Legal…But lethal?

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A drug addict used to be someone who bought illegal fixes from a shady character in a back alley. But with more and more people admitting addiction to prescription drugs, your ‘dealer’ can be the person you least expect to harm your health – your GP.

Drop in Alaskan Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Alaska’s fetal alcohol syndrome rate fell 32 percent between 1996-2002

During that time, the rate among Alaska Native births dropped by half
(Anchorage, AK) — Alaska Native babies were born with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) half as often around the year 2000 as they were five to seven years earlier, Department of Health and Social Services researchers found in an analysis of Alaska Birth Defects Registry data. That change brought the state’s overall rate from 1996 to 2002 down by a third, researchers reported in the State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin released yesterday.

“This reduction is what we’ve been striving for, and continue to strive for,” said Health and Social Services Commissioner Bill Hogan. “FAS and other conditions collectively known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are one of the most common causes of developmental disabilities and the only cause that is entirely preventable.”

In 1998, Alaska and three other states with high rates of maternal alcohol consumption were selected for a four-year project through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The project developed a system to track birth defects caused by maternal drinking, and established by 2002 that Alaska’s rate was far higher than the other three states; the highest in the nation.

The analysis found the rate among Alaska Native births decreased to 32.4 children with FAS per 10,000 live births from 63.1 (down 49 percent); the rate increased from 3.7 to 6.1 among non-Native births (not a statistically significant change.) Alaska’s overall rate dropped to 13.5 from 20.0. The analysis ends with births in 2002 in order to incorporate doctors’ reports of suspected birth defects caused by maternal drinking. Doctors have until children are 6 to make that mandatory report.

A major joint federal-state prevention and education effort ran from 1991 to 1996, with a second running from 1998 to 2006, said L. Diane Casto, manager of Prevention and Early Intervention Services for the Division of Behavioral Health.

“We can’t absolutely link the decrease to our prevention efforts, but the timing strongly suggests that it was a major factor,” Casto said. “This is clear encouragement that we can change these statistics which represent so much lost potential and needless heartbreak.”

Click to enlarge

Janine Schoellhorn, the state public health epidemiologist who led the analysis, said the Alaska Native rate was 17 times higher than the non-Native rate in the first group of children, those born in 1996 through 1998; for those born in 2000 through 2002, the Native rate was down to five times higher.

“That’s really, really impressive,” Schoellhorn said. An analysis of data from 2003 forward is underway.

The State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin is posted online at http://www.epi.alaska.gov/bulletins/catlist.jsp?cattype=Fetal+Alcohol+Syndrome+(FAS)

• See also
• Facial features of fetal alcohol syndrome

Jill C’s Recovery Story

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I Found My True Self

I grew up in a middle-class family in Australia. We had a three-story home with an indoor swimming pool and I had a pony. But home was not as it looked from the outside.

Alcohol & Sexuality

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People who drink heavily and alcoholics often have bad or ordinary experiences. Not to start with, but more and more so as drinking increases. Over time, and in binges, excessive alcohol causes damage to the body and some sexual functions change.

Drinking Idea Based on Common Sense

Study Says Drinking with Your Kids Doesn’t Prevent Abuse

Research Summary

Dutch teens who were allowed to drink alcohol at home drank more outside the home than their peers and — along with other teens who drank — were at increased risk of developing alcohol problems, according to researchers from Radboud University Nijmegen.

The study authors tracked 428 Dutch families with two children ages 13-15. They found that teens who drank at home also drank more on their own, and vice-versa, suggesting that teen drinking begets more teen drinking regardless of setting.

"The idea is generally based on common sense,"

"The idea is generally based on common sense," said researcher Haske van der Vorst. "For example, the thinking is that if parents show good behavior — here, modest drinking — then the child will copy it. Another assumption is that parents can control their child’s drinking by drinking with the child."

“ … try to postpone the age at which their child starts drinking”

However, the study demonstrated that, "If parents want to reduce the risk that their child will become a heavy drinker or problem drinker in adolescence, they should try to postpone the age at which their child starts drinking," said van der Vorst.

The research was published in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

• See also;
• Current Social Problems
• Children with Alcoholic Fathers
• Facial features of fetal alcohol syndrome
• Is Your Teen Using Drugs or Drinking?
• Prevent Child Drug Use

Attitudes

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Altering Attitudes
A common phrase in Alcoholics Anonymous is ‘AA means altering attitudes’. Recovery for all people in 12 Step Fellowships entails the alteration of attitudes.
More at; www.recoveryissexy.com

Im not an Alcoholic!

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Alcoholic Denial as a Psychological Defence

Denial takes two major forms.

5 Goals for ACOA’s in Recovery

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Reconstructing the alcoholic family.
World view change in co-dependents, Adult Children of Alcoholics/Al-Anon self-help groups
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Women & the 12 Steps

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Feminist critics of AA have

* challenged the language of AA’s Twelve Steps,
* the spiritual nature of the steps, and
* the male-dominated culture of the Twelve-Step program.

The Secret to Freedom

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The Buddha’s Secret

The Buddha spent years seeking the secret to understanding the human condition and the sufferings that go with it. His insight was simple, and it can free you of an illusion that promotes dependence. The secret is, “There is no secret.”
FRom; WWW.Recoveryissexy.com