Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
“The brain changes, and it doesn’t recover when you just stop the drug because the brain has been actually changed,” Kreek explained. “The brain may get OK with time in some persons. But it’s hard to find a person who has completely normal brain function after a long cycle of opiate addiction, not without specific medication treatment.”
Because of their effect on the part of the brain that regulates breathing, opioids can cause very slow or stopped breathing, during overdoses, leading to hypoxia [16] or death if left untreated. [1] Hypoxia is typically caused by respiratory depression. [17] [18] The brain uses oxygen to regulate the homeostasis of the body.
addictive drug – psychoactive substances that with repeated use are associated with significantly higher rates of substance use disorders, due in large part to the drug's effect on brain reward systems; dependence – an adaptive state associated with a withdrawal syndrome upon cessation of repeated exposure to a stimulus (e.g., drug intake)
Drug misuse is a term used commonly when prescription medication with sedative, anxiolytic, analgesic, or stimulant properties is used for mood alteration or intoxication ignoring the fact that overdose of such medicines can sometimes have serious adverse effects. It sometimes involves drug diversion from the individual for whom it was prescribed.
Comments by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US Health and Human Services secretary, sparked talk about whether antidepressants are as addictive as heroin. Experts weigh in.
In psychopharmacology, researchers are interested in any substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and thus has an effect on behavior, mood, or cognition. Drugs are researched for their physiochemical properties, physical side effects, and psychological side effects.
Addiction is a brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug use despite adverse consequences. [ 36 ] [ 57 ] [ 58 ] [ 59 ] Addiction involves the overstimulation of the brain's mesocorticolimbic reward circuit ( reward system ), essential for motivating behaviors linked to survival and reproductive fitness, like seeking food and sex. [ 60 ]
The heroin and opioid abuse epidemic is hitting America hard with heroin use more than doubling in the past decade among young adults, according to the CDC.While the dire statistics tell the ...