Testing It Up

Debra Jay, addiction specialist and intervention consultant, describes addiction in older adults a “silent epidemic.” The reason behind is that unlike teenage addiction or substance abuse in younger people, addiction in seniors is often undiagnosed and underserved.

“The American Medical Association reported that more older adults are admitted to hospitals for alcohol and drug related illnesses or injuries than for heart problems. But the full story isn’t told in statistics. The cost to families is measured in broken relationships, the burden of care giving, diminished grandparenting, and grief and loss,” Ms. Jay explained in an interview with TestCountry.

Ms. Jay is the author of No More Letting Go: The Spirituality of Taking Action Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, and co-author of Love First: A Family’s guide to Intervention and Aging and Addiction: Helping Older Adults Overcome Alcohol or Medication Dependence. She regularly appeared as addictions expert on the Oprah Winfrey Show for three seasons.

In the interview, Ms. Jay eloquently shared with us juicy facts about substance abuse in elderly — details that many of us are unaware or have probably ignored because of the overwhelming information about addiction in other populations.

She tells that some symptoms of substance abuse in older people are often confused as signs of aging because of their similarities, such as incontinence, shaky hands, insomnia, and isolation.

To read the full text of the interview and have basic understanding about addiction in elderly, visit Exclusive Interview with Debra Jay.

There’s been a lot of focus on rising drug abuse problems in teens and younger adults but little has been said about the problems faced by elderly people who face these same addictions. The fact that treatment is often focused at younger people causes the elderly to avoid treatment as much as the perception that drugs like those prescribed for pain aren’t really addictions or unsafe. Even those who do seek treatment face problems as elderly addicts are treated as lost causes and go almost entirely untreated. Resolving drug addiction in this age group is made worse by the frail health state of elderly people and the pain levels that occur as a result. For many the problem begins in their younger years but terrible pain that doesn’t seem to respond well to even prescription pain relievers can results in a desperate search for relief too.

Many of the elderly have families that either don’t see the problem, ignore it or mistake it for dementia rather than addiction. Growing older can be boring and depressing. Watching your loved ones pass on and not knowing what to do with your time can contribute to drug use to relieve stress and pass that time actively. It doesn’t take much to become addicted to it and makes it more likely that the addict will be that much less likely to give it up even if it has become a problem.

New drugs that trick the body into thinking it’s getting a calorically restricted diet are now being tested for use against aging.  When such a diet was tested among mice it resulted in a 30-40% longer life span with only one side effect, a reduction in fertility. People find following this diet (a reduction in daily calories by 30%)almost impossible so although it had proven helpful in mice it had long gone ineffective in humans. Now however drugs have been made that attempt to provide the benefits without actually having to maintain the diet. The main benefit of which is a reduction in the amount of degenerative diseases that affect the subject. Resveratrol , a small ingredient found in red wine and grapes, is one of these  and another is sirtuin activators, both are linked to the calorie restricted diet’s effects and have been linked to the extended healthy life span of the French, a matter that had previously been a mystery. It’s thought that by activating sirtuins in the body these effects could help reduce the effects of aging on the body,  this is due to research that found that sirtuins locate the energy reserves of a cell and can become active when they are exhausted. The outcome of this research could prove helpful whether the drugs do prove effective or not, giving us some insight on how the body maintains itself.

While the drug has been recently connected to an increased survival rate in those with colorectal cancer its risks shouldn’t be any less regarded according to medical authorities.  Side effects such as stroke hemorrhaging, gastrointestinal bleeding and bleeding in the brain are still considered serious side effects of the drug. Experts warn against beginning an aspirin regimen without first discussing it with your doctor.  While there are benefits to using the drug the dangerous side effects should never be forgotten.

According the results of a study earlier this week patients suffering from colorectal cancer are nearly a third less likely to be killed by the condition and patients who began taking the drug shortly after being diagnosed cut the risk by almost half. While it had already been established that aspirin could reduce the occurrence of tumors in the colon, the effects of the drug on patients who already had the disease were unclear. It thought that aspirins anti-inflammatory qualities help reduce the ability of tumors to form in certain cancers.

Not enough parents are safeguarding their medicine cabinets according to the recently rising numbers of children going to ER’s with poisoning from prescription drugs ingested without the parent’s prior knowledge. The number of children affected, reaching more than 70,000 under the age of 18, is shocking.  About 8-14 % of this number were from parents unintentionally overdosing their children and 75% of those overdoses were with children who were less than 5 years old. More than twice as many kids are poisoned by prescription drugs as household products each year.  These facts which should have parents making much more serious efforts to protect their children from getting access to these drugs, are actually considered to be an underestimate.  The drug most commonly found in these overdoses was acetaminophen, followed by opioid painkillers and anti-anxiety medications. While caution is recommended in the home it’s also been pointed out that packaging and labels could be improved  and therefore have an impact on these numbers as well.

