May
13
Doctor Louis Teichholz (TISH’-holtz), chief of cardiology at Hackensack University Medical Center, Doctor Louis Teichholz (TISH’-holtz), chief of cardiology, Hackensack University Medical Center, in A-P interview. Doctor Louis Teichholz (TISH’-holtz), chief of cardiology at Hackensack University Medical Center, says the amount of internal fa
LONDON — If it really is what’s on the inside that counts, then a lot of thin people might be in trouble. Some doctors now think that the internal fat surrounding vital organs like the heart, liver or pancreas — invisible to the naked eye — could be as dangerous as the more obvious external fat that bulges underneath the skin.
“Being thin doesn’t automatically mean you’re not fat,” said Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College, London. Since 1994, Bell and his team have scanned nearly 800 people with MRI machines to create “fat maps” showing where people store fat.
According to the data, people who maintain their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are otherwise slim. “The whole concept of being fat needs to be redefined,” said Bell, whose research is funded by Britain’s Medical Research Council.
Without a clear warning signal — like a rounder middle — doctors worry that thin people may be lulled into falsely assuming that because they’re not overweight, they’re healthy.
“Just because someone is lean doesn’t make them immune to diabetes or other risk factors for heart disease,” said Dr. Louis Teichholz, chief of cardiology at Hackensack Hospital in New Jersey, who was not involved in Bell’s research.
Even people with normal Body Mass Index scores — a standard obesity measure that divides your weight by the square of your height — can have surprising levels of fat deposits inside.
Of the women scanned by Bell and his colleagues, as many as 45 percent of those with normal BMI scores (20 to 25) actually had excessive levels of internal fat. Among men, the percentage was nearly 60 percent.
Relating the news to what Bell calls “TOFIs” — people who are “thin outside, fat inside” — is rarely uneventful. “The thinner people are, the bigger the surprise,” he said, adding the researchers even found TOFIs among people who are professional models.
According to Bell, people who are fat on the inside are essentially on the threshold of being obese. They eat too many fatty, sugary foods — and exercise too little to work it off — but they are not eating enough to actually be fat. Scientists believe we naturally accumulate fat around the belly first, but at some point, the body may start storing it elsewhere.
Still, most experts believe that being of normal weight is an indicator of good health, and that BMI is a reliable measurement.
“BMI won’t give you the exact indication of where fat is, but it’s a useful clinical tool,” said Dr. Toni Steer, a nutritionist at Britain’s Medical Research Council.
Doctors are unsure about the exact dangers of internal fat, but some suspect it contributes to the risk of heart disease and diabetes. They theorize that internal fat disrupts the body’s communication systems. The fat enveloping internal organs might be sending the body mistaken chemical signals to store fat inside organs like the liver or pancreas. This could ultimately lead to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, or heart disease.
Experts have long known that fat, active people can be healthier than their skinny, inactive counterparts. “Normal-weight persons who are sedentary and unfit are at much higher risk for mortality than obese persons who are active and fit,” said Dr. Steven Blair, an obesity expert at the University of South Carolina.
For example, despite their ripples of fat, super-sized Sumo wrestlers probably have a better metabolic profile than some of their slim, sedentary spectators, Bell said. That’s because the wrestlers’ fat is primarily stored under the skin, not streaking throughout their vital organs and muscles.
The good news is that internal fat can be easily burned off through exercise or even by improving your diet. “Even if you don’t see it on your bathroom scale, caloric restriction and physical exercise have an aggressive effect on visceral fat,” said Dr. Bob Ross, an obesity expert at Queen’s University in Canada.
Because many factors contribute to heart disease, Teichholz says it’s difficult to determine the precise danger of internal fat — though it certainly doesn’t help.
“Obesity is a risk factor, but it’s lower down on the totem pole of risk factors,” he said, explaining that whether or not people smoke, their family histories and blood pressure and cholesterol rates are more important determinants than both external and internal fat.
When it comes to being fit, experts say there is no short-cut. “If you just want to look thin, then maybe dieting is enough,” Bell said. “But if you want to actually be healthy, then exercise has to be an important component of your lifestyle.”
