Dave Stringham asked:


Women choose to have breast augmentation surgery to improve their self image. Some feel dissatisfied because their breasts never developed to a size that meets their expectations. Others want to bring balance to a breast that is somewhat smaller than the other. Often women want the procedure to restore their natural breast volume, which may have decreased as a result of pregnancy, weight loss, aging or even breast cancer surgery.

In modern times, it is important to have your personal habits in mind when considering surgery on your breasts. Many women enjoy sunbathing in European settings. Some use the endoscopic technique with breast augmentation which leaves no scars whatsoever on the breasts. The same minimally invasive techniques on the face for facelift or browlift procedures to accomplish plastic surgery with no visible scars is used.

During your initial consultation, you will be encouraged to discuss your desires, fears, expectations, and goals. The first and foremost objective is the creation of breasts that you envision yourself with. In addition to increasing breast size, plastic surgeons will strive to create a more aesthetically pleasing breast by improving shape, balance, and proportion.

Additional cosmetic procedures may be necessary to improve your results. If your breasts are sagging (ptotic), your plastic surgeon may suggest that a breast lift procedure ( mastopexy ) be performed in conjunction with your breast augmentation surgery. In this manner, your breasts are lifted to the correct youthful position and made fuller at the same time.

It is important to stress that breast surgery does not cause cancer. The surgery lasts from one to two hours and is usually performed in a surgical facility under a light, general anesthetic administered by an anesthesiologist. A long acting, local anesthetic is also added to help eliminate discomfort following surgery. While the procedure is carried out, you will be on a specially designed table that can be placed in a sitting position. This allows your plastic surgeon to try different implants and ensure that the proper size is used with you in an upright position.

The breasts are enlarged by placing soft implants through a small incision, using one of three different approaches: axillary (armpit), around the nipple, or under the breast. Your plastic surgeon will discuss your preferences and his recommendations. Various types of implants are now available including saline (sterile saltwater) and silicone.

One of the following techniques is used, depending on your body structure, and preference: Endoscopic: This is the most modern technique for breast enlargement surgery. A small incision is made in the axilla (underarm) and a small endoscope is used to introduce the implant either under the pectoralis muscle or the breast tissue. Absorbable sutures are used through the procedure to assure your comfort. The unique features of this technique are the small incisions necessary to perform the procedure, and the location of the incisions in the axilla or armpit. Therefore, no scars are visible on the breast or at the breast crease leading to excellent aesthetic results. It is ideal for those patients with smaller breasts where the scars on the breast would be visible, and for those who have a predisposition to abnormal scarring.

Axillary (Underarm): This approach is utilized when a patient’s breasts are small, in good position, and relatively symmetrical. The implant is introduced through a 1 to 1 1/2″ incision in the center of the axilla, and is generally placed under the muscle mass. In patients who are extremely muscular, this placement may show movement of the implant; in such cases, the implant is placed over the muscle tissue. Absorbable stitches are placed in the underarm area, and a small tubular drain may be used to collect fluid for a day or two in order to decrease swelling.

Nipple: This commonly used approach involves a 1 to 1 1/2″ incision on the lower border of the pigmented areola and allows not only enlargement but some correction of shape and position discrepancies. The incision generally heals well with minimal scarring. Although blockage of nipple ducts is a theoretical problem, it rarely occurs. Most women are able to breast feed after this procedure.

Inframammary incision: In a small number of cases where the areola is very small, an incision is made at the crease below the breast. This approach may be suitable in women with prior breast surgery or with the most complicated breast augmentations.

For the first two days after surgery, you should rest at home. You are encouraged to walk around your home, but give your body a chance to take a break from your daily routines. You may experience much less discomfort than you expected, but will probably want a mild pain medication such as Tylenol. Stronger medication will be available if you need it.

By the third day you will be up and walking around. When you get up out of bed, try rolling on your side toward the edge of the bed and bring your knees up to your waist. Move your legs over the side of the bed and gently help yourself up by pushing up with your elbows. The idea is to let your legs do most of the work so your arms can rest. When you shower, gently wash your stitch line with mild soap, and then apply a thin layer of a mild antibiotic ointment such as Bacitracin or Polysporin.

