar 31 0:29:34 1998
Subject: dopamine
Message:
I heard, more than once in the first part of ther series, that dopamine seems to be depleted in addicts.
One thing that was not answered was whether if dopamine is supplemented by prescription does the desire lessen for the drugs that release the dopamine into the brain? Have any scientists studied supplemental dopamine for addicts?
Posted by: Patty Fairbanks (pattyf04@aol.com )
Date posted: Mon Mar 30 10:45:12 1998
Subject: Genetic factors
Message:
I found "The Hijacked Brain" to be a fascinating look at the way an addict's brain"rewires" itself to accomodate the addiction. Obviously, a certain number of individuals are predisposed to become addicts because of genetic and environmental factors. I am the oldest of 10 children; our father was alcoholic, and died prematurely of alcohol-related causes at the age of 50, and a maternal grandfather, also alcoholic, died of cirrhosis of the liver. I am the only non-addict among my sibling group. Over the years, I have been asked many times, why didn't YOU become an alcoholic like the rest? I believe that I spared the chemical predisposition to the disease. I have always been a social drinker and could take alcohol or leave it. My siblings, on the other hand, could never regulate themselves, and drank to get drunk. Now that they are all in their 30's and 40's, they struggle with their addictions (the majority are also smokers). I consider myself fortunate but have always been mystified as to why such a high percentage of my family group have suffered the disease of alcholism. Had my mother been more informed about it, perhaps the early onset of the disease could have been prevented. My siblings all began smoking and drinking at young ages (12-13) and probably "wired" their brains early on. I believe that early intervention and education is very important. Since children of alcoholics are four times as likely to develop alcoholism themselves, this fact should be general knowledge.
Posted by: Steven A. Kvaal
Date posted: Sun Mar 29 23:42:08 1998
Subject: Risk factors for alcoholism
Message:
I have a question for the addiction scientists in the audience: How do you explain why having a high tolerance for alcohol, as noted in the series on Sunday, adds to the risk of having a family member with alcoholism? If classical conditioning plays a role in addiction (as illustrated by the scientist who described how the brain begins to produce a "high" just in response to stimulus cues associated with ingesting a drug), I would think that low, rather than high, tolerance would put one at greater risk...