May
2
Why eating soup could help you lose weight
Filed Under Cholesterol, Fitness, Children Health | Leave a Comment
A bowl of soup a day could keep the pounds at bay.
Health experts have discovered that adding low-calorie vegetable broth to the start of a meal can actually help to lose weight.
Because you tend to feel full sooner, you eat less of your main course.
The soup regime was tested by researchers at Pennsylvania State University, led by Dr Barbara Rolls.
They found that when participants in the study ate a first course of soup before lunch they reduced their total calorie intake by 20 per cent, compared with those who did not begin the meal with soup.
But those who favour creamy soups should beware. Researchers stressed the soup must be low-calorie and based on stock, not cream.
All of the soups tested in the study were made from identical ingredients - chicken stock, broccoli, potato, cauliflower and carrots.
They were blended to create four different textures and thickness from separate stock and vegetables through to pureed soup.
Scientists thought that thick soups with chunks of vegetables which required chewing might be more filling, but to their surprise they found all forms had the same effect.
The findings were presented to the Experimental Biology conference in Washington, DC, this week and the research was partfunded by the National Institutes of Health.
Apr
20
The complications from diabetes can have devastating effects on your health, if proper care of ones health is not maintained. Heart Disease Diabetes is well known for being the cause of heart related problems. Large amounts of sugar in the blood can cause a significant amount of damage to a body’s systems- especially blood vessels.
Unhealthy lifestyles coupled with diabetes can up the chances of complications and lead to other health problems such as coronary heart disease and stroke.
Middle aged persons with Type 2 diabetes have been shown to have as much chance of having a heart attack as the person who does not have diabetes at all but has had at least one heart attack. Hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis, is always a prescription for a possible heart attack.
Take a diabetic with high cholesterol and the risk becomes that much greater. Even further, diabetics who have had one heart attack are very much at risk for another.
Women with diabetes are much more likely to develop some sort of heart disease than women without the disease.
Warning signs of a heart attack are:
- Chest pain spreading to shoulders, neck or arms. - Chest pressure, tightness, burning or a heavy feeling in the chest. - Irregular heart rate - Impending doom feeling. - Lightheadedness. - Fainting, nausea, sweating or shortness of breath. -Sweaty skin. - Paleness - Anxiety or nervousness
Stroke
The brain is very much dependent on oxygen to keep it alive. The brain needs a network of blood vessels in which to pump oxygen rich blood. Through this network of vessels will the vital parts of the brain been feed. Without that the brain tissues will die.
Diabetics are three times more likely to have a stroke than those who does not have the disease. As diabetes is more common in the African American community, this accounts for the reason that they suffer a sizeable amount of the population’s strokes every year.
Ischemic stroke is characterized by an insufficient flow of blood and oxygen to the brain tissues and is the most prevalent type of stroke for those with diabetes. The risk for this type of stroke is peaking for younger men and older women.
A stroke is an emergency situation that requires immediate medical intervention and warrants a trip to the emergency room of a hospital. The sooner the stroke victim receives medical care, the sooner any damage can be assessed and the condition stabilized.
Warning signs of stroke include the following:
• Numbness or weakness in a person’s face, arm or leg- especially on one side of the body • Sudden nausea, fever or vomiting • Inability to speak or understand words and/or simple sentences • Blurred vision in one or both eyes • The in ability to swallow • Dizziness. • A sudden imbalance or lack of coordination • Loss of consciousness • The inability to move part of the body, i.e. paralysis • Unexplainable, intense headache
Vascular Problems of the Legs
Diabetes can also cause poor circulation to the legs and feet. Vascular disease is very much a concern with diabetics. These circulatory problems can cause blood to pool in the lower parts of the body and is called peripheral vascular disease.
Arteriosclerosis is also a concern because it causes the blood vessels to narrow, reducing the flow of healthy oxygen rich blood to muscles in the legs.
Claudication is the name for pain that results from a lack of good blood supply to calf muscles.
Leg and foot problems often land diabetics in the hospital and are the leading cause for amputations in these regions. Poor circulation makes it hard to fight infection. This is why regular check ups from doctors, and properly managing diabetes is so incredibly important.
