"Health News - Medicine, Diet and Fitness"

People who take opioid-based drugs to treat chronic pain can drive about as well as others on the road, according to researchers from Rush University in Chicago.

The New York Times reported Dec. 4 that researchers used a driving simulator to compare the reaction times, weaving and accident rates of subjects taking oral morphine for pain to a control group that was not taking pain medication.

Lead researcher Asokumar Buvanendran said that, unlike occasional users, long-term pain patients develop tolerance to opiates that tends to limit their intoxicating effects. “If I suddenly took 30 milligrams of morphine, I’d probably sleep for 10 hours, whereas someone who took it for the last two years is probably as alert as I am now,” he said.

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People who take opioid-based drugs to treat chronic pain can drive about as well as others on the road, according to researchers from Rush University in Chicago.

The New York Times reported Dec. 4 that researchers used a driving simulator to compare the reaction times, weaving and accident rates of subjects taking oral morphine for pain to a control group that was not taking pain medication.

Lead researcher Asokumar Buvanendran said that, unlike occasional users, long-term pain patients develop tolerance to opiates that tends to limit their intoxicating effects. “If I suddenly took 30 milligrams of morphine, I’d probably sleep for 10 hours, whereas someone who took it for the last two years is probably as alert as I am now,” he said.

(more…)

People who take opioid-based drugs to treat chronic pain can drive about as well as others on the road, according to researchers from Rush University in Chicago.

The New York Times reported Dec. 4 that researchers used a driving simulator to compare the reaction times, weaving and accident rates of subjects taking oral morphine for pain to a control group that was not taking pain medication.

Lead researcher Asokumar Buvanendran said that, unlike occasional users, long-term pain patients develop tolerance to opiates that tends to limit their intoxicating effects. “If I suddenly took 30 milligrams of morphine, I’d probably sleep for 10 hours, whereas someone who took it for the last two years is probably as alert as I am now,” he said.

(more…)

The annual Monitoring the Future survey finds declining use of cigarettes and illicit drugs among 8th-graders that signifies “an ongoing cultural shift among teens and their attitudes about smoking and substance abuse,” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

NIDA said that the 2007 survey found considerable declines in lifetime, past-month, and daily smoking among 8th-graders. Daily smoking rates fell to 3 percent, down from a peak of 10.4 percent in 1996.

A similar percentage of 8th-graders reported past-year marijuana use, down from 18.3 percent in 1996. However, the report found no declines in annual marijuana use among 10th- and 12th-graders.

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The New Mexico Department of Men’s health would issue licenses to individuals and organizations to legally provide medical marijuana under draft rules unveiled last week, the Associated Press reported Dec. 4.

The license would allow patients, caregivers, state-run programs or private entities to legally manufacture and distribute marijuana for medical use. The draft rules will be open for public comment starting in late December, and a public hearing will be held in January.

New Mexico passed a medical-marijuana law that took effect on July 1, and 74 patients have been certified to use the drug for medical purposes. However, they have been left to their own devices to obtain marijuana — a situation the state government hopes to remedy with the new rules.

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Covers Sprint Fidelis Cardiac Leads, Byetta, And Bisphosphonates Such As Fosamax

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

The FDA’s Patient Safety News (PSN) is a series of monthly video news shows intended primarily for doctors and other Men’s health care professionals.

Agency’s Follow-Up On Its August 2007 “Early Communication” About These Heartburn Drugs Is Late, But Just In Time For Christmas Dinner

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

As reported previously, in early August 2007 the FDA and Men’s health Canada raised concerns about possible serious cardiac events in patients using Nexium and Prilosec, made by AstraZeneca (AZN), which are used for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and esophageal erosions, as well as for maintenance of healing erosions of the esophagus.

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A survey by the AIDS Project of Central Iowa found that most of the Democratic candidates for president said they would support needle exchange programs to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among injection-drug users, Medical News Today reported Nov. 30.

Each candidate was asked, “Do you support access to sterile syringes, as a means of protecting public Men’s health, by lifting the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange?” Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former Sen. John Edwards, and Sen. Joseph Biden all answered “yes” to the question.

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Drug Safety Experts And FDA Officials Discuss Avandia And The New Black-Box Warning

(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)

On November 14, 2007 the FDA issued a news release entitled “FDA Adds Boxed Warning for Heart-related Risks to Anti-Diabetes Drug Avandia”, which carried the sub-heading “Agency says drug to remain on market, while safety assessment continues”.

Users of ecstasy and methamphetamine exhibit signs of brain damage similar to that suffered by victims of traumatic brain injuries, according to researchers at the University of Florida (UF).

A five-year study found that using these drugs can cause a chemical chain reaction leading to cell death in the brain, memory loss, and other potentially permanent problems.

“Using methamphetamine is like inflicting a traumatic brain injury on yourself,” said Firas Kobeissy of the UF College of Medicine, who studied the brains of rats exposed to drugs and found that the damage they cause to certain proteins in the brain could lead to cell death and brain inflammation.

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