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Time well spent! Now if we can keep this thread for just the links and not allow people to natter on endlessly about what colour of lint is in their navels today or what their doctors receptionists brother-in-law said about kicking his addiction it would...ummm...it would...ummmmmm...D'OH! Murray |
Ha, that is why I have a permalink (http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ml#post2898097)to the first post. A good bit of info to link too. Then as time goes on and more links are posted, I compile that in a updated thread: Science articles and research links 3 (compressed edition). |
So do we post here r the old thread? Thanks for doing this Zen! |
Originally Posted by LaFemme
(Post 2898872)
So do we post here r the old thread? |
Originally Posted by Zencat
(Post 2899107)
Ha, I didn't think that far ahead. Ahaa either or will do I guess :) BTW mine is mostly grey with a faint blue-green cast today. Just to keep it all sciencey: Austrian chemist, has found a type of body hair that traps stray pieces of lint and sucks them into the navel To think of all the years I wasted drinking - sigh. |
Ah, today I came across an article that made me look for this thread (and Murray's first one). From the Atlantic: The Brain on Trial. Addiction isn't the primary focus, but it is in there, and it's interesting stuff. Also, did someone here post about the monkeys on St. Kitts and how their rates of alcoholism are similar to human ones? Here it is, sorry if it's a repeat: YouTube - ‪Alcoholic Vervet Monkeys! - Weird Nature - BBC animals‬‏ |
Thanks AG...this thread needs the occasional bump:) I will check out the link:) |
Thanks for the bump AG :) Interesting how the ratio of teetotallers, occasional drinkers, and "drink to the last drop" drinkers is the same for the monkeys as it is in humans. I've only had time to read some of the first article, but it fits well with the monkey video and goes a long way to supporting my limbic system/brain stem physiological underpinnings of alcoholism. The difference between monkeys and us is we have wads of brain matter capable of logic and reasoning piled over top of those areas generating the urges to drink excessively. In the end it doesn't matter if my theory is right or wrong, as long as it keeps me from having that first drink! |
If I believed walking in a circle backwards for three rotations every morning at precisely 7:23 am kept me sober...then that would be the right thing to do:) AG...found the article interesting and scary....I found myself feeling really bad for the first guy...the shooter from Texas. |
This isn't a science article but I didn't know where else to put it and I bet if I took a minute I could find an article to go with it:) Back when I was drinking I took my mom to a Chinese doctor for her RA ...while waiting the doctor asked to see my tongue....after looking at it she asked if I smoked and drank ...I answered yes...a little (hahahaha)...she told me to stop. The Chinese can tell your basic health from your tongue...I always remembered that afterwards....as I got worse my tongue looked worse no matter what I did. Its now jpink and healthy looking...but sometimes when I am talking to someone I will notice their tongue looks like mine used to and I will wonder about them. |
I think theres something to ancient traditional healing practices of the Chinese. But modern medical science is my choice in treatments, then if that fails, I not beyond seeing a Shaman for herbal and whodoo healing. |
What did your tongue look like then, LaFemme? I never noticed anything funny about mine . . except that it was often stained purple! |
Thick coatings of white...pronounced bumps...thicker on the edges. I found an article but can't post from home...I will try and link it on Monday. As for Chinese medicine ...it has a 5,000 year track record so I'm pretty comfortable with it. One of my Chinese friends...her dad practices Westerns medicine and her step mom practices Chinese...guess which one was able to fix her chronic stomach problem;) |
I do actually remember white junk. Always thought that was a cold. Hmm. Do send it along if you find it, please! Thx |
This is not directly related to addiction, but a good website about neuroscience is Dr. Dan Siegel - Home Look at the 'Free Resources' link along the top row of links. |
An article about Chinese medicine and tongues...as I mentioned...a Chinese doctor could tell I had a drinking problem by looking at my tongue... Tongue Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine (TCM) |
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This one, on Kindling is good too: Kindling in Alcohol Withdrawal Also, here is a cleaner link to that NY Times article: In Clue to Addiction, Brain Injury Halts Smoking |
Here's the forward to AVRT's 'Kindling' link above; "In many alcoholics, the severity of withdrawal symptoms increases after repeated withdrawal episodes. This exacerbation may be attributable to a kindling process. Kindling is a phenomenon in which a weak electrical or chemical stimulus, which initially causes no overt behavioral responses, results in the appearance of behavioral effects, such as seizures, when it is administered repeatedly. Both clinical and experimental evidence support the existence of a kindling mechanism during alcohol withdrawal. Withdrawal symptoms, such as seizures, result from neurochemical imbalances in the brain of alcoholics who suddenly reduce or cease alcohol consumption. These imbalances may be exacerbated after repeated withdrawal experiences. The existence of kindling during withdrawal suggests that even patients experiencing mild withdrawal should be treated aggressively to prevent the increase in severity of subsequent withdrawal episodes. Kindling also may contribute to a patient’s relapse risk and to alcohol-related brain damage and cognitive impairment." I'll be reading this one tomorrow. Thanks! |