Mar
26
Bed Wetting Not Easy For Parents and Child
Filed Under Health Tips, Children Health | Leave a Comment
Bed wetting, also known as sleep enuresis, is problematic not only for the child but also for the family members. Parents agree that bed wetting ranks third sleep disorder in terms of stressors on the family. It is an issue many families face every night. It is common under the age of five but sometimes it continues after the age of five.
Primary bed wetting occurs if the child has never been dry at night or is only occasionally dry at night. Secondary bed wetting occurs after a child has been dry at night for a prolonged period.
Kidney or bladder disorder and emotional situation is the rare cause of bed wetting. The parents should remember that children do not voluntarily wet the bed. Kids feel embarrassed and guilty about bed wetting.
Children do not participate in social activities that require sleeping outside their home. They often suffer from self image and their feelings can be greatly affected by the attitudes of their parents who feel that their efforts to stop the bed wetting have failed.
Parents feel embarrassed, angry and frustrated about their child’s bed wetting condition. Parents should support their child and help them to get rid of their negative feelings. Parents should show positive attitude towards their children about bed wetting.
Bed wetting usually goes on its own. But until that it can be uncomfortable to the child and parent. Parents should assure the child that bed wetting is common and it disappears as they grow up.
Sleep enuresis runs in families. If both the parents of the child wet the bed when they were young, then it is likely that the child too wet the bed.
How parents should help their child?
* You should tell to your child that they have not done anything wrong or bad. Assure them that they are not alone and many of them in their age wet the bed.
* Remember your child before going to bed to go to bathroom.
* Encourage your child to hold off going to bathroom as long as he can during daytime. First ask him to control for few minutes and gradually increase the time to control. This helps the child to get used to holding at night while increasing bladder muscles.
* Do not punish or scold your child if he wets the bed.
* Try to limit the liquid intake before going to bed.
* When your child wakes up with wet sheets and clothes, ask them to change their sheets and clothes. It becomes a habit and they will feel better changing their clothes and sheets without depending on anyone.
* Bed wetting alarm is useful to treat sleep enuresis. The alarm consists of a sensor that is attached to the outside of bed clothing. When the child begins to wet the bed, the alarm wakes the child and he will go to bathroom and get back to sleep. As it takes many weeks to work, parents and family members should support for the long term success.
Mar
22
Do you suffer from depression? That is the question we ask ourselves when we have days where nothing can make us happy?
Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. In a given year, an estimated 22.1% of Americans aged 18 and older (about 1 in 5 adults) suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder. According to the 1998 United States Census population estimate, this figure translates to 44.3 million people! In addition, 4 / 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. and other developed countries are mental disorders, with major depression being the leading cause of disability.
It is estimated that depression alone will occur in approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5% of the United States population aged 18 or above. If you are a woman, you are twice as likely than a man (12% vs. 6.6%) to be affected by depression each year.
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Many individual’s symptoms of depression start with an occasional case of the blahs. They are able to cope with it for a while. They think that since it happens to a lot of people, it would pass and they don’t really need to worry about looking for help. This is when they have a few drinks and as a result feel much better, only to find out later that depressive disorders commonly occur with substance abuse…
So what is the cause of all of this sadness in our society? Most people are not happy with their lives and the direction it takes them in. They would look back at a week past and not be able to recall one thing that they enjoyed, nor would they look forward to the coming weeks ahead. All they see is potential stresses that are going to present themselves.
TODAY’S NEWS:
VA told to set up programs for depression care (Houston Chronicle)
The House on Wednesday directed the Veterans Affairs Department to develop a program dealing with suicide among veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other depression issues.
Variations of Post-Heart Attack Depression Affect Recovery (Newswise)
Recovering from a heart attack is tough enough without facing depression. Yet that’s exactly what happens to nearly half of heart attack survivors. Depression after a heart attack isn’t a one-size-fits-all classification. Different variations have different effects on the heart and recovery, reports the April 2007 issue of the Harvard Heart Letter
New Depression Treatment Offered (WCVB TheBostonChannel.com via Yahoo! News)
A relatively new treatment for depression is helping some people after medications and other therapies fail.