Most patients are driving by the fifth to seventh day, and return to work or school in one to two weeks, depending on the level of activity required and the rate of recovery. You should be reminded that driving should be avoided while taking strong pain medications containing morphine derivatives such as Vicodin.

Half of the swelling is resolved in two weeks, three-quarters by one month, and the remainder in one to three months. Avoid reaching above your head to grasp objects for 4 weeks or until instructed otherwise by your plastic surgeon. Any change in sensation following surgery is typically temporary; resolution can occur over several weeks to several months. Although breast-feeding is desirable for infants, it can have an effect on the operated breast, sometimes resulting in size reduction, and discomfort. This should be considered before a decision is made about breast surgery and subsequent pregnancy and nursing.



RITA

Roberta Groche asked:


 

What is drug Rehab? This is medical and psychological form of treatment which done to treat drug dependency. Drug dependency cannot be treated without professional help and care. A patient who is addicted to drug or alcohol should have to go under a rehabilitation program.

The treatment in the drug rehab center depends on the drug to which the patient is addicted. Nowadays teenagers as well as adults are addicted to both prescription and street drugs. Most common street drugs which can cause addiction are cocaine, meth, crack, or heroin. Prescription drugs which are commonly abused by the people are oxycontin, vicodin and morphine.

The person who is addicted to drugs should be treated physically as well as psychologically. The physical treatment starts with drug detoxification. Drug detox process washes out the entire harmful chemical from the body. The patient`s organism functions better after this detoxification process. The second step after the detoxification is psychological treatment.

One of the most important parts of a treatment process is psychological therapy. The counselor tries to find the cause of the addiction problem. The patient goes under the psychological treatment on a regular basis. There are two types of sessions which are used by the counselors. The first is group session and second is one-on-one session.

Nowadays lots of rehab centers are being opened. According to recent studies and research the rehab centers are very helpful for the people fighting with addiction.

There are many people who need drug rehab program but not every addict is aware of his problem of addiction. Nowadays more and more people are finding information about drug rehabilitation programs and centers.

There are lots of sources which can give enough information about drug treatment centers. One of them is internet. Internet is an extensive source of information. There are lots of websites devoted to this topic. It is a good idea to read some articles providing important information on this topic. I have gone through many article directories which provide free cost articles related to drug addiction and other health and fitness related topics.

Nowadays every reputed rehab center has a website. These rehab centers provide a lot of information about the treatment of addiction. Most of them offer free counseling sessions. It is a good idea to visit these counseling sessions. There are different counseling sessions for the patient and the family members. As you go through the website you should read not only about the treatment technique but also about the staff members. Proper rehab center should recruit professional staff members. You should also know about the emergency care system of the center. The person suffering from addiction needs professional support and emergency care 24 hours a day.



MADELEINE

Ann Marosy asked:


The City of New York’s Medical Examiner Report concluded that Heath Ledger’s cause of death was “the result of acute intoxication by the combine effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam, and doxylamine”. Recent investigations and medical warnings have concentrated on the lethal combination of prescription drugs such as narcotic analgesics and sleeping aids. However, the medical community have ignored - and have been ignoring for some time - the underlying prescription drug class that often leads to habitual drug dependency with dangerous lethal consequences. Two of the drugs listed on Ledger’s report are the most insidious, potentially dangerous, highly prescribed and, yet, the most overlooked and under-estimated by doctors. These drugs can start the chain reaction that potentially leads to Vicodin or sleeping pill abuse.

The first time I saw Heath Ledger, it was by accident. My date and later to-be husband, Nick, took me to see ‘The Sixth Sense’, finally succumbing to peer pressure to guess ‘the big surprise ending’. By now, ‘The Sixth Sense’ was off the major theatre chain circuit and only screening in small suburban independent theatres, which led us to experience one of those now rare events: a double-feature matinee. The first movie was ‘10 Things I Hate About You’.

Well passed ‘teen’ movies, even those with Shakespearian-based scripts, we shyly admitted to liking ‘10 Things’. Wow, I really like the male lead, what was his name? “He’s Australian, you know”, replied Nick. And in typical Aussie-fashion, I was doubly impressed and now stupidly filled with national pride. Another brilliant Australian up-and-comer to join the rapidly increasing queue to grace Hollywood screens.

