I can’t begin to tell you how sick I am of this shit. This “poor man’s heroin” shit. Just another example of how the “media” know exactly squat about addiction. Even though most of them have their own little pills rattling around in their pocketbooks and pockets. Let me tell you something. Oxy’s traditionally go (depending on geography and market availability like everything else) for half of their milligram content. So, Oxy 40’s go for $20, Oxy 80’s for $40, and so on. Depending how desperate the buyer is, I’ve seen 80’s go for $65 apiece!
Almost anywhere you can get a $25 bag of heroin that will blow a $40 Oxy out of the water. OxyContin is NOT the poor man’s heroin. Heroin is the poor man’s heroin. In nearly all markets Oxy’s are more expensive. What they ARE is safer (you know exactly what you are getting), pure pharmaceutical grade (not stepped on with some random bullshit), and less intimidating.
In other words, Oxy’s often can be much less risky, for some even legal, to obtain (hey, I was out of my mind for 3 years without breaking a single law). Where a bag requires a visit with the big, bad, heroin dealer (like your neighbor Bill the tax accountant for instance)—some individuals simply swipe their Oxy’s off of their injured, or cancer-ridden relatives. Or even buy them from the old lady down the street who’s trying to decide between eating cat food for dinner or getting her refills at Wal-Mart. Oxy’s are not on the Wal-Mart $4 plan—trust me. But… addicts with game (read: all addicts) often get their insurance company to buck-up (try getting heroin with a co-pay). And finally, unlike heroin that needs to be shot, snorted, or smoked (very intimidating to the inexperienced user)… Oxy’s can simply be swallowed.
Imi place sa privesc oamenii, in viata reala la fel de mult ca pe blogosfera. Cu totii luptam sa ne fie mai bine. Fiecare o face in felul lui. Unii au nevoie de realizari materiale, altii de iubire, altii de recunoastere si functii care sa le dovedeasca superioritatea. Tuturor ne e teama ca murim si dorim sa facem lucruri cu sens. Si fiecare este luat de valul alegerilor pe care le-a facut la un moment dat si carora le este consecvent.
Imi place sa imi imaginez ce se afla dincolo de fata de invingator pe care o afiseaza femeile din jurul meu. O mama a patru copii, dintre care doi bolnaviori, canta toata ziua si crede in Dumnezeu. O femeie inteligenta este pasionata de jobul ei, dar are noaptea caderi de calciu. Alta isi lasa copiii in tara si pleaca sa munceasca in strainatate, pentru bani. Alta este exasperata de faptul ca sta toata ziua in casa, cu baietelul. Alta da ordine, pentru ca poate. Alta crede ca munca ei este cel mai important lucru de pe pamant. Alta afirma ca nu o deranjeaza singuratatea, dar are nevoie de Xanax ca sa doarma. Alta nu face copii fiindca sta cu parintii si nu are bani de apartament.
Dincolo de vietile aparent perfecte ale celor din jurul meu, fiecare are cate o problema, cate o nemultumire, cate o neimplinire. Si fiecare este dus de val si nu are incotro decat sa lupte si sa mearga mai departe. Unii aleg sa isi arate slabiciunile, altii nu, pozeaza in oameni puternici.
Puterea vine din constienta de sine. Ce vreau, unde sunt, ce trebuie sa schimb ca sa imi ating scopurile mai bine, unde ma opresc eu si unde incep ceilalti, cu problemele, nemultumirile si neimplinirile lor.
Depends on which country you are in. In the US you have to follow FDA regulations for buying prescription drugs.
For that reason I usually order from the European based websites or because they comply with FDA regulations by providing you with a free online consultation with an MD and they enclose the prescription with every order.
is also a good source of information on the various online pharmacies out there as well as peoples experiences with them.
Just a quick thank you . I live in Brighton, in the United Kingdom, and my prescription medication (valium, zolpidem and xanax) arrived early this afternoon, only 6 days after I placed my order from your online pharmacy.I can honestly say that I am well and truly VERY happy with the results of ordering from your online pharmacy especially since I didn’t not have a prescription before I ordered. You will definitely be hearing from me again very shortly. Thank you Noprescriptionchemist.com
One of the most delightful aspects of the 'new wave' of cognitive behavioural therapies is the continued adherence to test the effectiveness of therapy in a scientific way. There has been quite a flow of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), CCBT (Contextual Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and allied therapies in the psychological literature, and now it is fast appearing in interdisciplinary journals.
The official publication of the (International Association for the Study of Pain) is the journal Pain. It publishes studies relevant to a broad range of disciplines involved in the study and management of pain. It's fascinating to see the different articles that make their way to the journal - from basic science to primary prevention/public health campaigns!
