Leslie Glass's Blog, page 336

Which Exercise Burns The Most Calories? Here’s What Science Says

From Time Magazine:

Your time is precious — and limited. So when it comes to working out, it’s not uncommon to wonder: what exercise burns the most calories?

Exercise scientists have rigorously studied the amount of energy people expend during different types of exercise, and they’ve determined which workouts are best for burning calories. The thing to keep in mind: the more muscles you engage and the harder (and longer) you push those muscles, the more energy your body will churn through, says Dr. Tim Church, an exercise researcher and a professor of preventative medicine at Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University. So in order to maximize the number of calories you’ll burn, “you want an exercise that uses both lower and upper body muscle groups and is performed at a high intensity,” Church says.

You might therefore expect something along the lines of CrossFit or Tabata-style interval training to burn the most calories. And you may be right.

A study on one popular CrossFit workout called the “Cindy” — in which a person does a series of pull-ups, push-ups and squats in as many rounds as possible — found that it burned an average of 13 calories per minute. The workout lasts 20 minutes, so exercisers burned an average of 260 calories in total. While perfect apples-to-apples studies aren’t available, some Tabata research has shown that one of these workouts — composed of 4-minute training blocks that mix maximum-intensity bouts of resistance and aerobic training with short periods of rest — burns 14.5 calories per minute, or 280 calories during a 20-minute workout.

These per-minute calorie averages beat out many traditional forms of exercise. “But there’s such a variety within these classes and the people doing them that scores are all over the map,” says John Porcari, author of the Tabata study and a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. For example, some people in his Tabata study burned up to 360 calories during the 20-minute workout, or 18 calories per minute.

Yet “per-minute” calorie burn isn’t always the best way to assess a workout’s energy demands, Porcari says. The total time spent training and a person’s willingness to stick with a workout are also important factors. “You can crank like the dickens for 30 seconds and burn a lot of calories,” he says. So if you’re extremely short on time, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is probably your best option. But in the real world, Porcari says, many people won’t be comfortable (or capable of) engaging in regular or extended bouts of high-intensity training.

He says a “more fair” way to assess an exercise’s true energy demands is to ask people to do it at a pace that is comfortable for them. And when it comes to vigorous, calorie-burning exercises that people are comfortable doing for extended periods of time, running usually comes out on top. “When you look at the literature, running tends to burn more calories than other modalities,” he says.

According to an online calorie estimator from the American Council on Exercise, a 115-pound person running for 30 minutes at a slow-to-moderate pace (a 10-minute mile) would burn about 260 calories: the same amount people who did CrossFit typically torched in 20 minutes, according to the research. A 175-pound person would burn nearly 400 calories during that same 30-minute run. Pick up the pace, and you can achieve an even greater rate of calorie burn.

You may be wondering whether more intense forms of exercise lead to a higher rate of calorie expenditure even after training is finished — or a so-called “afterburn effect.” Research from Colorado State University has shown that, yes, intense exercise does keep a person’s metabolism humming longer than mild exercise. But this afterburn effect tends to peter out quickly — within a few hours — and it accounts for a small fraction of the total calories a person expends during and after exercise.

Also, a workout’s length — not just its intensity — helps to keep a person’s metabolism elevated after training, finds a review from the University of New Mexico. So if your goal is to burn the maximum amount of energy, you’ll want to find an exercise that is vigorous and that you can stick with for a long stretch of time.

For a lot of people, that mode is running. For others, it may be fast stationary cycling or Tabata or using an elliptical. The research suggests all are more or less comparable if you’re able to put in the time and keep up the intensity.

The bottom line? The best workout for burning calories is “the one you actually do,” Church says. You can find extreme forms of exercise that maximize per-minute calorie burn. But if you don’t stick with them or do them regularly, they’re not much good to you.

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The FDA Is Considering Pulling Some Flavored E-Cigarettes From the Market to Fight ‘Epidemic’ of Youth Vaping

From Time Magazine:

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is giving vaping companies 60 days to figure out how to reverse what it’s calling an epidemic of youth usage, or risk having some of their products potentially pulled from the market.