When we are suffering from depression, it seems that we lose our objectivity. Does thinking that we have nothing to look forward to sound rational to you? Where do most people’s enjoyment in life disappear to? It’s the perception of the world that slowly changes and you are unable to see it because of the control that depression has over you.
In the fast pace of today’s world we often don’t allow ourselves time to evaluate our lives and set goals to realize our ambitions. Whether you do or do not have depression, you’re reading this article because you think something might be wrong with your life. Have you tried to identify the things you are unhappy with?
The first step for anyone should be to educate oneself and find out what it is that you are dealing with. Start reading books, consult a psychologist to get some unbiased insight about yourself.
Mar
22
Five bad exercises practises you should avoid.
Filed Under Health Tips, Fitness, Gym, Lose Weight, Low Cholesterol, Obesity | Leave a Comment
The test of time usually works. Futile fads like sweatboxes, vibrating belts, and most tips from the odd, ponytailed Tony Little have died out quickly enough. But a few bad exercises have persisted, and exercise physiologists don’t see how these ineffective and sometimes dangerous maneuvers have survived. Take the sit-up, which can be quite damaging if done improperly. “Locking your hands behind your head can torque your cervical vertebrae, ” says David Pearson, Ph.D., director of the Strength Research Laboratory at Ball State University. The result: neck pain. In fact, sit-ups are the kind of “unsafe behavior” scientists at Arkansas State University say account for 63 percent of all weight—lifting–related E.R. visits, so purge them and the rest of these body breakers from your routine.
Posterior (Behind-the-Neck) Pull Downs: This exercise rotates your shoulders into a position that strains your rotator cuffs, paving the way for inflammation. “I’ve also seen guys pull the bar down so fast that they crack their spinous processes [little nubs on top of the vertebrae],” says Pearson.
Safe Alternative: Anterior (Front) Pull Downs: Not only is pulling the bar to your chest easier on your shoulders, but “it flexes the lats through a greater range of motion, accelerating muscle growth,” says Pearson.
Behind-the-Neck Shoulder Presses: Just as posterior pull downs strain your shoulders on the way down, this exercise hurts them on the way up. Pearson says it also puts too much stress on the acromioclavicular joints (those little knobs on the tops of your shoulders), which can lead to an overuse injury commonly referred to as weight lifter’s shoulder.
Safe Alternative: Alternating Shoulder Presses: Sit on a Swiss ball and hold a pair of dumbbells overhead with your arms straight and palms facing each other. Next, bend your left elbow and lower your left arm, moving your elbow out to the side, until your upper arm is parallel with the floor. Press it back up and repeat with your right arm.
Straight Bar Curls: If you let your arms hang loosely by your sides, you’ll notice that your palms face inward. The problem with straight bar curls is that they lock your arms into an unnatural palms-up position. “In so doing, you’re stressing your elbow joints, and that can lead to tendinitis,” says Pearson.
Safe Alternative: E-Z Bar Curls: The bar is angled to put your elbows in a more natural neutral position.
Leg Extensions: The four parts of your quadriceps are designed to work together as one, but a recent study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that leg extensions activate the sections slightly independently of one another. Even a five-millisecond difference can cause uneven compression between the kneecap and thighbone, inflaming the tendon that connects the kneecap to the shinbone (a painful injury known as jumper’s knee).
Safe Alternative: Squats: To squat safely, place the bar across your shoulders (not your neck) and keep your back straight, bending slightly at the hips through the squatting motion. Proper form is crucial with this exercise.
Sit-ups: Not only are sit-ups bad for your neck, but they’re also one of the least-effective abdominal exercises you can do, according to a recent study at San Diego State University.
Safe Alternative: Bicycle Crunches: That same study found the bicycle maneuver works the abs and obliques 250 percent better than traditional crunches or sit-ups. Lie on your back with your feet up in the air, then bend your knees at a 90-degree angle. With your hands behind your ears, pump your legs back and forth while moving your armpits (not your elbows) toward the opposite knees.