I have not read all of it but it looks pretty interesting. Discusses the possible origins of alchoholism. http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/content/44/4/315.full Abstract: Ethanol is a naturally occurring substance resulting from the fermentation by yeast of fruit sugars. The association between yeasts and angiosperms dates to the Cretaceous, and dietary exposure of diverse frugivorous taxa to ethanol is similarly ancient. Ethanol plumes can potentially be used to localize ripe fruit, and consumption of low-concentration ethanol within fruit may act as a feeding stimulant. Ripe and over-ripe fruits of the Neotropical palm Astrocaryum standleyanum contained ethanol within the pulp at concentrations averaging 0.9% and 4.5%, respectively. Fruit ripening was associated with significant changes in color, puncture resistance, sugar, and ethanol content. Natural consumption rates of ethanol via frugivory and associated blood levels are not known for any animal taxon. However, behavioral responses to ethanol may have been the target of natural selection for all frugivorous species, including many primates and the hominoid lineages ancestral to modern humans. Pre-existing sensory biases associating this ancient psychoactive compound with nutritional reward might accordingly underlie contemporary patterns of alcohol consumption and abuse. |
I found this article interesting. Understanding Alcohol's Damaging Effects on the Brain Not as much detail as I would have liked but I'm curious to find out how this will play out for the future of the alcohol industry: "In other words," said Homanics, "alcohol exerts its effects via binding sites on target molecules just like all other drugs we know about. There is now solid evidence from several different putative alcohol targets using several different techniques that alcohol interacts with specific brain targets in a highly selective manner. This is particularly important for more senior clinicians and researchers that were trained years ago when the predominant theory of alcohol action was via nonspecific effects on the nervous system." Both Howard and Homanics are hopeful that this research will aid the development of therapies and treatments for individuals with alcohol problems." |
this is a quote from wikipedia about kindling:- Kindling due to substance withdrawal, refers to the neurological condition which results from repeated withdrawal episodes from sedative-hypnotic drugs such as alcohol or benzodiazepines. Each withdrawal leads to more severe withdrawal symptoms than the first withdrawal syndrome. Individuals who have had more withdrawal episodes are at an increased risk of very severe withdrawal symptoms, up to and including seizures. <snip> Repeated acute intoxication followed by acute withdrawal is associated with profound behavioural changes and neurobiological alterations in several brain regions. Much of the documented evidence of kindling due to multiple detoxifications regards increased seizure frequency. i'm horrified that the big book and more up to date resources on quitting never mentioned this, yet they should because if i had known about it i wouldn't have treated quitting so lightly, and it is true that each time it gets harder physically and with the withdrawal symptoms. this time i drank a little less each day over 3 days to stop that sudden slump from intoxicated brain to sober, and it's been a lot easier physically than the last attempt i made to stop. this information is vital to all alcoholics/alcohol abusers and yet i only heard of it recently when i was reading non-recovery related webpages. surely anyone promoting any kind of recovery should warn us that stopping dead and then resuming is incredibly dangerous, more so than weaning ourselves down or (even) continuing to drink until we're absolutely certain we have a method to stop? because in the past i used to think any few days without drinking were a victory, yet this and the related information seem to clearly indicate it's worse, and also potentially undermines serious future efforts to stop. it would probably have helped motivate me to stay stopped if i'd know each time i was causing damage of this kind, so i wonder why no-one talks about this?:tapping debs |
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Drug addiction treatment: David Eagleman hopes to use neuroscience to treat addicts. Really great progress on treating addiction! |
This isn't actually a science aricle but rather an interview with Bob Forrest a rock and roll recovery specialist with 15 years sober. He has dome very interesting thoughts on sobriety and I really related to a lot he had to say. http://m.cnn.com/primary/_wRAAHa-i7orcjLBImy |
From Psychology Today: Corrupted Choice—Not Disease—In the Addicted Brain "Understanding these neural changes is essential for understand how "choice" gets hijacked by addiction." -Marc Lewis, Ph.D. in Addicted Brains |
This one is good, too, also by Marc Lewis. Psychology Today: "Is Addiction the Result of Brain Evolution? Brains that evolved for goal-pursuit easily end up addicted." |
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