Epilepsy drug helps beat cocaine addiction
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Jesus je...@heaven.universe
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994190 got this from news headlines on this site: Science News http://astreet.adderleystreet.co.za
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"Kev" n...@hotmail.com
I saw this somewhere else too. I cannot understand why these scientists have publicised these findings. Basically 8 out of 20 remain cocaine free 4 weeks after the trial. Hardly an amazing result. If they were selected for being motivated in the first place then the result is even less promising. Where is the control group getting a placebo dose? I am in favour of anything that makes it easier for addicts to stop using but shoddy science like this is disgraceful
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Kev Brighton UK
Jesus je...@heaven.universe
still a 40% success rate beats NA hands down. and this is just a start. a larger better run study will follow.
*** Epilepsy drug helps beat cocaine addiction 15:25 23 September 03 NewScientist.com news service An anti-epilepsy drug has shown promising results for treating cocaine addiction in a preliminary US trial.
Gamma-vinyl-GABA (GVG), also known as vigabatrin, works in part by blocking the craving for cocaine. When combined with counselling, 40 per cent of addicts successfully gave up their habit for the duration of the sixty-day study.
"This is unheard of in addiction treatment," says Stephen Dewey, at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and one of the study team. "There are no medicines that are effective at blocking cocaine craving in addicts." Jonathan Brodie, another team member, told New Scientist: "We've given an effective tool to those people who are at the sharp end. It will give them a period of normal behaviour where they are immune to the normal environmental cues that trigger craving. This gives them the opportunity to begin re-building their lives." But doctors working with cocaine addicts were sceptical. "Cocaine is a recreational drug. The vast majority of people who take cocaine or crack want to continue doing so," says Allan Parry, who runs a drug counselling service in Liverpool, UK. "So in that sense this work is only likely to be relevant to a tiny minority of people. People often give up cocaine because their lifestyle changes or they just grow up." Pleasure and reward The trial involved 20 hard-core addicts who had used cocaine heavily for up to 15 years. All said they wanted to give up the drug.
During the first week of the study, the patients received escalating doses of GVG. However, eight patients dropped out within the first ten days of the 28-day treatment period, because they wanted to continue taking cocaine.
Among the 12 remaining patients, eight completed the trial and their dose of GVG was gradually lowered. These eight remained cocaine-free four weeks after their GVG treatment ended. Crucially, the people who stopped using the street drug reported that their craving did not return once they ceased taking GVG.
The researchers are unsure how GVG managed to reduce the cravings for cocaine. In people with epilepsy, GVG appears to increases the amount of GABA - a brain chemical, or neurotransmitter, involved in nerve cell communication. GABA blocks dopamine, another neurotransmitter, which regulates the brain's pleasure and reward centres.
But Parry also questions the design of the study. "For a start, what happened to the patients after the sixty days of monitoring was over?" he asks.
Journal reference: Synapse (DOI: 10.1002/syn.10278)
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"Kev" n...@hotmail.com
I actually doubt that 40% still abstinent 4 weeks after treatement is much different than NAs "success" rate but do not have any figures. I know that AAWS did a survey that showed something like a 95% failure rate of AA - they then quickly withdrew the report from the public domain. NA and AA will never become more successful as long as they keep on the policy of always blaming the addict for relapse while not allowing the addict to take any credit for success As far as the particular study into GVG goes I hope that it is a success and helps people. I just think that the scientists involved in publicising a poorly designed study are acting very irresponsibly
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Kev Brighton UK
Jesus je...@heaven.universe
essentially there is no such thing as a spiritual solution for anything.
that's why NA will always be a failure.
people want very badly to believe in "something for nothing" which is exactly what a spiritual solution is.
so people listen to "financial gurus" like Suze Orman who advocate giving money away in order to get money in. that's just bullshit.
i don't think so. they saw something. the cocaine addicts being treated reported that their cravings were annihilated by the anti-epilepsy drug.
one of the main problems overcoming a drug addiction is the cravings. it's not the whole solution, but it is a major contribution to getting out of it.
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Bill D. neveralone_neverag...@NOSPAMcharter.net
My opinions, (remember, everyone's got one. heh.) A success.
A success.
A success.
Though we'll never know, or hear about, candidates #1 and #2 they are undoubtedly successes in my book for finding a new way to live without the horror of active addiction. And by that I mean the obsessive/compulsive getting and using and finding ways and means to get more. Candidate #3 is a success because of his refusal to give up the good fight and keeps coming back. I sincerely do not beleive that success lies in the length of clean time but in the consistant desire and effort to live a better life.
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In Loving Service, Peace.
Bill http://webpages.charter.net/havenIII/ http://www.angelfire.com/realm3/haven/index.html http://community.webshots.com/user/sequoian100 ARNA Album http://www.angelfire.com/realm3/haven/slideshow/ArnaAlbum/ArnaAlbumTh...
rrr rr...@rihydsjd.coshd
success. because he / she quit their addiction.
it does show that NA isn't essential to the process though.
success. what NA defines as a yardstick for success has no meaning.
failure. because they obviously still have a problem with drugs or they would not continue to return to NA, which they see as a way to get help.
the best way to get accurate stats on drug use / problem drug use is to legalise drugs and let addicts get their drugs from clinics. then the clinics can keep track of stats.
within a free prohibition free environment people will feel safer to disclose their drug use. within the current oppressive & hostile anti-drug regime there is a huge incentive to keep any drug use secret.
South Africa recognised this in regards crime committed during the Apartheid years and held a Truth and Reconciliation Committee which granted amnesty in exchange for full disclosure.
what happens is that cravings reoccur. so when that happens, it would be extremely good to know that you can simply start taking a refresher course of X which will get rid of those cravings.
because when those cravings come, right now the addict knows that the best way of relieving them is to take the drugs he is craving for. knowing that there is an alternative would be helpful to staying clean. this is the reason people use nicotine patches when quitting smoking.
not everyone will use them, but some will find them helpful.
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rich r...@bills.ass
On Wed, 24 Sep 2003 15:07:33 -0400, Bill D.
<m9q3nv070166pvp3eacdpckrcsm2mi4...@4ax.com>: okay, I can buy that. the real failures are those who die as a result of their addiction. that is the worst. i truly regret the suicides. i think they should hang in there. things do get better. they do.
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