Mar
17
Nursing Continuing Education Nurses
Filed Under Medicine, Government, Medical Center | Leave a Comment
Many people assume that once a nurse has finished her education and become registered, then that’s it, she doesn’t have to bother with any more learning, she just gets on with looking after patients and soothing fevered brows. Nothing could be further from the truth, a nurse ensuring her nursing continuing education is kept updated is very important, and is an integral part of maintaining her registration. A nurse’s life in the 21st century is very fast paced. As medicine and surgical procedures advances and improves, it is her duty to ensure she keeps to the forefront of any major changes and improvements. This can be very difficult especially when she is working very long hours on the wards and clinics. And ensuring her nursing continuing education is kept updated is easier said than done. A good hospital will ensure they provide everything needed for nurses to continue their nursing continuing education. They should also ensure the education and training a registered nurse needs is provided free of charge. This ensures a lack of funds does not prevent any registered nurse from using the excuse that they could not afford to access the education needed for their nursing continuing education. Buying nursing periodicals and magazines are an excellent way for registered nurses to keep up to date with their nursing continuing education. Proving they have read articles in relevant journals is essential though. The best way they can achieve this proof is by keeping a portfolio in which they can document all the training and education they have received since their registration. If they write a synopsis of the article in the nursing journal they have read, and make a comment of what they have learnt from reading the article, they are then showing proof of their commitment to their ongoing nursing continuing education. One problem with accessing some types of further education is the expense. Nursing is not one of the better paid professions, and for many people higher levels of qualifications such as a degree are often out of reach purely because the nurse cannot afford to access the courses. This type of nursing continuing education should become more accessible to nurses, with perhaps the employer funding courses for the registered nurses in their employ.
Mar
17
Winter can be especially difficult for those who suffer from acne.. Here are 7 tips that can helpful to your acne-prone skin, or your acne treatment medications.1. In winter, Bcoz of cold air the acne medications can be dry your skin. And your skin can become flaky and you can suffer a painful sensation. To avoid this protect your skin from cold air, and biting winds.
2. Use oil-free moisturizer. Moistening your skin is necessary.. Bath with lukewarm water. Tone your face skin. take 1 spoon honey and 2 spoon orange juice. Add 1 apple puree. Apply for 20 minutes.
3. Add vitamin C to your diet. Add citric fruits like orange or lemon in your intake. Zink is also essential for acne.
4. Keep hair away from the face. Be careful about not to let hair gel or oil spread on your skin. Treat your dandruff first. To remove dandruff massage your hair with warm coconut oil.. adding 2- 3 drops of lemon juice.
5. Drink more water. It is major part of our blood. And require to maintain our body moisture. Water purifies blood and helpful too blood circulation. Add fruits and salad to your meal.
6. If you use razors. Instead of using non-electric razors, use electric razor.
7. Stay away from depression, stress, spicy foods ( if u can). Do exercise daily. while exercising drink loads of water. Today, the market is flooded with wide rang of beauty products. Give first preference to homemade recipes to cure acne. If you having loads of pain itching near acne area.
Mar
17
When Bed-wetting is a Problem in Your Home, What Do You Do?
Filed Under Mental Health, Health Care, Health Tips, Research, Children Health | Leave a Comment
Often times when a child is wetting his or her bed, the reason is due either to an undiagnosed medical condition or due to psychological effects. As a parent, you will want to find out what is happening with your child so that you can stop bedwetting.
Unfortunately, there are things that prevent many parents from trying to determine what causes their child’s bedwetting. Some of the things that stop parents from helping their children include:
Initial Tips for Dealing with Bedwetting in Your Household
There are some tips you will want to adopt right away in order to deal with bedwetting in your household:
Tip #1: Work on Sensitivity
One of the biggest impacts of bedwetting on your child is an emotional one, so you should work on making sure that your household is sensitive to your child’s situation. No one at home should tease your child or make them feel terrible about their bedwetting. The more teased a child is about bedwetting, the more difficult it will be for the child to overcome the problem.
The older a child is, the more ashamed they may be of wetting the bed, and the more important it will be to stay level-headed and calm to prevent shaming the child. Shaming will only result in trauma and may even make bedwetting worse.