Years later, I would often grab the DVD to fill a cheerless afternoon and find myself watching and rewinding the same scene. Over and over and over again. My secret guilty pleasure. Heath sliding down the pole, microphone in hand, singing “You’re just too good to be true, can’t take my eyes off of you …” The brass band kicks in. And that charmingly defiant half-run, half-prancing across the school steps. The scene is brilliant. It’s inexplicable. He simply has that old-fashioned ‘it’ factor . I’m not a star-struck fan and was never one of those teenagers with movie-star idol posters plastered all over my bedroom walls, but this kid’s got talent.

And then came those scene-stealing roles that totally blew us away. The Patriot. Monster’s Ball. And finally leading-man status and an Academy Award nomination. By now, we were just used to having another famous Australian up there with the rest of the world’s great talent churning out an endless array of diverse, yet illustrious film roles.

We had no idea. It was not endless. It ended on 22 January 2008.

When people who I’ve never met but greatly admire die, I’m sad. But I’ve never cried before. I have never before felt that heart wrenching overwhelming shock that lasted for days after I heard the news. This time it was somehow more personal. As soon as I read the detailed list of the first report of his deathbed scene, I intuitively knew how he died.

Ten days later the final medical examiner’s report confirmed my suspicions.

Hollywood is ‘Xanax-city’. Feeling down, pop a Xanax. Feeling stressed, pop a Xanax. Need to perform at your very best, pop a Xanax. A-list stars feel the pressure to provide A-grade performances when working on multi-million dollar films. There’s too much money at stake. The intense stress, both internal and external, is immeasurable. The studios are risking billions, paying the stars millions, and the actors are unnaturally subjected to more pressure than we mere mortals can imagine.

Heath Ledger, himself, admitted that after the worldwide release of ‘A Knight’s Tale’ with its instant paparazzi-bulb-flashing stardom, his stress levels increased ten-fold.

Xanax is the trade name of the generic anti-anxiety/tranquilliser prescription drug, alprazolam, listed in Ledger’s toxicity report. The other anti-anxiety drug was diazepam, or more commonly known as Valium. These drugs are from a class of commonly prescribed tranquillisers known as benzodiazepines or simply referred to as benzos.

According to the latest National Health Study, approximately 10 million scripts of benzos are written annually in Australia alone with its meagre population of 20 million compared to 300 million in the US. Many doctors will write a script for benzos faster than a speeding bullet. But the real danger is that too many of them do not know the long-term effects these drugs have on your system, how to give their patients the correct advice when administering or monitoring the dosages, and - more frighteningly - how to manage their patients’ benzo withdrawal program.

Firstly, this is how benzos affect your body - or more importantly - your brain. Benzodiazepines increase, or rather, enhance your brain’s main neurotransmitter, commonly known as GABA. Eventually, and this can be as quickly as 3 to 4 weeks if taking a daily dose, your brain will stop producing its own GABA and rely totally on the artificial benzo.

GABA is the most important neurotransmitter because it affects just about everything else. Primarily it enhances the brain’s other neurotransmitters such as Serotonin and Dopamine. All of the brain’s neurotransmitters have important functions such as, voluntary movement of the muscles, wakefulness, sleep, memory function, sensory transmission - especially pain, and much, much more.

The problem is that from this point on your brain needs more benzo as tolerance starts the downward spiral, and the brain needs higher and higher dosages to obtain the same effect. If the patient is not given the correct dosage or management advice, that insidious and often-undiagnosed disorder known as Benzo Withdrawal Syndrome (BWS) will start its ugly and potentially dangerous descent.

BWS is known by experts in the field for its severity and prolonged nature. It may take years to fully withdraw from benzos, even with proper care and supervision. Without this knowledge, the unwitting patient can suffer from over 30 symptoms, the most common being unrelenting insomnia, severe pain and mood changes. People who have been taking benzos for a relatively short time can experience withdrawal symptoms even whilst taking the drug. In addition, if you have been taking them for a prolonged time, and then suddenly stop, severe symptoms will occur. Or, at the very least, more pain, more depression and unrelenting insomnia.