This is the latest in a series of steps the FDA is taking to limit children’s use of e-cigarettes, which has “reached an epidemic proportion” in the U.S., FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb announced Wednesday. The agency may also ban sales of some flavored e-cigarette products, which Gottlieb says are particularly appealing to underage users, and consider shortening a grace period that currently gives e-cigarette companies until 2022 to apply for FDA approval.

Despite the fact that they cannot legally be sold to anyone under 18, e-cigarettes — hand-held vaporizers that create aerosols from liquids typically packed with nicotine and other chemicals, often including flavorings — are now the most popular tobacco product among high school students, recent federal data shows.

In an effort to reverse that trend, the FDA on Wednesday sent letters to manufacturers of five e-cigarette brands often used by kids — Juul, Vuse, MarkTen XL, Blu and Logic — requesting that they draw up plans for limiting youth access to their products within 60 days. Failing to do so, or making unsatisfactory efforts, “could mean requiring these brands to remove some or all of their flavored products that may be contributing to the rise in youth use from the market until they receive premarket authorization and otherwise meet all of their obligations under the law,” the FDA statement says.

“JUUL Labs will work proactively with FDA in response to its request. We are committed to preventing underage use of our product, and we want to be part of the solution in keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of young people,” Juul spokesperson Victoria Davis said in a statement provided to TIME. “Our mission is to improve the lives of adult smokers by providing them with a true alternative to combustible cigarettes. Appropriate flavors play an important role in helping adult smokers switch. By working together, we believe we can help adult smokers while preventing access to minors, and we will continue to engage with the FDA to fulfill our mission.”

A statement from Fontem Ventures, Blu’s parent company, says it is “evaluating today’s request and statement from the FDA. On youth access, we have common aims. We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate, and work with the FDA to further strengthen, our youth access prevention policies and procedures.”

None of the other three companies contacted by the FDA immediately responded to TIME’s requests for comment.

The FDA also sent more than 1,300 warning letters and fines to retailers found to be selling vapes to minors during an “undercover nationwide blitz” this summer. Additionally, 12 online retailers were found to be selling vaping products that were “misleadingly labeled and/or advertised e-liquids resembling kid-friendly food products,” in violation of an earlier order from the FDA, and were also slapped with warning letters, according to the announcement.

E-cigarettes are typically intended and marketed as cigarette alternatives for adult smokers, but it’s unclear how effectively they help smokers quit the habit. And while they do contain fewer harmful chemicals than traditional cigarettes, researchers still don’t know exactly how e-cigarettes affect long-term health.

The actions are the latest in the FDA’s continuing efforts to limit youth access to tobacco products, namely e-cigarettes. This spring, it requested marketing information from several leading vaping companies, in an effort to better understand why kids are attracted to their products. E-cigarettes came under the FDA’s regulatory purview in 2016.

“While we remain committed to advancing policies that promote the potential of e-cigarettes to help adult smokers move away from combustible cigarettes, that work can’t come at the expense of kids,” Gottlieb said in the FDA statement. “We cannot allow a whole new generation to become addicted to nicotine.”

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Cocaine Recovery What Reduces Urge

Cocaine recovery can be very difficult, and the path is often ripe with negative emotions and severe stress that can lead to relapse. It’s not just the drugs. People with cocaine use disorders may suffer increased impulsivity that makes it very difficult to focus on long-term goals instead of short-term gains. They can’t stop the craving and have to give in. Nearly one million people in the United States are dependent on cocaine.  Recovery needs reinforcement. About two-thirds of those who enter recovery relapse early in the program. So what can stop those cravings and impulsivity to give in? Researchers say, lower stress for improved cocaine recovery.

Exercise Improves Cocaine Recovery

New research shows that aerobic exercise may alter how stress affects those recovering from cocaine addiction and aid in cocaine recovery. University of Buffalo’s Research Institute of Addiction senior research scientist Panayotis K. Thanos, Ph.D., found that one hour of aerobic exercise every day can alter behavioral and physiological stress responses as well as decrease stress-induced behaviors that cause someone in recovery to seek out cocaine.

It is well known that people with cocaine use disorder respond to stress differently than non-users neurologically, physiologically, and behaviorally. Now, using adult female Sprague Dawley rats, Thanos and his team found that doing cardio workouts, (the rats spent one hour on a treadmill for five days a week) can reduce the stressors that cause those with use disorder to seek out the drug after working to stay sober. The study was published in the November 2018 issue of Behavioural Brain Research.