This article, Mindfulness meditation for the treatment of chronic low back pain in older adults: A randomized controlled pilot study is a good example of the type of study on ACT practices that is published in this well-read journal.
Morone, Greco and Weiner write about their pragmatic study to 'assess the feasibility of recruitment and adherence to an eight-session mindfulness meditation program for community-dwelling older adults with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and to develop initial estimates of treatment effects.'
Now the first point to make is that mindfulness meditation alone does not equate to ACT. It does, however, form a foundation for the practice of ACT, as well as having well-documented effects from simple meditation practice on physiological arousal.
Back to the story - Participants were 37 community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years and older with CLBP of moderate intensity occurring daily or almost every day. Participants were randomized to an 8-week mindfulness-based meditation program or to a wait-list control group. Baseline, 8-week and 3-month follow-up measures of pain, physical function, and quality of life were assessed.
This is an interesting group of participants - I work in a public hospital outpatient centre, and I notice that there are increasing numbers of people in this age group being referred to the service. I'm not sure if this is because medication prescribing has changed, that older adults are reporting chronic pain more readily than 15 - 20 years ago, whether it's an artifact of having a larger number of people aged 65 in the community, or what it is - but it does have an impact on the type of programmes we provide. In view of the increasing growth in the over 65 year age group in the next 20 years, it is a group that we are going to see more often, and who will require more expenditure in health care especially if disability from chronic pain is not addressed effectively. Whew! that was a long sentence!
So a fairly typical methodology was employed for this study - a wait-list control, and baseline, 8-week and 3-month follow-up measures taken across several domains.
The actual intervention was over eight weeks, and included an introduction to the 'principles and practices' of meditation, reading materials, a recording of a 'body scan' meditation and a sitting meditation, discussion and problem solving around the habit of meditation, and psychoeducational material on stress, pain and the 'mind-body' connection was also provided. A walking meditation was introduced towards the latter part of the eight weeks, and the only major difference from 'standard' Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programmes ((Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Kabat-Zinn et al.,1992; Kabat-Zinn, 1990; Kabat-Zinn, 2003.) was the elimination of a full-day silent meditation 'retreat' and the yoga component.
Now for the exciting part: what were the results?
Well, the study was a pragmatic and applied one, so the first thing I was interested in was participation rates and adherence. 19 participants were selected for the meditation group, 13 participated, one was lost at followup, leaving 12 completing. In the waiting list group, 18 were initially recruited to this group, 14 eventually participated (after a delay of 8 weeks), and 13 completed.
Allowing that these participants were specially recruited, I'm not sure we can generalise to the group of people who are usually referred to a public hospital service. However, it is interesting that these participants continued to attend what is probably seen as an 'unusual' type of therapy for pain. The authors commented that these participants attended the majority of sessions, engaged in the 'homework' activities (meditation practice) during the programme, and reported that they maintained the practice three months later. This is great as it demonstrates that older adults understand the programme, are interested in it, find benefit from it, and as the authors quote a program participant stated it best ‘‘Mindfulness meditation has a quieting effect on me. It gives me a peaceful feeling while doing it and I am able to reduce my back and leg pain by deflecting the pain and by focusing on other parts of my body’’.
It's also interesting that things like activity planning and exercise were not specifically included in the programme, but activity levels increased.
As expected, acceptance of their situation increased, as did quality of life measures. Pain intensity reduced and 'global' health and mental health as measured by the SF36 reduced.
Notable too - people who crossed over from the waiting list group also improved.
The authors are open about several aspects of this study that mean its interpretation needs to be somewhat guarded: it is a small group, a pilot study, between group differences can't be established due to low power, and the differences between the groups were not entirely controlled for.
However, it's the beginning of the 'real world' type of study that can help us as clinicians think about the people we work with and whether this therapy may be useful.
MORONE, N., GRECO, C., WEINER, D. (2008). Mindfulness meditation for the treatment of chronic low back pain in older adults: A randomized controlled pilot study☆. Pain, 134(3), 310-319. DOI:
Kabat-Zinn J. An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for
chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness
meditation: theoretical considerations and preliminary results.
General Hospital Psychiatry 1982;4:33–47.
Kabat-Zinn J. Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your
body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. New York: Delacorte;
1990.
Kabat-Zinn J. Mindfulness-based interventions in context: past,
present, and future. Clin Psychol: Sci Pract 2003;10:144–56.
Kabat-Zinn J, Lipworth L, et al. The clinical use of mindfulness
meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain. J Behav Med
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It is a beautiful and sunny Saturday in November and Jon is getting ready for his big trip to Knoxville to see his family. He takes his shower, gets ready, he packs his clothes and then his car. Just one more thing and hopefully he will be ready. He opens the little orange bottle containing his sanity and pops the little blue Xanax into his mouth.