Tip #2: Watch your own sensitivity levels.
It is not just siblings and other children that need to be considered. Parents often inadvertently are insensitive to their child’s bedwetting. They are frustrated by the laundry that must be done and are sometimes even angered by having so many sheets stained or even ruined by urine.
On a rushed morning, dealing with urine-soaked sheets before dashing off to work can be frustrating, but it is crucial not to lose your temper. Even if you manage to be calm most of the time, one outburst about bedwetting will linger in your child’s mind and make them feel ashamed.
If you find that you have no time to deal with sheets and clean-up in the morning, strip the sheets and leave them for later. If you are angry by the cost of bed linens, consider buying less expensive sheets in bulk for a while to reduce costs for yourself. Keep rags and other clean up items (deodorizer and cleaner) in the child’s room for fast cleaning.
Work on reducing your stress levels when it comes to bedwetting, and you are less likely to make an unfortunate comment from pure stress.
Tip #3: Educate Yourself
If you have several children, you need to be aware that siblings will often tease a brother or sister who “still wets the bed.” Letting these children know that Enuresis is a condition can help them be more sensitive towards their sibling while measures are taken to prevent bedwetting.
Tip #4: Educate your child
For the child affected by Enuresis, being told the facts about bedwetting can be a big help. Children often hear misconceptions about bedwetting from other children. Myths such as “only babies wet the bed” can be hurtful to your child and can make him or her feel as though there is something “wrong” with them.
Often, explaining that Enuresis is an actual condition and talking about the remedies doctors have come up for it can help persuade your child that bedwetting is curable and a common problem. That way, your child can focus on resolving the problem rather than worry about the embarrassment they feel.
Tip # 5:Visit a Doctor
Since some bedwetting is caused by undiagnosed medical conditions such as diabetes or allergies, it makes sense to take your child to a doctor to be checked out. If there is a doctor in your area who is known for treating children with Enuresis, so much the better. In either case, ruling out medical problems can be a big relief. If a medical problem is causing your child to wet the bed, coping with the problem will also generally resolve the Enuresis.
Mar
16
Cocaine is one of the most used substance in today’s society. There are still well over 1 million people in the United States who need rehabilitation for their cocaine abuse. Cocaine is a very addictive drugs. When the individual stop using the drug. The user start to go in a state of withdrawal that can be so strong that the addict will do anything to get his drug. Also the addict will develop a tolerance to the drug. When the addict wants to achieve the high he will need more and this is the danger of cocaine as it can lead to long term damage to the user.
Cocaine has destroyed a lot of families, relationships and lives. But there is hope as many people got their lives back after years of cocaine addiction.
Cocaine was first found from the leaves of the Erythroxylon coca bush, which grows mainly in southern america’s country such as Peru and Bolivia, in the mid-19th century. In the early 19th century, it became the main stimulant substance used in mainly all of the tonics/elixirs that were created to treat a large variety of illnesses. Today, coke is a Schedule II drug, meaning that cocaine has a high potential for abuse, but can be used by a doctor for legitimate medical purpose, such as a local anesthetic for some eye, ear, and throat surgeries.
There are mainly two chemical forms of cocaine: the hydrochloride salt (HCL) and the “freebase.” The hydrochloride salt, or powdered cocaine, dissolves in water and, when abused, can be administered intravenously (by vein) or intranasally (snort). Freebase refers to a compound that has not been neutralized by an acid to make the hydrochloride salt. The freebase form of cocaine is smokable and commonly called crack cocaine.
Cocaine is usually sold on the street as a fine, white, crystalline powder, known as “coke,” “C,” “snow,” “flake,” or “blow.” Street distributors usually dilute it with such inert substances as cornstarch, talcum powder, and/or sugar, or with such active drugs as procaine (a chemically-related local anesthetic) or with other stimulants such as amphetamines.
