ABC24 in Memphis, along with other media outlets across the country, recently reported on an alarming trend: Teens are drinking hand sanitizer to get high. Who knew this seemingly harmless substance – a favorite of busy moms to try to keep their kids germ-free – could be abused by kids to get a quick, cheap high?

Six Southern California teenagers showed up in emergency rooms recently, suffering from alcohol poisoning due to ingesting hand sanitizer. Some of the teenagers even took it a step further, using salt to separate the alcohol from the sanitizer, making a potent drink that is similar to a shot of hard liquor.

Liquid hand sanitizer is 62 percent ethyl alcohol and can easily be made into a 120-proof liquid. It also has all the hallmarks of big trouble: It’s cheap, it’s easily accessible and it produces a quick high.

The number of concentrated cases has health experts worried that it’s a sign of a growing trend. Of course, it’s not the first time teens have misused a common household substance to get high. In the past, teens have misused mouthwash, cough syrup and vanilla extract all for the same reason, and chances are they’ll continue to find new substances to try.

In the meantime, health officials recommend that parents who buy hand sanitizer opt for the foam version because it is harder to extract the alcohol and teenagers may be less likely to drink it. Parents also shouldn’t leave hand sanitizer around the house and should monitor it like any other liquor or medicine.

Alcohol Abuse Help at La Paloma

If you or someone you love needs help with alcohol abuse, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among US soldiers and veterans has been on the rise in recent years, with at least 200,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from the disorder. It has become so widespread in recent years that the military stepped up efforts to educate doctors and servicemen about the disorder, in an effort to make sure that those with PTSD receive treatment. But not everyone is happy with the process. The Army Surgeon General recently issued a more strict set of guidelines for doctors to follow when diagnosing PTSD. The guidelines, which have not been made public, were recently reported on in the Seattle Times, which cited the Army Surgeon General’s report as discrediting a handful of screening tests for PTSD that are widely used by military clinicians.

Particular fault is found with one of the more popular personality tests that clinicians use, known as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Test. The test, which is often used to label some as “malingerers” (e.g. those faking PTSD), often produces flawed results, according to experts quoted in the Times article. PTSD sufferers exhibit a wide range of symptoms including insomnia, flashbacks and depression, but the test in question can dismiss or downplay those issues, resulting in legitimate sufferers being labeled as fakers.

This is particularly alarming because the tests in question were the standard of care at Madigan Army Medical Center, one of the military’s largest medical installations. This Tacoma, Washington-based facility is also home to a forensic psychiatry team tasked with deciding whether soldiers diagnosed with PTSD are sick enough to qualify for medical retirement. In March, the Army launched an investigation of the Madigan team after Madigan’s screening procedures allegedly reversed 300 of the PTSD diagnoses among soldiers being evaluated.

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Whether the Surgeon General’s attempts at strengthening its PTSD diagnostic tactics will result in more diagnoses and better early treatment remains to be seen, but the problem won’t be going away any time soon. If you or someone you love needs help with addiction and a mental health issue like PTSD, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about Dual Diagnosis treatment, financing or insurance.

Music can definitely be healing to our souls, but new research shows it has benefits for our bodies, too. Who hasn’t turned to their iPod to soothe the hurt of a bad break-up or to provide the soundtrack for a relaxing road trip? We knew music was medicinal, but now there’s scientific proof.

Music has the power to reduce feelings of physical pain and boost memory, according to the Mayo Clinic. Researchers from Drexel University have also found that cancer patients who either listened to music or worked with a music therapist were able to lower their anxiety levels. The research, conducted by the Cochrane Collaboration, included nearly 2,000 cancer patients and found that those who participated in music not only had decreased anxiety, but better blood pressure levels and improved moods. Listening to music can also help you feel less pain, especially if you’re anxiety-prone.

You don’t need to be sick to see the benefits, though. Listening to music every day can lower stress for anyone. The key is to listen to music you like. Other studies have shown music helps during surgery, boosts heart health and can lower anxiety levels as effectively as a massage.