When we now read about Heath Ledger’s complaints about his incessant insomnia and the possesseion of strong painkillers, does this sound familiar? Everything points to extreme Benzo Withdrawal, but no-one is exclaiming its dangers. In fact, most GPs and even hospital doctors admit they know very little about Benzo Withdrawal. Some even refer their patients to drug rehabilitation centres - an absolute no-no according to benzo counsellors. Benzo withdrawal is the exact opposite to alcohol or street drug dependency. You don’t want to abruptly eliminate the benzo from your body, as they often do in drug rehabilitation. The brain needs the benzo. One must gradually withdraw the artificial benzo until the brain can eventually increase its own GABA. Sudden cessation of benzos can cause severe problems such as seizures and blackouts.

When in BWS, trained counsellors advise against taking any medication or drugs whatsoever. Paracetamol is probably the only thing the body can cope with for pain relief. Nothing else. Even codeine is forbidden. Also, one should totally refrain from alcohol, caffeine, and all stimulants. There is a strong protocol to be followed and without this knowledge, the patient is easily put at great risk.

The Ashton Manual, the acknowledged benzodiazepine ‘bible’, warns:

“Drug interactions: Benzodiazepines have additive effects with other drugs with sedative actions including other hypnotics, some antidepressants, major tranquillisers or neuroleptics, trifluoperazine, anticonvulsants, carbamazepine, sedative antihistamines, promethazine, opiates (heroin, morphine, meperidine), and, importantly, alcohol. Patients taking benzodiazepines should be warned of these interactions. If sedative drugs are taken in overdose, benzodiazepines may add to the risk of fatality.”

The real problem is that there are extremely few experts in treating BWS; they will not include your local doctor, hospital, or drug clinic. However, there are good BWS specialists that can be extremely helpful, but they are usually found in specially funded tranquilliser recovery clinics.

One must ask, why don’t doctors know about this? The problem is they simply don’t. Is it their fault or the pharmaceutical companies that profit from these addictions? There is little or no dissemination of information within the community, the medical fraternity or from the pharmaceutical companies about benzodiazepines. And, according to BWS counsellors working in the field, there is insufficient research or empirical studies on the effects of benzos and BWS management to assist them with their intensive workloads.

Why? Who is at fault? Who is responsible for remedying the situation? Why are the people who write the scripts uninformed about the after-effects and potential dangers associated with benzodiazepines?

Can our beloved Heath Ledger’s death be at least one catalyst that will draw this devastating travesty to the public’s attention to demand more information?

I hope so.

REFERENCES:

1. Professor C Heather Ashton DM, FRCP, The Ashton Manual, 2002. Available from www.benzo.org.uk.

2. Dr Reg Peart, Select Committee on Health Minutes of Evidence, House of Commons, UK. June 1999. “This submission by Dr R F Peart, National Co-ordinator of Victims of Tranquillisers concerns the nature, causes and consequences of 40 years of Benzodiazepine dependency, arguably the biggest medically induced health problem of the 20th Century”. Available from www.parliament.uk.

3. Mayo Clinic Staff. How You Feel Pain. 2007. The Mayo Clinic. Available from www.mayoclinic.com.

4. Benzodiazepines. 2007. Reconnexion (formerly TRANX - Tranquilliser Recovery and New Existence), Melbourne, Australia. Available from www.tranx.org.au.

5. Charles S. Hirsch, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner. The City of New York’s Medical Examiner Report - Heath Ledger Cause f Death. Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, Office of Chief Medical Examiner. 6 February 2008.

6. Sheila Marikar and Richard Esposito. DEA Investigating Ledger Overdose, Feb. 6, 2008. ABC News (USA).

7. Amy Westfieldt & Stephanie Nano. Accidental Overdose Killed Heath Ledger. 7 February 2008. Associated Press.



KARLA

Tom Horvath asked:


Yes, but…

No one complains about feeling happy! But we don’t want to have other, painful feelings. When these feelings arise, one way to respond to them is to drink or drug. One set of painful feelings can be broadly labeled fear or anxiety: “Drugs and/or alcohol helped me cope with feelings like anxiety, tension, fear, stress, agitation, nervousness, vulnerability, intimidation, embarrassment and panic.” Other painful feelings center around sadness and depression: “They helped me cope with feelings like depression, sadness, hurt, discouragement, grief, feeling defeated, feeling deprived or feeling abandoned.”