Cardio Workout Integration Recommended for Cocaine Recovery

Previously, Thanos looked at how exercise affected drug-seeking behavior – specifically, the neurobiological mechanisms that drove the behavior. In that study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise in 2018, researchers  showed that exercise-induced changes along the dopamine pathway could mediate drug-seeking behaviors.

Aerobic exercise, or cardio workouts, have already been shown to elevate mood and reduce stress hormones, decrease depression and anxiety, and help prevent conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease. And the results of these two studies show that cardio workouts could have a useful place in treatment programs for individuals with cocaine use disorder and suggest that being active can essentially clear your memory in a way that can help addicts ‘forget’ cravings.

Thanos and the other study authors focused on cocaine addiction and suggest that more research should be done to learn if exercise can help improve recovery success rates for individuals who are addicted to other types of drugs. Interestingly, the results of the studies came just after the Royal College of Physicians in the U.K. pushed for cocaine, heroin, and marijuana to be legalized, so users can receive support and treatment instead of punishment.

Running Your Way to Cocaine Recovery

Long distance running, kettlebell training, lifting weights, clean diets, sports, and other activities have been associated with improved recovery statistics. In fact, a 2011 study found that 12 people considered marijuana-dependent realized a significant drop in cravings after just a few treadmill sessions. A 2012 study found that exercise may reduce meth-induced brain damage and have a positive effect on serotonin and dopamine receptors.

One thing remained constant in all these studies: sedentary rats, ferrets, and humans experienced cravings and relapses more than those who were active and focused on getting healthy.

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Which Marijuana Users Get Addicted

Did you know that 40 percent of marijuana users are parents? The use of marijuana is rising with legalization and normalization. There is a lot of misinformation out there and still plenty of controversy over what marijuana helps, who should use it, and whether it can be harmful. And yes, more people are seeking help for marijuana addiction than ever before.

Which Marijuana Users Get Addicted and Why?

Your first thought might be teenagers and young adults, but don’t fool yourself. It’s estimated that at least 6,600 people become new marijuana users every day. And use among seniors is growing faster than ever with an estimated 250 percent jump in use between 2006 and 2013.

It’s estimated that about 30 percent of the 22.2 million who used marijuana in the past month have some sort of use disorder and people who use weed before adulthood are far more likely to develop marijuana use disorder than adults who use.

Where millions of marijuana users can pick it up or put it down at any time without experiencing withdrawal, some struggle with marijuana addiction. Genes, mental illness, personal and familial support, and building up a tolerance may all play a role in dependence that leads to addiction. You see, as you become more tolerant, you may need more marijuana to feel its effects. If you use marijuana long enough, your brain may become dependent.

When you quit consuming marijuana, your body may compensate – by making your heart beat fast, by affecting your mood and even causing sweats and chills, and nausea. You may not be able to sleep, and when you do sleep, you might be affected by intense dreaming.

Some people can smoke marijuana heavily for decades and experience no real withdrawal symptoms when they quit.  Some may experience some symptoms of withdrawal, but not severe enough to prevent them from doing their normal activities of daily life or meeting normal obligations and responsibilities.

For others though, weed is more important than hanging out with friends who don’t smoke, or with family. It’s more important than how they function in their job or how they handle their responsibilities.

Signs of Marijuana Abuse or Addiction

Some of the most common signs that your use of marijuana may have turned into a use disorder include:

Needing to consume more marijuana to reach the same high;
Consuming more marijuana than you had planned;
Not being able to cut back or stop using altogether, despite wanting to;
The majority of your day involves weed, whether looking for it, thinking about it, or consuming it;
You no longer engage in your normal activities and hobbies;
Continuing to consume marijuana despite getting into trouble or suffering problems;
You escape problems by getting high;
Depending on weed to help you be creative, feel relaxed, or deal with issues;
Failing to meet your normal responsibilities and obligations;
Choosing activities and relationships based on whether you can get high.

The first step of recovery is realizing you have a problem. If you are thinking about being high, how to get money to get high, or need to consume larger amounts to get high, you may have a use disorder. While the withdrawal process for marijuana addiction is typically not nearly as difficult as with alcohol and some other drugs, you may suffer symptoms of marijuana withdrawal for several weeks after quitting.