Addiction Recovery at La Paloma

For those in treatment or recovery, having a positive way to improve moods, lower stress and decrease anxiety can make all the difference in maintaining sobriety long-term. If you or someone you love needs help with addiction recovery, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

When you think of babies born addicted to drugs, you usually imagine so-called “crack babies,” with indigent moms nursing a nasty habit that involves back alleys and dirty syringes. But today’s addicted newborns are the product of moms you might never suspect of drug abuse. These babies are suffering prescription drug withdrawal, and they’re in good company.

One Knoxville, Tenn., hospital has been dealing with a dramatic increase in the number of newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), which is the withdrawal process a newborn baby goes through after in-utero exposure to certain medications. Alarmingly, the number of babies born with NAS at Knoxville’s East Tennessee Children’s Hospital doubled from 2010 to 2011.

Narcotics used during pregnancy pass through the placenta to the baby. Once the baby is born, he or she no longer has access to the drugs and will likely go through withdrawal. And experts know that opioids like the prescription painkiller oxycodone are the worst offenders for the babies suffering from NAS, at least at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

While the problem is an epidemic in Tennessee, other states and regions are not immune. And for those exposed, withdrawal is an almost forgone conclusion. In fact, between 55 and 94 percent of babies exposed to opioids prior to birth exhibit signs of withdrawal, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Withdrawal means these babies are easily agitated and cry constantly, and many cannot be near sound and light. Other symptoms can include a distinct, high-pitched cry, tightening of the muscles and seizures.

In Tennessee’s Knox County, they’ve seen the number of children in foster care increase by almost 50 percent over the last few years, due in large part to opiate abuse among pregnant women. Then add to that number the many relatives pitching in to raising drug-exposed infants, and you begin to get an idea of the problem’s true scope.

The epidemic is still in the early stages, so there is no national protocol on how to treat NAS. East Tennessee Children’s Hospital has come up with its own methods. They created a wing of private rooms that is quieter, darker and easier to control, and they train volunteers as “cuddlers” who are on hand simply to hold and comfort the babies.

They also use medication, originally opting for methadone, then switching to morphine, which is given in small doses every three hours with feedings. Doses are gradually decreased to wean babies off the drugs. Since adopting the morphine protocol, the average hospital stay for these infants has decreased by several days, now averaging 24 days. These babies still face an increased risk for problems with learning and development throughout childhood, and behavior problems once they reach school age.

Prescription Drug Rehab at La Paloma

If you or someone you love needs help with prescription drug abuse, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

We’re one of the richest, most highly-developed countries in the world, and yet American teens are killing themselves by binge drinking at one of the highest rates in the world. Irish and Austrian youths share that dubious distinction with us, according to a recent study.

The study was part of the British medical journal The Lancet’s “Adolescent Health Series.” It examined the behavior of teens in developed, higher income countries, showing that the teens in these countries tend to live fast and die younger than in other countries.

According to the report, Irish and Americans between the ages of 10-24 are more likely to die violent deaths due to their overindulgence of pot and alcohol. Binge drinking is most prevalent in Austria and Ireland, but the US is not far behind, according to the study. (A binge in this study is defined by having more than five alcoholic drinks in one day.) The study also found that more girls aged 13 to 15 in the US drink excessively, in comparison to their peers anywhere else in the world.

For those outside the US, it’s not time to breathe a sigh of relief. Youth around the world are at risk. The editors of the study call adolescent health still a “marginalized sub-specialty” and advocate for it to be elevated into “mainstream global health agendas.”

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Teen addiction rates continue to rise, but there is also more help available than ever before. If you or someone you love needs help with alcohol addiction, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Saturday, April 28, 2012 has been designated Drug Take-Back Day by the Drug Enforcement Agency. The DEA regularly schedules these National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days so that anyone who has accumulated unwanted, unused prescription drugs can safely dispose of those medications.