There are many other painful feelings as well:

a) frustration, resentment, anger, annoyance, irritability and rage

b) feeling remorseful, ashamed, guilty, responsible, humiliated

c) feeling disgusted or shocked

d) feeling bored, apathetic or impatient

e) feeling over-excited, “amped up,” “wired”

f) feeling exhausted or depleted

g) feeling lonely, isolated, cut off, alienated

h) feeling powerless

i) feeling “in pain” without being able to define the pain very well (perhaps a mixture of many painful feelings)

How well do drugs and alcohol work to cope with these painful feelings? For most of us, quite well! If you have had the experience of alcohol relaxing you, or coke giving you energy, or vicodin just helping you feel better, you don’t need much explanation of these effects. For some, the drugs immediately create bad feelings more than they resolve them. Did you ever see anyone get paranoid after smoking pot or doing a line of coke? These folks aren’t likely to turn to drugs (or at least that drug) for help dealing with bad feelings!

But if you are reading this article, you may be in the group that gets emotional relief from one or more drugs. Have you found yourself thinking:

“It helped me bring my feelings into a more normal range. They were just too out of control without it.”

“I don’t understand why, but I felt tremendous pain, and when I did this the pain was less.”

“It helped me cope when I felt like I had nothing left inside of me.”

So what is the problem with this? Maybe nothing, if you don’t do it often or in large quantities. Did you ever overeat to cope with stress? That overeating isn’t a big problem unless it becomes a pattern, a habit, a way of life.

The problems from drug use (or overeating) come from two factors: 1) by using you have not dealt with the problem directly (by delaying dealing with it you may have allowed it to get even worse), and 2) drug use is by itself becomes, sometimes quickly, a problem in many ways, including having a negative impact on how you fit you’re your family and social group, your health, your emotional well-being, your financial security, your legal status, and other ways you are likely familiar with.

However, neither of these facts is guaranteed. Maybe delay will actually help. Maybe the drug you use, in the quantities and ways you do it, causes little harm (think “caffeine”).

So, the only way to know if the drug use you engage in is worth the cost, is to list the benefits of using and the costs of using. Then think very hard about your lists. If you decide that the costs exceed the benefits, then it’s time to make a change.



AARON

Christopher Davis asked:


On the morning of February 14, 2001, 21-year-old Theresa Suddeth was on her way to class at the University of Washington. She was driving her 1983 Jeep vehicle on Brooklyn Avenue in the University District of Seattle. Theresa was traveling the posted speed limit of 30 mph.

Another driver then pulled out in front of her without yielding the right of way. There was a T-bone collision. Theresas vehicle struck the passenger side of the defendants vehicle. The defendant, 80 year-old Peter Combs*, claimed that he stopped before entering into the intersection, but that he could not see very far due to the sunshine. Theresas vehicle sustained $4,000 in damage. The defendants vehicle was totaled.

Theresa instinctively swerved to her right upon impact. She hit her head on the driver side door window. She was thrown forward and back again upon impact. The defendant was not injured. When police arrived on the scene, the defendant was cited for failing to yield the right of way.

Theresa was very shaken up while at the scene. She immediately called her mother and father. They both arrived on the scene to find that Theresa was crying and very upset.

Theresa refused medical attention at the scene. However, when her mother arrived and saw the golf-ball-sized lump on Theresas head, she insisted that Theresa see the familys doctor that afternoon. By the time Theresa saw her doctor a few hours later, she was also experiencing neck and back pain. The doctor diagnosed a neck and back strain and a contusion to the head. Theresa was advised to go home and ice her injuries and take Ibuprofen for pain.

Over the next 3 days Theresas complaints of pain grew progressively worse. She would later describe at trial as feeling that she was hit repeatedly by a baseball bat all over her body. She went to the Stevens Hospital emergency room with acute neck and low back pain. She was given a prescription for Vicodin and advised to rest and then follow up with her PCP in one week if her symptoms did not significantly improve.

Theresa never returned to see her PCP, despite the fact that her back pain persisted. At the suggestion of a friend, Theresa sought treatment from a chiropractor. She also received some massage. Unfortunately, this care actually made Theresas symptoms worse.

About four months after the collision, Theresas mother called the PCP for a referral to a back specialist because Theresas low back pain had not resolved. Theresa was advised to see an orthopedist doctor at Kruger Orthopedics clinic in Edmonds, Washington. The doctor saw Theresa just one time and prescribed 8 physical therapy sessions over the next 30 days. The doctor further instructed the physical therapist to develop a home exercise program for Theresa so she would not have to continue formal care. Theresa completed her last physical therapy session approximately 6 months after the date of the collision.