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Never Call Someone An “Alcoholic” Or “Addict”

From Psychology Today:

My name is Adi and I am not an addict.

I am not an ADHD sufferer. I am so much more. And I don’t expect failure for myself, I expect success. Fuck Shame. Sure, I work hard every day to overcome the parts of myself that frustrate and complicate me- but who among us, diagnosed or not, can truly say otherwise?

I caught some serious flak for this statement in my TEDxUCLA talk as people thought I was putting down traditional treatment approaches such as AA. But it was a way to put down the use of that damn “Addict” label. Labels can have a huge impact on someone with an addiction as they typically come with expectations and can alter not only the person’s performance, but also the way other people view and treat them. Labels can be damaging, and now there’s research to support my point.

At the University of Pennsylvania, a new study into addiction and labels found when people use the terms “addict” or “alcoholic,” they are often associated with a strong negative bias. This invokes a negative attitude toward the person rather than the behavior and these attitudes are hard to shift. In comparison, researchers found using “person-first” language (for example, “Person with an addiction”) were shown to have less negative bias.

Why do people with addiction get labelled addicts?

Addiction occurs when an individual compulsively engages in a behavior such as drinking, drug-taking, porn use or gambling. A person with an addiction is likely to feel like they are losing control, experience side-effects of their use and find it hard to stop, even if they want to.

Addiction is not the same thing for everyone. The cognitive, behavioral, and physiological symptoms and impact of an addiction will vary from individual to individual. Some people will continue to function at a high level (such as some hard drinking executives) and many will be unsuspecting they even have an addiction. While for others, the impact can be devastating, from breakdowns in relationships, to loss of employment and financial instability.

Unfortunately, only one in ten people with an addiction will reach out for professional help. I’ve previously discussed the research I undertook at UCLA, and how shame and stigma were identified as some of the biggest barriers to entering addiction treatment.

Shame and stigma stem from the labels placed upon people. While labels may be useful for services, clinicians and treatment programs to know who to target and how to help someone, those labels are not so helpful for the person seeking help. Once a person believes they are an “addict” or an “alcoholic”, then they believe they have to spend their whole life trying to abstain and recover from the addiction. They believe every stereotype they’ve ever heard about “addicts” and “alcoholics” and apply those to themselves—lazy, untrustworthy, liar, sinner, uncaring, unemployable and many more attributes become accepted when someone starts wearing these labels. On the other hand, people who use alcohol or substances in potentially harmful ways, who aren’t labelled an “addict” can continue to live their lives without fear of the all powerful stigma that comes along with these words.

5 reasons why you should never call someone an addict

1.     It creates stigma and shame. As I’ve mentioned above, when you call someone an “addict” or “alcoholic” it is shaming and can be a barrier to treatment. People with addictions often have underlying difficulties with how they view themselves and are sensitive to the judgment of others. Labels that are stigmatizing stop people from reaching out for help, and this stops them from working on the shame that probably underlies their addiction in the first place.

2.     Shame leads to a negative self-concept. When a person with an addiction is shamed with labels, then it comes as no surprise that it leads to them thinking and feeling negatively about themselves. When we feel terrible about ourselves, how likely are we to achieve our goals? Very unlikely. Shame keeps people in the spiral of addiction. Ironically, this is what traditional treatment hope to prevent, but inadvertently make worse.

3.     People see themselves as the problem. When we label someone a “drug addict,” it removes the human perspective of examining a person with an addiction. The person is seen as a problem, not an individual. It also makes it hard for the person to see themselves as someone who is struggling, rather than as simply damaged or defective.

4.     It creates helplessness. It can lead to negative self-talk such as “If I’m an addict, then I’ll always be an addict.” Helplessness keeps people turning to alcohol or substances, even though they know it’s bad for them, because there don’t seem to be better options. However, if that individual sees themselves as ‘someone with an addiction,’ then they may also envision themselves as ‘someone without an addiction.’

