Study: Drug Use Increases with Lower Back Pain

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on October 22, 2016 under Addiction Trends, Opiate Abuse, Prescription Drugs | Comments are off for this article

In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers in the Division of Rheumatic and Autoimmune Diseases at the University of Minnesota have found that patients with lower back pain are more likely to have a prescription for painkillers as well as use drugs like marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. While additional studies have to be conducted to find out more about the connection, this information may be a first step in developing more effective prevention tools for future prescription painkiller abuse.

The researchers compared questionnaires filled out by patients with chronic lower back pain and people without back problems. Volunteers were asked to answer questions regarding the frequency in which they used marijuana, heroin, prescription painkillers, cocaine and methamphetamine. It was found that 22.5% of adults with chronic lower back pain used prescription painkiller regularly compared to 15% of adults without the pain. This in itself isn’t that surprising, though there may be other forms of treatment that would be much better suited, depending on the severity of the pain.

“Americans with chronic low back pain are more likely to use illicit drugs than the general population, particularly the ‘hard’ drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. There are several ways to interpret this relationship. It is possible that illicit drug use makes chronic pain more likely or leads individuals to seek a chronic pain diagnosis to obtain prescription narcotics,” explained Anna Shmagel, MD, MS, and lead author of the study. Shmagel also cautions that there could be a common underlying reason for prescription painkiller addicts and patients with lower back pain, like depression.

Opening up the research to include a more in depth look at if depression plays a role in prescription painkiller addiction is a relatively new avenue for researchers. In the past, the focus has mainly been on patients who have accidentally become addicted to painkillers. However, chronic pain has been shown to cause depression and illicit drugs have long been sought out by people looking to escape or fix their emotional problems.

As more and more research is conducted regarding prescription painkiller use and misuse it is becoming clear that preventing the reasons for taking the drugs in the first place is vital. This means that the medical profession is likely to come up with ways to improve chronic lower back pain treatment in addition to finding new methods to intervene before the back pain requires narcotic painkillers.

Plans To Study Freshman Drug and Alcohol Use

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on October 9, 2016 under Addiction Trends | Comments are off for this article

Going away to college for the first time is an exciting time for most teenagers. For many, this is the first time they are living away from home, without the constant supervision of their parents. This newfound freedom, combined with the stressors of college and the influence of hundreds of new classmates, can join together to become catalysts for drug use and excessive alcohol consumption. However, these are mainly assumptions and observations, until now.

A new study being conducted among first-year college students seeks to track the actual influences regarding alcohol and drug use. The researchers at Brown University are also looking at the effects of media and social media on these behaviors as well.

“We know that (peers) become more important than parents as a source of information and a source for modeling. Peers are the most influential when it comes to health-related topics. Social networks allow us to study those connections,” explained Nancy Barnett, professor of behavior and social sciences at the School of Public Health at Brown University.

The project will be called Squad2020 and is being conducted by Barnett and a group of students, who came up with the name. The group specifically wanted to target freshman students because they are still at an age where they are developing their friendships, meeting new people and all share the common experience of drastically changing their social environment.

The researchers hope to be able to publish the results of the study in the spring of 2018. The hope is that the study will highlight how social media impacts new college students and their inclination to use drugs and drink. If researchers can better understand the pressures presented to students, they will be more able to develop new methods of prevention and help students in need.

Colleges students throughout the country are faced with much of the same temptations and anxieties. These feelings, paired with the immediate flood of pictures and posts of other students drinking and using drugs can only exasperate the issue.