When Theresa finished her last physical therapy treatment, she stopped treatment. Theresa stopped treatment even though her low back pain was still present. Theresa did not receive treatment for the next two (2) years.

During this two-year hiatus from medical care, Theresa continued to perform her exercises and stretching routines as instructed by her physical therapist. She continued to experience daily low back pain. Theresas friends and family members all testified at trial that Theresa complained about her back pain constantly. Theresa testified at trial that over this two-year period she continued the exercise and stretching routine as taught by her physical therapist.

While Theresa was a full time student at the U.W., she was also employed in the shipping and receiving department of a small local production company. Her co-workers would later testify at trial that Theresa always needed help moving objects at work and that she needed to take frequent breaks.

During her two-year hiatus from medical care, Theresa maintained a full curriculum at the University of Washington. She graduated in four years with a degree in Anthropology. Theresas mother would later tell the jury that her only daughter was an exceptional student. Theresa graduated from the U.W. with a 3.75 grade point average.

At the repeated urging of her mother, father and other family members, Theresa decided to return to a physician in August 2003. Theresas mother referred her to another chiropractor who a lot of experience treating car accident victims with chronic back pain.

The chiropractor ordered an MRI scan of Theresas lumbar spine. The MRI revealed that Theresa had lower lumbar facet arthropathy (joint pathology) which was consistent with traumatically induced arthritis to the facet joints. The MRI also revealed a very mild disc protrusion at L5-S1.



RAMON

hccc1000 asked:


What medication and dosage to relieve the muscular pain and side effects of a mild opiate (Tramadol/Ultram)) withdrawal!
I’m a American in the Philippines now taking Tramadol 50mg. twice daily! I’m very healthy in my mid 60’s no problems with my heart or blood pressure!I went from 4 Tramadol daily to 2 Tramadol daily but I need the name of medication/dosage I believe also used for blood pressure to relieve the severe muscular pain of opiate withdrawal! Mild opiates are sold over the counter here at a pharmacia without a prescription! Thank you most sincerely for your kindness and taking your valuable time to answer my query!My weight is 160 lbs and 5 ft. 7 inches! My health and weight is good Thank God!

TERESA

Ale asked:


I have been having Severe Left Abdominal Pain in the Ovary location for the past year on and off.
However, this past January it became so severe that I passed out at work had to be taken to the hospital.
Pain killers did not work after 3 different prescriptions.Two of the perscribed we Tramadol and Hyrdocodone
The Pelvic exam and CT scan showed no signs of anything. Not even Cysts, which I have a past history off.
The scans showed that I have the normal amount of fluid in my Abdominal Cavity.
It has not been as severe of pain or as constant in the past month, but about 3 times a week I will have that burst of pain in the area that forces me to stop what Im doing.
I am so miserable with this pain. I can’t even perform daily tasks anymore without fearing that I will be dropped to my knees in such pain

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing it?
they have checked my pancreas with a blood test and it came out negative.
My doctor hinted that I was being a hypocondriac, and so did the ER. I’ve become so upset by this.
It’s a real issue, and the pain is real. I hate living like this.

MURIEL

dreamrmom2007 asked:


I have been taking vicodin and darvocet for arthritis pain and have heard of something called tramadol. i have also heard that you can order this online without a prescription? upon doing some, but not alot of research online, i found out that it is true. i was thinking about talking to the doctor to find out if this would be better than the other things, but i know nothing about it. i have heard that it is addictive and i dont want that, but if it is addictive why can you get it w/out a prescription. i am confused. can someone explain? thank you in advance.
i am very aware of that fact thank-you. i am just curious if anyone else has heard about tramadol or if they have had any experience with it or known someone who has.

ANTON

Christin Shire asked:


In the face of mounting narcotic pain killer abuse and addiction, doctors have begun to prescribe medications with a perceived lower abuse potential, and since Ultram is not as intoxicating as medications such as vicodin or oxycontin, yet does offer effective pain relief, Ultram has become increasingly used.

Ultram, although not technically a narcotic does contain a form of synthetic codeine, and although doctors prescribe the drug out of a concern over the abuse potential of other alternatives, the thousands of people who have developed potent and enduring addictions to Ultram are a testament to the dangers even of Ultram.