5.     It ignores all circumstances. There’s a cognitive bias knows in psychology as the Fundamental Attribution Error, which states that we see our own actions as being driven by circumstances while seeing others’ behavior as being driven by their personality. Think of the last time you were cut off on the freeway by a speeding driver… “ASSHOLE” was the first word to enter your mind, right? But if you’ve found yourself cutting someone off, you’d say you’re “in a hurry” or “didn’t see them” and attribute your actions to the situation. Now think of how this applies to those you label as “Addicts.” By labeling them as such, you ignore the role of their circumstances and attribute their actions fully to their built in personality.

How can we destigmatize addiction?

It’s clear the language we use around addiction is powerful, and when used incorrectly, can leave individuals with an addiction feeling powerless. We need to change the way we view addiction, how we label addiction and how we treat people with addictions. We can do this by using person-first language and offering people choice in treatment.

What is person-first language? It’s simply removing terms such as “addict” and “alcoholic” and reducing the associated negative biases. Instead, we can say “a person with a substance problem,” or, “a person with an alcohol addiction.” This may seem simple, but it makes a BIG difference. It separates the person from the addiction which not only reduces shame and helplessness but it increases a person’s self-efficacy by empowering them to seek help.

Over the years it has become clear to me that we need a path to recovery that is wide open—where everyone can seek and receive help without shame and stigma. This is why I wrote The Abstinence Myth book and created the IGNTD Recovery Program, based on these premises:

1.     Eliminating abstinence as a barrier for receiving help (you don’t have to quit alcohol or substances before accessing IGNTD!).

2.     Recognition of the need for an individualized treatment approach

3.     Accepting that addiction is not static and all addictions are not the same

I believe in empowering people to make positive changes in their life rather than making them feel powerless and ashamed about their addiction. I know the power of this approach personally. I want you to get honest with yourself about where you’re at in your life right NOW. And I’m not just talking about the addiction, I mean every aspect of your life, in particular those aspects that have led to and maintained the addiction. Those are the areas that need to be addressed before you can start recovery. The process of radical acceptance, is core to my IGNTD Recovery Program, as it helps you come to terms with your past and your present, without judgment. Complete acceptance of your struggles will allow you to move forward with a clear mind and the motivationto make positive changes in your life.

So, if you know someone who has an addiction, stop using the “addict” label. Try to reframe how you view them by using person-first language. If you are someone with an addiction, you should try this out too! And, seek out a treatment approach that is shame-free, judgment-free and suits your individual needs.

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Baby Boomers Smoking More Pot

Over forty percent of Marijuana users are parents. But seniors are using more pot, too, according to research.

From Time Marijuana use is on the rise, particularly with the “Baby Boomer” generation.

A study published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence Journal Thursday compared 2015-2016 data of marijuana users and non-users within and across age groups to a similar study done in 2016-2017, and found that double the number of “baby boomers” since 2006 have used marijuana.

The findings found that 9% of adults aged 50 to 64 said they used marijuana over the past year, with 55% of those adults admitting they’ve tried it at least once in their lives. Of adults 65 and older, 3% said they had used marijuana over the last year and 22% said they’d tried it at least once.

The study, ran by New York University’s Dr. Benjamin Han and Dr. Joseph Palamar, examined data from 17,608 adults 50 years of age and over who took the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The national survey has been conducted every year since 1971 by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration across all 50 states.

The participants answered questions about their general heath and tobacco, alcohol and drug use. The Baby Boomer generation consist of people born between 1946 and 1964.

The study concluded that marijuana use is becoming more prevalent among older adults. Additionally, it found users are at high risk for other drug use.

According to Dr. Palamar and Han, the fact that Baby Boomers would be open minded about marijuana use is not surprising.

“Although current users are more likely to be young adults, the Baby Boomer generation is unique as it has had more experience with marijuana compared to any generation preceding them,” they said.

 

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Is Your Doctor Gaslighting You Take Control

We rely on our physicians to figure out what’s wrong with us when we have pain or are seriously ill. But do they always pay attention, read our charts, and take the best action for us? Do they prescribe the correct medication? No, doctors are human, and they can assume diagnosis, or no diagnosis and be wrong. That means patients must become their own advocates. We all are responsible for ourselves. That means we have to look at the prescriptions doctors give us, ask if they are opioids, or meds we don’t need, or conflict with other medications we may be taking. We have to be on top of our own health issues.

