LaFemme

Whoa Murray...That's a serious article!

Here's an article on the importance of nutrition in recovery due to alcohols depleting effects on the body. I found it while researching the relation between Candida and Alcoholism.

Nutrition and alcoholism

Murray4x5

Whoa LaFemme, them's seriously grim numbers!

The numbers might be on the high side because all the participants were far enough along to be hospitalized, but I'm sure they're pretty close to real world numbers too. I don't personally find this too disheartening, because now that I know what the odds are, it shows me how hard I'm going to have to work on being sober into the future.

Not sure if I want to be popping all those pills, but there may be a combination of multi-vitamins / supplements out there that comes close. There's also enough nuggets in there to spawn several hours of googling...thanks!

Murray

Zencat

Brain damage could be good for you...LOL. Here's an interesting article: In Clue to Addiction, Brain Injury Halts Smoking.

Murray4x5

Below is a link to the preface of the book, "The Brain That Changes Itself", by Norman Doidge, about neuroplasticity.

I heard him interviewed today on CBC Radio. It was fascinating to hear his examples of how the brain, with repetition and proper techniques, can circumvent damaged areas of the brain or deactivate compulsive tendencies.

Could be a fascinating read for those of us who have done a bit of damage to the old noggin over the years.

EXCERPT

Murray

Murray4x5

CBC News Network will be showing a new film with Dr Doidge called "Changing Your Mind" at 8:00 pm tonight on "The Nature of Things". Here's a link to the CBC site;

Changing Your Mind : The Nature of Things with David Suzuki : CBC-TV

Might be interesting...

Murray

lilac0721

WOW! I love this thread. I just read the article about learned helplessness and it really resonated with me. I also suffer from depression, and have had this feeling that labelling myself as powerless and doomed to fail without that which can't be mentioned in this section created a self-fulfilling prophecy in which I repeatedly failed and each time it was worse.

Interesting thing for me is that it was written by a pastor who espouses both spiritual approaches with cognitive-beahvioral ones. Totally up my alley (as a person who believes that science and faith need not be mutually exclusive).

LaFemme

Glad you found something useful lilac! I'm a big geek so understanding things helps me. When ever I'm confronted by a problem I study it. Plus I'm a natural sceptic about most things that are establishment. Uh, rambling...sorry.

gneiss

Love your ramblings, LaFemme!

Not sure if I said it earlier on this thread or not, but knowing the basic chemistry of what happened in my brain when I used actually made it a little easier. I knew that all the stuff that was going on-- the depression-- was a result of the drugs and alcohol and it was likely temporary. That in itself made it easier to handle, I knew there was an end at least. So thanks for all the science, everyone!

LaFemme

I had no idea the depression and anxiety were tied to booze until right before I quit. That knowledge was a big help!

lilac0721

LaFemme, I too am a big geek and like to understand things that are going on in my body and mind.

traderjane

I'm a geek, too. I have every book on alcohol and recovery known to man. Of course with 3 kids and a job finding time to read them all is another story!!

LaFemme

Hello my lovelies!

Saw this article last night and thought I would share. It's about how to regenerate our brains. While it does not pertain to alcoholism directly it does in a way pertain to recovery...at least for the way we are approaching it:-)

Anyway, enjoy, get lots of exercise, eat small amounts of Indian food and eat some seaweed.



David Perlmutter, M.D.: Neurogenesis: How to Change Your Brain

Ainslie

I'm not sure if im posting this in the right place, but it is interesting nonetheless. Sorry if its not 'sciency' enough lol.

Addiction as Disease: Policy, Epidemiology, and Treatment Consequences of a Bad Idea

LaFemme

Hey Ainslie...interesting article but a bit over my head...LOL:-) I am going to cross post it in the Secular Free Speech thread because I don't think we can actually discuss the article here;-)

Ainslie

Yea sorry I didnt realise the author was the guy who wrote that book. A lot of it is over my head too, but the parts I did understand helped answer a lot of questions that have been roaming around in my head since day 1. And I noted the references to your scandinavian pals too

LaFemme

Which book?

Ainslie

AA cult or cure. I just checked, he didnt actually write it, just the introduction.

vinepest

This series of experiments was eye-opening for me, suggesting that drug tolerance, in particular morphine tolerance, is a LEARNED response (and hence subject to extinction). Please be aware that some background in classical conditioning is required for interpreting the evidence. Please also note that the colony room---no doubt looking and smelling like a typical animal housing unit---must have been dramatically different from the sterile, perhaps cleaning-product-scented environment of the hot plate room. So we should keep that in mind when interpreting the rats' responses, that they must have taken great notice of the hot plate experience.

viavai

Lots of great reads here! Thanks!

Zencat

Alcohol, Chemistry and You
Effects of Ethyl Alcohol on Organ Function

All laid out there in full detail... WOW!