Ultram is addictive

Ultram does not induce a high as pleasurable as certain other pain pills, and as such is perceived to offer a lower risk of abuse, yet Ultram does offer a real pleasant sense of wellbeing and a slight narcotic buzz, and even this slight intoxication has proven sufficient to provoke considerable abuse.

Unfortunately, although the intoxication does not compare to more potent drugs, the addiction and eventual detox resembles closely those of more problematic pain pills; and some would argue that the pains of the eventual detox are as bad if not worse than with other opiates, and the duration of detox longer.

Symptoms of Ultram detox

Ultram addicts will begin experiencing symptoms of withdrawal within hours of cessation of use, and those symptoms will peak in intensity after about a day, and endure for about 4 days before gradually subsiding over a month or more. Some of the symptoms of Ultram detox are:

Nausea

Vomiting

Anxiety

Depression

Pain,

Leg restlessness

Insomnia

Seizures

The risks of seizures increase with a sudden cessation of use as opposed to a gradual tapering of consumption, and Ultram addicts are not advised to attempt a sudden detox without medical supervision and appropriate medication.

Ultram addiction treatment

Some Ultram addicts find that they cannot better their addiction and the cravings to use without professional assistance. Whenever you use a psychoactive drug above and beyond its intended medical reason you develop a psychological addiction that can be as problematic as the physical detox and withdrawal. The initial reasons for getting high may need to be dealt with therapeutically, and if these issues are left unresolved, even if you can better your physical addiction to Ultram, you run a serious risk of relapse to Ultram abuse, or to abuse of another drug.

Some patients prefer to detox in a treatment facility and undergo an intensive period of therapy as the best way to better the problem, while others prefer to taper off of the drug gradually, and then participate in outpatient treatment or therapy.

An Ultram addiction is real, the detox is serious and can be dangerous, and you are well advised to get some professional consultation or treatment help as you attempt to battle your dependency to Ultram.



DEANNE

David Siegel asked:


On December 7, 2007 I had my lower left wisdom tooth extracted while under general anesthesia. Certainly, one of the benefits of general anesthesia is that I have no memory of the actual extraction; but according to the orthodontist the procedure went well and they did not run into any complications.

Of course, this is not the end of the story! The post extraction process was an experience in and by itself. After being awaken from the anesthesia I was under observation for approximately one hour. My observation period was perhaps longer than the norm, because I was particularly nauseous after the anesthesia. The most difficult part of being under observation was trying to, as the orthodontist instructed, stay awake while sitting up for a set period of minutes. As soon as I was able to, I was moved into the recovery room, where I rested for 20 minutes. The Orthodontist gave me a specific list of foods to eat the first day, cold soups, Jell-o and milkshakes. As well as specific instructions regarding oral hygiene: i.e. to not brush or use mouthwash the first day.

There are some side effects of wisdom tooth extraction in general; and general anesthesia in particular. For me, the most intense side effect was the nausea, and at one point, the orthodontist gave me a shot to alleviate the nausea. The orthodontist gave me a specific list of foods that I could eat for the first day, primarily cold soups, milkshakes and Jell-o. I did not have much of an appetite for the first 24 hours, and primarily just drank juice. For me, the side effects from the anesthesia are similar to a 24 hour flu bug, nausea, grogginess and loss of appetite. You might have notice, that so far, I’ve made no mention of my tooth-the reason for the extraction in the first place. This is because my mouth felt fine. I had some bleeding for which the orthodontist gave me a gauze pad. I had no swelling, and even after the Novocain wore off, I only felt some slight discomfort. Even then, it was less painful than most tooth aches I’ve had. As the song goes, “What a Difference a Day Makes!” The next day, all the side effects, including the nausea were gone and my appetite was back. I was still tired; but other than that I was fine.

As part of the post extraction period, I also had to take medication: Amoxicillin to prevent infection, Motrin to prevent inflammation, and (if I needed it) Vicodin for pain. The Amoxicillin prescription was 3 times a day for 5 days; and the Motrin, 4 times a day for 2 days.

To sum up, the most intense side effects were in the first 24 hour period; and they were more related to the general anesthesia than the actual extraction.



CHERI