Here’s A Cautionary Tale

Four years ago, Deborah J. Cohan went to her primary-care doctor with excruciating pain throughout her midsection. “I wasn’t able to stand up straight. Eating and going to the bathroom were uncomfortable,” Cohan, who lives in South Carolina, tells Health. She had a hunch it was gynecological, but her doctor dismissed the idea. Declaring it to be back pain, she prescribed Cohan muscle relaxants.

They didn’t work. Neither did over-the-counter pain relief, ice, heat, chiropractic care, or stretching.

A few days later, Cohan’s pain was so bad, she went to the ER. But instead of getting help, she only encountered more pushback.

The doctor on duty confidently announced that Cohan had uterine fibroids. When she pointed out that she didn’t have a uterus anymore—it had been removed in that same hospital the year before—“the doctor was adamant I was mistaken,” she remembers.

Not until Cohan’s ob-gyn came onto the scene was the right diagnosis finally made. Cohan’s ovaries had twisted and fallen from their normal position—a condition called ovarian torsion. It’s considered a medical emergency and, if left untreated, can be fatal.

After immediate surgery to remove both her ovaries, Cohan recuperated quickly. Still, “this experience confirmed what I’ve long believed,” she says. “Women need to embrace, trust, own, and protect their own bodies.”

In other words, doctors won’t always do that for you. In fact, your doctor might even try to gaslight you.

“Gaslighting” happens when one person tries to convince another to second-guess their instincts and doubt their perception that something is real. Medical gaslighting happens when health-care professionals downplay or blow off symptoms you know you’re feeling and instead try to convince you they’re caused by something else—or even that you’re imagining them.

A disconnect—or disrespect?

As the #MeToo movement continues to bring allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault into the daylight, it’s illuminating another unsettling gender-based offense: how women’s health issues often go ignored, undertreated, or misdiagnosed by doctors.

“It’s a true phenomenon,” G. Thomas Ruiz, MD, lead ob-gyn at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, tells Health. “Gender bias is a harsh opinion as to why [it happens], but there’s some pretty good research to support that.”

Granted, some gynecological disorders, like endometriosis, are notoriously tricky to diagnose. But it’s not just women’s health issues that doctors tend to downplay.

For instance, women with heart disease are prescribed less medicine and offered surgery less often than men. Women are also less likely to get treatment for conditions ranging from strokes to knee pain, researchers reported in Critical Care Nurse. Go to the ER with severe stomach pain? You’ll wait 65 minutes to get help vs. the 49 minutes it takes for men to be offered pain relief, according to a study in Academic Emergency Medicine.

“Because of the ubiquity of the message—that pain is a normal part of womanhood or girlhood—we have a systemic, societal problem where we all, doctors included, aren’t good at sorting out the normal from the abnormal for women’s health,” Erin Jackson, a healthcare attorney and founder of Inspire Santé, a pelvic pain nonprofit organization, tells Health. “Women’s veracious complaints of symptoms or illness may be labeled as whiny, and we don’t trust women to be the experts in their bodies’ experiences and autonomy.”

‘Being told that I was fine was terrifying’

Jackson knows this firsthand. For 10 years, she was told by physicians that her “stabbing, burning, and tingling” pelvic pain was nothing to worry about. Despite severe cramps, vulvar swelling, and aches in her lower back, “I was told nothing was wrong or encouraged to seek psychiatric care,” she says. “Being told I was fine was terrifying.”

Desperate for answers, Jackson consulted with a “double digit” number of doctors. Many insisted she was perfectly healthy, assured her that her pain was “just bad periods,” or urged her to better manage her stress.

“I’ve never felt so scared as when I was in the ER and felt that, because the doctor wasn’t listening to me, the doctor couldn’t help me—but there was nowhere else to go,” Jackson says.

After finally finding a doctor who didn’t think her pain was all in her head and referred her to a pelvic floor physical therapist, she’s since become pain-free. But through her nonprofit, “I’ve heard from women whose experiences are so similar to my own that I could’ve written the story,” says Jackson.

Many, she says, are repeatedly told by their doctors that painful periods and sex are simply “normal.” “If you don’t speak up for yourself or how much pain you’re in, [your issue] may go overlooked,” Yvonne Bohn, MD, ob-gyn at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, tells Health.