Americans who participated in the DEA’s third National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on October 29, 2011, turned in more than 377,086 pounds (188.5 tons) of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at 5,327 take-back sites across the US. When the results of the three prior Take-Back Days are combined, the DEA, and its state, local, and tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed 995,185 pounds (498.5 tons) of medication from circulation in the past 13 months.

“The amount of prescription drugs turned in by the American public during the past three Take-Back Day events speaks volumes about the need to develop a convenient way to rid homes of unwanted or expired prescription drugs,” DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart said. “DEA remains hard at work to establish just such a drug disposal process, and will continue to offer take-back opportunities until the proper regulations are in place.”

Safe drug disposal continues to be a problem because medications are often flushed down toilets, sending them into the water supply, or thrown in the trash, which lands them in a local landfill where they can still be accessed and misused.

This latest DEA Take-Back event will take place from 10 am to 2 pm at thousands of sites around the country. To find a site near you or for more information, visit dea.gov or call 800-882-9539.

Prescription Drug Addiction Treatment at La Paloma

If you or someone you love needs help with prescription drug addiction, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

We’ve all heard the expression “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.” From the foundations of rock, there have been references to drug use and speculation that lyrics were referring to using drugs. Veiled (or not so veiled) references to drug use appear in songs by everyone from Jefferson Airplane and The Doors to The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Dave Matthews Band.

The most recent example in drug referencing comes from Madonna, who reportedly alluded to Ecstasy from stage at a recent festival, asking the crowd, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” (a slang term for Ecstasy).

The question is, does talk about drugs in song or on stage lead to more widespread drug use by listeners? While there’s no concrete proof that drug references in music make listeners more likely to experiment, experts agree it has led to a broader acceptance of the subject. We’re no longer shocked when we hear references to illegal drugs in songs that are played on the radio. And if artists and hit bands can influence things like clothing choices and hairstyles, it’s not a great stretch to imagine that their casual use of drugs will influence impressionable listeners.

Drug Abuse Help at La Paloma

If you or someone you love needs help with drug abuse, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Even those who are charged with upholding the law are not immune to disease of addiction. A recent story of a Tennessee judge who battled prescription drug addiction shows just how devastating substance abuse can be to a career and a person’s character. It also highlights the legal troubles that are often a side effect of severe substance abuse.

Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner, 64, was reportedly so addicted to prescription drugs during his final two years on the bench, that he was having sex and buying pills during courtroom breaks, at times purchasing from convicts he had previously sentenced, an investigation found.

The Associated Press reports that many people had no idea the judge had a problem until he stepped down from the bench and pleaded guilty in March 2011 to a single count of official misconduct. Once his problem came to light, though, his behavior called into question many of the cases he presided over, including one of Knoxville’s most notorious murders.

It took months for the true extent of Baumgartner’s problem to be revealed. In the wake of the scandal, another judge has already tossed out the convictions from the high-profile murder case and ordered new trials. Other defendants are hoping for a similar outcome, and bids for new trials from the many people convicted in Baumgartner’s court could overwhelm the criminal justice system in Knox County, Tennessee’s third-largest county with more than 400,000 residents. It’s not clear exactly how many convictions are at risk.

Baumgartner had been a criminal court judge in Knoxville since 1992, but a bout of pancreatitis caused by his chronic alcoholism led to the painkiller problem. Soon, the judge was seeking oxycodone, hydrocodone and generic Xanax and Valium from multiple doctors. When the prescriptions weren’t enough, he turned to convicts he had punished – and their friends.

Baumgartner left the bench to seek drug treatment before pleading guilty to misconduct. A special judge handed Baumgartner a sentence that allowed him to wipe the felony conviction off his record if he stayed out of trouble. The sentence also allowed Baumgartner to avoid jail time and keep his pension. The judge who sentenced Baumgartner has since said he would have come down harder on him had he known the full details of the criminal investigation. The U.S. attorney’s office is also investigating.