Jon Richardson, like 2.4 million other young adults suffers from panic attacks; these debilitating attacks come from any kind of traveling or even any extremely stressful situation.
Jon’s attacks started when he was 23, and although there had been some depression in his past, there had never been anything like this. His first attack happened after being put in charge of a large event at his job at a nightclub. When the main act cancelled at the last minute, it all went down hill.
“I will never forget what happened, I suddenly couldn’t breath, my heart was racing,” he remembers. “I thought I was going to die.”
According to the anxiety resource center, panic attacks are surges of overwhelming fear that comes without warning and without any obvious reason. These highly stressful attacks bring about symptoms of a raging heartbeat, difficulty breathing, almost paralyzing fear, shaking, dizziness, chest pains and even thoughts that they are going to die.
“People have no idea how common this very real disorder is,” says Jon’s doctor, Renee Crecelius. “About one out of 75 people worldwide will have one in there lifetime, people are just too afraid to talk about it.”
Although these attacks are highly common, people are very nervous and reserved about seeking treatment.
“I have to say, I never wanted to get help, I thought people would judge me because I have this thing that literally will make me stress out so much I think I am going to die,” Jon says. “I mean really, who has to go to a therapist because they can’t handle driving out of town?”
Jon is not alone in this; about 21 percent of people who have this disorder will not seek help. People who do not seek help generally do not believe the problem is serious enough to get therapy or take medicine, or they are embarrassed by the situation.Without treatment, this extremely serious disorder can cause a sufferer’s life to become very restricted. They will start to avoid situations they fear will cause these attacks, even normal activities such as going to the grocery store or driving, in very extreme cases it can lead to Agoraphobia, the fear of even leaving the house.
“I am lucky, I figured out pretty quickly that I needed help,” says Jon. “After a second attack happened pretty closely to the first I knew something was wrong.”
Although Jon recognized his problem quickly, actually fixing it has been an uphill battle. His previous doctor had prescribed a couple of different medicines in order to control his panic attacks.He had started on him on two different prescriptions, including his Xanax. Prescriptions such as Xanax, are usually prescribed to calm the person down it can be taken as needed or in Jon’s case daily. However, the average person with a panic disorder is very reluctant to take any kind of medicine, even something as mild as Advil. Although the people generally understand they have to take something to help fix the issue, it can take months even years of trying to convince them so that they will voluntarily take something daily. Jon is now 29 and it took almost 4 years of battles to get to the point where he can take the medicine.
“To an average person, it sounds like no big deal, just pop the pill and it will all go away,” says Crecelius. “But to someone with a panic attack disorder it is very unnerving, they think it will hurt them somehow, even the most normal people will get upset.”
There is hope however, with proper treatment, panic attacks can be reduced or even completely prevented in over 70 percent of people. This of course relies heavily on the patient trusting there doctor and following their orders. Once people follow the prescribed treatment, they can find relief in as soon as a couple of weeks.
“For a long time I couldn’t find a doctor who I felt understood, and so I never really followed their treatment, but in the last 2 years I feel like I have found one,” says Jon. “I can’t even describe the change, I can actually take a road trip and not feel like I am going to die, and that’s a big step for me.”
As with all things, treatments take time and patience. In cases of panic disorders, it can take months or years depending on the patient. For Jon, now there is no better feeling than getting in that car and driving to see his family, even if his Xanax is in tow.
I feel horrible. Poop. I get so excited when my body feels better, then WHAMMO! The fibro kind of chuckles and says, "Not so fast there, toots." Yes, it calls me toots.
Anyway, the weather took a sudden turn for the colder, and I think that may be the reason for this. There is no part of my body that doesn't hurt, except for maybe a few eyelashes. I'm going to go back to bed, and hope that tomorrow's better.
if you have fibromyalgia you have wrestled with your mental acuity and cognitive functions but probably have been told that "what you're going through is just normal" or maybe "you're hypersensitive" and you feel like you're going crazy! well this research piece from the national fibromyalgia association may help you feel validated...people with FMS do experience loss of cognitive function...
Cognitive Function & Fibromyalgia Monday, April 28, 2003
by Jennifer Glass, Ph.D. and Denise Park, Ph.D., The University of Michigan
"I can deal with the pain, but the memory and thinking problems really worry me." "The physical symptoms weren't as frightening as the memory problems." "The most devastating effect for me has been the cognitive impairment."
If you have fibromyalgia (FM), then these quotes may describe what you have felt as well. Many FM patients complain of cognitive (or mental) symptoms such as memory failures (both long-term and short-term), difficulties with attention, and with finding the right words. Our research focuses on these cognitive problems in FM patients.
Our research shows that there really is cognitive dysfunction in FM patients. read the article:
