Posted by fredjoiners on September 15, 2009
FASDs are 100% preventable if a woman doesn’t drink alcohol while she is pregnant.
Learn more about the cause, signs, and treatments and what you can do if you think your child might have an FASD.
The Story of Iyal
This video tells the story of one family living with FASDs. Every family has unique experiences, challenges, and successes. The intent of this video is not to endorse specific interventions, but to share one family’s story and hope.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects can include physical problems and problems with behavior and learning. Often, a person with an FASD has a mix of these problems.
Read more about FASDs:
Cause and Prevention
FASDs are caused by a woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy. There is no known amount of alcohol that is safe to drink while pregnant. There is also no safe time to drink during pregnancy and no safe kind of alcohol to drink while pregnant.
Full story at; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Posted in Brain, FASD, Families, Recovery, Self-help, alcohol, disease, treatment, women | Tagged: fetal, Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders | Leave a Comment »
Posted by fredjoiners on August 16, 2009
The Australian National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Disorders Inc.
(NOFASARD) was established and incorporated in Adelaide in 1998. It is Australia’s peak body representing parents, carers and others interested in or affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). NOFASARD currently receives no operational funding and is staffed totally by volunteers.
The Aims and Objectives of NOFASARD are:
- To promote and resource good practice in the management of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and related disorders resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure.
- Provide information, advocacy, education and support that will assist carers and those working with and affected by Foetal Alcohol Syndrome and related disorders.
- Work towards the prevention of Foetal alcohol syndrome and related disorders.
NOFASARD members lobby State and Federal Agencies, politicians and professional associations about:
- The lack of appropriate education about the effects of alcohol use during pregnancy
- The lack of acknowledgment of this disability by health authorities in Australia
- The lack of appropriate management strategies and support for people with FASD.
Through education and advocacy, NOFASARD members aim to improve the lives of children/adults with FASD. Representatives from the organization present at seminars and workshops for both government and nongovernment agencies throughout Australia
More information at; http://www.nofasard.org.au/
Posted in Australia, Brain, Families, Health, alcohol, alcoholism, disease, symptoms, women | Leave a Comment »
Posted by fredjoiners on August 3, 2009
Britain’s National Health Service offering alcoholics ‘potentially lethal’ treatment, say campaigners
UK Advocates threatens legal action against health authorities providing drug-based treatments over rehabilitation
Alcohol dependency affects 1.1 million people in Britain
National Health Service authorities that offer alcoholics controlled drinking treatments relying on medication rather than total abstinence could face legal action from a patients’ organisation.
UK Advocates, a pressure group campaigning for the wider availability of rehabilitation courses for addicts, is preparing to file claims against the Department of Health and local health services.
The charity maintains it has found evidence of thousands of patients with severe alcohol problems being given "psycho-active drugs" while they are still drinking.
The combination, it is alleged, can be "potentially lethal" and is at odds with the manufacturer’s prescription advice and guidelines. "In many cases," UK Advocates claims, "drugs and controlled drinking programmes are administered to sufferers without the doctor or clinicians involved having performed effective liver function tests to establish the extent of liver damage from excessive drinking.
"Treating alcoholics with drugs and on a basis of ‘moderation’ is similar to advising someone with lung cancer to cut down their smoking," says Bob Beckett, founder of UK Advocates.
"Controlled drinking programmes … hark back to the 1960s and 70s when we believed pharmaceuticals would cure everything, including addiction to alcohol. They simply have not worked.
Full story at; The Guardian, UK
See also;
Posted in Brain, Britain, Doctors, Families, Health, Liver, Medication, Policy, Recovery, Relapse, Research reports, alcohol, alcoholism, disease, treatment | Tagged: controlled drinking, lethal, psycho-active drugs, rehabilitation, UK Advocates | Leave a Comment »
Posted by fredjoiners on March 18, 2009
College Men Unimpressed by Female Binge Drinkers
Some college women may drink excessively to gain the attention of men, but new research from Loyola Marymount University suggests that drunk women are not as attractive to men as women believe.
Science Daily reported March 11 that the majority (71 percent) of women surveyed overestimated — by an average of one-and-a-half drinks — the number of alcohol beverages men wanted their female friends, dates, or girlfriends to drink.
Researchers surveyed 3,616 college students (ages 18-25) at Loyola Marymount University and the University of Washington, and asked women questions about their perceptions of what college men want women to drink, as well as the relationship between drinking and sexual attraction. The researchers then compared the women’s answers with men’s actual preferences.
Women who overestimated men’s preferences were more likely to drink excessively, according to the study.
"There is a great, and risky, disconnect here between the sexes," said lead researcher Joseph LaBrie, who teaches at Loyola Marymount. "While not all women may be drinking simply to get a guy’s attention, this may help explain why more women are drinking at dangerous levels."
The results were published in the March 2009 journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
From Join Together Online
See also;
Posted in Emotions, Families, Health, Recovery, Relapse, Research reports, Sexuality, alcohol, alcoholism, disease, men, women | Tagged: college, drink, Loyolafemale, psychology | Leave a Comment »
Posted by fredjoiners on March 17, 2009
New Website Offers Tools to Assess and Address Drinking Risks
The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has created a new website called "Rethinking Drinking," designed to help users define their drinking patterns and develop strategies and options for dealing with alcohol-related problems, the Wall Street Journal reported March 10.
"Most people don’t know what ‘drink responsibly’ means — they think it means not getting tanked," says Mark Willenbring, director of treatment and recovery research at NIAAA. The new website is part of a broader effort to increase understanding of the array of alcohol-related disorders and redefine the way terms like "abuse" and "dependence" are used.
The website utilizes an interactive form that allows users to enter daily and weekly drinking amounts to determine how their consumption compares with national averages. The site has a drink-size chart and a content calculator to aid in determining what comprises a "standard" drink.
The NIAAA considers the consumption of no more than four standard-size alcoholic drinks a day for a man or no more than three for a woman as placing individuals at low risk for serious alcohol problems. The weekly "low-risk" limit is no more than 14 drinks for a man or seven for a woman.
More daily or weekly consumption creates a higher risk of abuse or dependence. Very few Americans exceed the weekly limits without exceeding the daily limitations, Willenbring said.
"Rethinking Drinking" presents options and strategies to the user — from "space and pace" (no more than one drink per hour) strategies to "avoiding triggers" (understanding the external situations that may provoke drinking). The site uses an "urge tracker" to monitor events surrounding the urge to drink, along with a section on "refusal skills" for coping with social situations.
The site also features a downloadable print version that Willenbring said will serve as a resource for those who counsel people concerned about their drinking habits.
From Join Together Online Rethinking Drinking
See also;
Posted in Brain, Families, Health, Policy, Recovery, Research reports, Youth, alcohol, alcoholism, disease, men, women | Tagged: drinking, NIAAA | 3 Comments »