Cocaine can be used orally, intranasal, intravenous, and inhalation. Chewing, snorting, mainlining, injecting, and smoking are some of the slang terms for methods of usage for cocaine. Smoking is mainly a way of administering freebase and crack cocaine but it can be put in a marijuana cigarette and smoked. Powder cocaine is inhaled through the nostrils: this act is usually known as snorting or sniffing. With this way of administration the cocaine is absorbed into the bloodstream via the nasal tissues. A feeling of heightened intensity (rush) is the effect of injecting the cocaine directly into the bloodstream. Inhaling cocaine vapor or smoke into the lungs causes the absorption into the bloodstream as fast as by injection. Rubbing the cocaine onto mucous tissues is another method of administration.
Use of cocaine may lead to a loss of appetite and exaggerated mental alertness which can bring the individual to a loss of weight and sleep. Cocaine usage will increase a person’s heart rate and blood pressure. Dilated pupils are a short-term effect of cocaine usage. An increase of temperature and a raise in energy may also be identified by the cocaine user. The increased heart rate and elevated blood pressure may cause the blood vessels to constrict. Some cocaine users may perform simple physical tasks easier than they would usually and intellectual tasks more quickly others may experience totally the opposite.
Effects and the length of the euphoric feeling will differ if the method through which the cocaine was used. A more intense high is brought by a method that promotes faster absorption into the blood stream. With a quicker absorption method the duration of the high will be shorter and a higher level of euphoria will be created. When smoking coke a high of 5 to 10 minutes can be expected. When snorting cocaine, feeling the high will take longer to come up, but may last 15 to 30 minutes.
Some cocaine users have reported feelings of restlessness, irritability, and also anxiety. A tolerance to the “high” may developed; many cocaine addicts report that they seek but fail to achieve as much pleasure as they did from their first use. Some cocaine users will increase their dosages to intensify and prolong the euphoric effects. While tolerance to the high can occur, cocaine users can also become more sensitive to cocaine’s anesthetic and convulsant effects without taking more cocaine. This increased sensitivity may explain some deaths of cocaine users that occurred after apparently low doses of cocaine were taken.
Usage of cocaine in a binge, during which the cocaine is taken repeatedly and at increasingly high dosage, may lead to a state of getting more irritable, restlessness, and becoming paranoid. This can lead to a period of full-blown paranoid psychosis, in which the user loses touch with reality and can experience auditory hallucinations. This state can be temporary or in the worst case permanent.
- Based on SAMHSA’s 2002 and 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, more than 5.9 million Americans aged 12 or older (2.5%) used cocaine in the past year.
- Males were more than twice as likely as females to have used cocaine in the past year and to have met the criteria for abuse of or dependence on cocaine in the past year.
- Incidence of cocaine use generally rose throughout the 1970s to a peak in 1980 (1.7 million new users) and subsequently declined until 1991 (0.7 million new users). Cocaine initiation steadily increased during the 1990s, reaching 1.2 million in 2001.
- Age-specific incidence rates generally have mirrored the overall incidence trends, with greater initiation among adults than among youths under 18. Approximately 70 percent of cocaine initiates in 2001 were age 18 or older.
- Since 1975, males have generally comprised the majority of cocaine initiates. In 2001, there were 0.7 million new male users and 0.5 million new female users.
- The average age of cocaine initiates rose from 18.6 years in 1968 to 23.8 years in 1990 and subsequently declined to approximately 21 years from 1995 to 2001.
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Overdose On Cocaine |
| Fatalities by overdosing on cocaine are not infrequent. Overdosing can cause an important rise in blood pressure, which may result in bleeding in the brain causing the possibility of a stroke. Overdosing with cocaine can cause heart and respiratory issues resulting in death. Continuous use of cocaine can disturb the nervous system, causing constriction of blood vessels, irregular heart beat and dilation of the pupils. |
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Bad Trip |
| A bad trip occurs when the user will imagine seeing something grotesque and awful. In all circumstances, he will believe what’s going through his mind is really happening. In one particular case, a user hallucinated that is arm was getting longer and longer, heading towards the road. He believed his hand was going to be run over by a bus, it was so real the user cut off his own hand. |
The purity of street cocaine in Europe is generally in the same range as it is for heroin, the price being between 50 and 100 Euros per between 0.7 and 1.0 grams. This totals to a cocaine price range between 500 and 2000 Euros.
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