It’s an extreme case, but many who battle addiction find themselves on the wrong side of the law. While not everyone with a substance abuse problem has legal issues, alcoholism often leads to drunk driving and drug abuse requires participants to seek illegal substances, a process that may include additional crimes. As the addiction escalates, individuals who were once upstanding citizens may find themselves doing things they never would have imagined doing while sober. Then, once a decision is made to seek treatment, there are often legal obstacles that need to be overcome as well.

Fortunately, these issues aren’t insurmountable. Many drug treatment programs will even work with the court system to show that an individual is making positive changes, which goes a long way toward resolving legal issues. The key is to stop before there is bigger trouble and get help now.

Substance Abuse Help at La Paloma

If you or someone you love needs help with drug or alcohol addiction, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Why do you think people keep their addictions secret until they run into trouble with the law? Tell us in the comment section below.

Britain’s popular Daily Mail recently told the story of a mother who sought help for her alcoholism only after her 15-year-old daughter took a photo of her passed out clutching a vodka bottle.

Samm Veevers, 45, admits she was consuming a liter of vodka each ay as well as gallons of beer and cider. Those who loved her most could see she was slowly drinking herself to death during marathon binges that could last for more than a week at a time.

It was far from her days as a model. Veevers’ life spiraled out of control following the death of her father eight years earlier, and she found herself turning to alcohol to cope. After being forced to quit work as a care home manager when her husband’s job had forced them to move away from London, Veevers became bored and depressed. She began drinking a little wine to help her get through the day, but soon she found herself drinking more and more. She experienced a dramatic weight loss and her health deteriorated to the point that she was given just five years to live due to severe cirrhosis of the liver.

Her marriage fell apart and her husband was awarded custody of their three children.
“I didn’t stop to think what I was doing to my family, I just drank to blot out the pain,” She said. She lived on the living room couch and had alcohol delivered to her door. Sometimes she would be passed out for up to 36 hours. She lost entire blocks of days.

Her daughter Hannah would occasionally stop by to check on her mom and plead with her to stop drinking. It was on one of these visits that she found her mom lying comatose on the floor, clutching a bottle of vodka. A desperate Hannah decided to take a picture, hoping to help her mom finally wake up to the severity of her situation.

“I was mortified when Hannah showed me the picture of me unconscious, clutching an empty bottle, and it shocked me into making a change in my life,” Veevers told The Daily Mail. “My addiction came out of nowhere and completely took over.”

After receiving professional help, quitting drinking and doing some local charity work, Veevers now runs her own cake company. Her daughter has moved back home and they are closer than ever.

Addiction Rehab at La Paloma

Not every story has this type of happy ending, but yours can. It’s not too late. Help is just a phone call away. If you or someone you love needs help with drug or alcohol addiction, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

If you’re in recovery, what was your wake-up call? Tell us below.

“The tourism and alcohol industries promote heavy drinking and sex, creating an environment that can lead to rape, fatal injuries and death by alcohol poisoning. We agree with parents that we must put an end to these promotions that target students, most of whom are underage,” said J. Edward Hill, MD, AMA chair-elect in a news release.

Then there are the parents who are unaware that tourism companies market to students with promises of a wild week featuring excessive drinking and sex. And it’s not just US destinations that are doing this. American tourism companies, in partnership with alcohol producers, promote destinations outside the country where the drinking age is 18, making them a big draw for underage students who can’t drink legally back home.

The poll showed that a whopping 80 percent of parents were concerned about college students drinking alcohol during spring break, while 70 percent were worried about students driving while intoxicated or with a drunken driver. Meanwhile, 88 percent of parents said they think that spring break is primarily a problem of underage drinking, because many college students are younger than the legal drinking age of 21, and 61 percent believe that underage students are more likely to drink than 21-year-olds.

Networks like MTV and reality shows also add to the idea that spring break should be one big alcohol-fueled party. It’s unlikely that parents will be able to stop these spring break trips altogether, but awareness is the first step. Students need to be clear on the dangers, too.

Alcohol Abuse Help at La Paloma

If you or someone you love needs help with alcohol abuse or addiction, call La Paloma at the toll-free number on our homepage. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.