New research has shown that contrary to the long held belief that marijuana is less damaging than tobacco use it can in fact be responsible for increasing the risk for developing cancer by damaging DNA. The study, done by European scientists, has found that the smoke produced while using the illicit drug caused damage to DNA much like in case of tobacco use, and put the user at greater risk for developing cancer. Previous research had made it clear that smoking cigarettes could have negative effects but until recently research had yet to conclusively resolve whether marijuana could have a similar effect.  A modified mass spectrometer was used to reach these findings which focused on the effects of the chemical acetaldehyde ( a concern for scientists for many years) found in both tobacco and marijuana.

The damage is great enough, largely due to the deeper inhalation of the Marijuana user, that smoking 3-4 marijuana cigarettes a day is equivalent to smoking 20 tobacco cigarettes in the same span. These findings increase the need for regulation of the marijuana abuse to prevent an increase in the number of people who contract throat and lung cancers as a result.

Many people worry about contracting HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. Even today, there is somewhat of a stigma with this disease that can be caught through blood or body fluid transmission. Many people are afraid to take a test to see if they have the disease.  They do not want to go to the doctor for such a test because they are afraid of the doctor passing judgment against them. This can be especially true if the person lives in a small community and knows their family doctor very well.

There are home testing products that you can use to help clear your mind about getting the AIDS virus. These home testing kits are easy to use and very discreet. You can purchase a home testing kit for HIV and mail in your test in discreet packaging to a processing center. After your test has been processed, you will then receive your results in an equally discreet manner.

Many people who use the HIV home test are very relieved to take the test and know that they do not have HIV. Those who do have HIV can see their doctor for medication. Thanks to the many advances that have taken place over the past decade when it comes to fighting AIDS, there are medications that can treat this condition. There have even been cases where those who were diagnosed with HIV managed to rid their body of the virus.

Instead of worrying about whether or not you have HIV and fearing the trip to the doctor, you can take a home testing kit that can give you the results that you want and, in most cases, rid your mind of worry.

Many people worry about contracting HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. Even today, there is somewhat of a stigma with this disease that can be caught through blood or body fluid transmission. Many people are afraid to take a test to see if they have the disease. They do not want to go to the doctor for such a test because they are afraid of the doctor passing judgment against them. This can be especially true if the person lives in a small community and knows their family doctor very well.

There are home testing products that you can use to help clear your mind about getting the AIDS virus. These home testing kits are easy to use and very discreet. You can purchase a home testing kit for HIV and mail in your test in discreet packaging to a processing center. After your test has been processed, you will then receive your results in an equally discreet manner.

Many people who use the HIV home tests are very relieved to take the test and know that they do not have HIV. Those who do have HIV can see their doctor for medication. Thanks to the many advances that have taken place over the past decade when it comes to fighting AIDS, there are medications that can treat this condition. There have even been cases where those who were diagnosed with HIV managed to rid their body of the virus.

Instead of worrying about whether or not you have HIV and fearing the trip to the doctor, you can take a home testing kit that can give you the results that you want and, in most cases, rid your mind of worry.

If you haven’t heard of anti-aging drugs or tried desparately to find more about them, you’re probably too young to have had the experience of gazing in the bathroom mirror in the morning and saying, “damn!” One of the most dreaded moments for most young people is to wake up in the morning and find a shiny grey hair or dreadful dark circles threatening to alter their facial topography!

The other day, myself and my collegues were discussing various molecular basis of aging as it is one of the most interesting and hot themes of current research. Aging is not a mere phenotypic expression of any genetic program but is a gradually progressive multi-factorial state associated with genetic and non-genetic factors. The rate at which every individual ages is an intricately tuned interplay of various aging and anti-aging forces based on inherent genetic program and various intracellular metabolic effects due to presence of free radicals, Unhealthy diet, lifestyle, smoking, environmental pollution, emotional stability, happiness quotient, physical and mental stress etc. Although many evolutionary theories tend to believe that aging is not likely to be programmed genetically however, various studies demonstrate that aging is genetically modulated. It is pretty logical too. Say, Jack eats a lot of French fries, salty-potato chips and gulp them down with that refreshing cola on almost daily basis. He is bound to have a disproportionate percentage of damaging intracellular free radicals, not to mention the physiological damage high salt and cholesterol rich diet shall do at macroscopic levels. These free radicals are known to damage DNA, particularly mitochondrial DNA which lies in immediate vicinity of respiratory machinary in cellular mitochondrial organelles. So, its up to various DNA Repair genes to maintain DNA integrity and stability thus playing a role in modulating the metabolic processes which are involved in the eventual degradation of DNA and cellular structures. Various genic mutations that significantly decrease mortality have been identified in many model organisms. Indeed, several hundred genes, for instance, Sir2, have been reported to influence longevity in yeast, worms (c.elegans) and drosophila flies. Why just DNA damage, these free radicals or Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) have also been proposed to interact with Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS) such as nitric oxide thus disrupting protein S-nitrosylation effecting functionality of various proteins involved in many metabolic signaling pathways. As aging is characterized by the progressive loss of function and a diverse array of physical changes over the lifetime of an organism, there has been an ancient universal desire to look good, feel good, and live as long as possible and these are the major areas of focus of current Anti-aging medicine. Some of the major forms of anti-aging medicine are:

1. Hormone therapies: These therapies make use of hormones like Human Grwoth Hormone (HGH), DHEA, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone etc. and claim to enhance the immune system, improve memory & cognitive function, increase sexual energy, improve skin tone & texture, increase muscle mass while reducing body fat and extend life. However, categorical scientific evidence may not be sufficient to support all these claims. Rather, there have been large scale studies that indicated that such therapies may do more harm than good and were making some of the test groups more susceptible to breast cancers. More research is required to investigate precise dose and time dependent effects of such therapies.
2. Supplements: Various antioxidants such as vitamins, glutathione, co-enzyme Q10 etc. are administered under various anti-aging programs. However, there is a strong section of physicians that has a firm conviction in using natural sources of anti-oxidents like lemon, oranges etc. over purified chemicals.
3. Skin resurfacing: There are a lot of ways of doing that. One of them is Botox treatment. Botox is the trade name of botulinum toxin A, a neurotoxin that is used clinically in small quantities to treat strabismus (abnormal alignment of one or both eyes) and facial spasms and other neurological disorders characterized by abnormal muscle contractions. It is also used by cosmetic surgeons to smooth frown lines temporarily. As a milder alternative to Botox treatment, Argireline based creams and lotions are also used quite frequently. Argireline is a synthetic short chain polypeptide (Acetyl Hexapeptide-3) that has been experimentally proved to decrease the visible effects of aging by reducing the deep wrinkles and lines that occur around the forehead and eyes. Plastic surgery also remains an option and although expensive, it has been quite in vogue for sometime now.

Another method that is gaining fast recognition and approval for increasing life span amongst scientific community is Calorie Restriction and Fasting. There has been a substantial amount of significant scientific evidence that supports anti-aging effects of calorie restriction and fasting. Having been born and brought up in a moderately traditional Hindu family, I have been a witness to hundreds of weekly fasts promoted by Hindu mythology so far. Fair maidens go fasting for consecutive 11 mondays believing that this will get them a handsome groom! Wives fasting on a traditional festival called ‘Karva-chauth’ believing that this will add some years to the lives of their husbands. Various Hindu texts are filled up with stories of Yogis (who practise yoga – in a traditional sense) who lived for hundreds of years by eating just fruits and vegetables, that too for just 2-3 days a week! Why just Hindu mythology, in almost every religion there are prescribed fasting-days. Until recently, I was one of those who thought that these are just mythological stories and nothing more but recent high impact scientific publications in reputed journals have put a substantial weigths behind these stories and myths and changed the way I look at them! Some recent data from yeast, worms, flies, and mammals support the idea that calorie restriction is a highly conserved stress response that evolved early in life’s history to increase an organism’s chance of surviving adversity in terms of food scarcity. A 2005 paper in the Journal of Cardiovascular Research analyzes gene expression data and suggests that calorie restriction retards the aging process by reducing endogenous damage and by inducing metabolic shifts associated with specific transcriptional profiles! There are also a number of reports that indicate reduction in oxidative stress upon calorie restriction.

At the end, it appear logical to say that exercising, reducing exposure to cigarette and environmental smoke, eating a balanced, calorie restricted diet, periodic fasting along with a stable work and family enviornment is the best way to add youthful years to your life and no chemical suppliments can match this!

Smoking is a habit that’s really hard to break for some. Although some folks choose to suddenly quit and resist the urge despite going cold turkey, some opt to slowly reduce the volume of smoking on a day-to-day basis.

In 1986, thirty-five to forty percent of private sector firms and corporations have restricted or banned smoking in the workplace, and Federal, State and local government units have begun to follow suit.

These days, the move to fully restrict smoking in the workplace has gained increasing support and acceptance from a large segment of non-smokers and smokers as well.

Smoking is one activity that reduces productivity in the workplace, and employers are very much aware of this concern. Some occupational health researchers have found out that smoking by employees increases costs in a lot of aspects, absenteeism being one of these.

Health experts point out that on average, workers who regularly smoke have 50 percent more absences incurred than non-smokers. A large US multinational firm has found out in its internal report that employee smokers incurred absences of 5.5 more work days per year than their non-smoking counterparts.

The added costs of smoking include finding temporary replacements, as well as incurring significantly lower productivity and employee morale.
In order to fully eliminate smoking in the workplace, here are a few noteworthy suggestions:

1) Companies or businesses should first have a dialogue with their employees, and consult with union officials if a collective bargaining agreement exists between them.

2.) Company officials could introduce a comprehensive employee education program focusing on the hazards of workplace smoking. The adverse health effects on both nonsmokers and smokers should be fully stressed.

3) Firms may either completely eliminate smoking in the actual work areas or install smoking areas or lounges where smokers can converge during their breaks. If a smoking lounge already exists, it must be properly ventilated.

4) Implementing a company-financed smoking cessation program could also be well-received and accepted by employees. Encouraging smokers to join by providing small incentives may also do a great deal, as those who wish to quit may be further motivated.