A new ad for Orilissa, the first ever FDA-approved drug for endometriosis pain, even plays on that theme. “Any pain?” a doctor asks a female patient who’s come in for a checkup. “Kinda,” the woman shrugs apologetically. It’s not until her inner voice comes to life and shouts at her, “Speak up!” that she finally does.

Get the care you need

Think you’re being gaslighted by your doctor? Here’s what to do.

Find a provider you bond with. “You shouldn’t be looking for someone you want to have drinks with. That isn’t the goal,” Dr. Bohn clarifies. “But you do want someone who is honest and direct” and truly listens to you when you speak.

Prioritize your concerns. “As physicians, we’re under a lot of pressure,” admits Dr. Bohn. “We have too many patients and not enough time.” If you come to an appointment with a list of 15 questions, your doctor may struggle to get to them all. Instead, focus on a few of your most urgent concerns. Many doctors can now weigh in on less important issues by email.

Advocate for yourself. “If you don’t believe the first opinion you get, get a second,” Dr. Ruiz advises. In some cases, you may need to insist on a consult with a women’s health professional.

And don’t necessarily steer clear of male doctors. “I know as many insensitive female ob-gyns as male ob-gyns,” acknowledges Dr. Ruiz. “Find a physician who listens to you and takes your complaints seriously.”

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3 Tips To Raise A Drug-Free Child

From Cadillac News:

1. Communicate.

The best line of defense is an open relationship with your children that encourages a healthy dialogue about the dangers of drug use in terms they can understand. Paired with consequences that will resonate, like the taking away of freedoms and valued items, discussions should include talking openly about the effects of drugs like marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine on a user’s health and wellness. Be available and willing to listen to whatever your children have to say without interrupting or losing your composure, ensuring a healthy conversation where they feel their voices are being heard.

2. Have a Plan and Offer Privileges and Incentives.

In the home, prescription drugs such as opioids and stimulants should be locked away safely, accessible only to the person to whom they’re prescribed. If those drugs are prescribed to your child, monitor use of the medication, and keep it stored in your bathroom rather than your child’s.

Parents who suspect their child may be facing peer pressure or abusing drugs should consider using a home drug test. Sold at major retailers in the pharmacy section, First Check Home Drug Tests are a quick and accessible resource for parents concerned about their children’s health. Over 99 percent accurate, these kits deliver results in five minutes, testing for the presence of up to 14 commonly abused drugs.

Your drug prevention plan may also include a system of rewards for passing home drug tests, including car privileges and other tangible incentives.

3. Strategize Saying “No.”Strategize with your children on how to say “no” when pressured to use drugs, while also reinforcing the “why.” Reasons to say “no” can be anything from not wanting to harm one’s grades, health or athletic potential, or even just the fact that you implement home drug testing. To that end, consider home drug testing as a way to take the pressure off your children, giving them an easy out in social situations where drugs are introduced, while saving face with peers. You can even give them a line to use on their friends, such as, “I can’t, my parents are crazy and they drug test me!”

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Mac Miller Candidly Discussed His Drug Use And Getting Sober: ‘Overdosing Is Just Not Cool’

From People:

Mac Miller never shied away from discussing his drug usage but even he knew it inevitably had a dark ending.

The rapper, who died Friday at age 26, struggled with substance abuse for years, often writing songs about his daily drug usage, mental health, and desire for sobriety.

Miller’s career took off in 2011 when he released his debut album Blue Slide Park. Following the chart-topping album’s release and his move from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, Miller began to rely on marijuana to cope with stress while touring. But soon, the rapper turned to promethazine, codeine, and cocaine to manage his mental state.

During a Complex interview in 2013, Miller admitted to using lean — a combination of promethazine and codeine — to cope with his depression. The rapper explained that criticism and stress from his Macadelic mixed tape tour in 2012 led him to rely on the addictive drug.

“I love lean; it’s great,” he told the magazine. “I was not happy and I was on lean very heavy [during the Macadelic tour.] I was so f–ed up all the time it was bad. My friends couldn’t even look at me the same. I was lost.”

Miller told Complex he attempted to quit lean multiple times, but wasn’t successful until November 2012, before beginning production on his MTV2 reality series Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family.

In May 2014, the rapper released his tenth solo mixtape, Faces. On it, Miller discussed his battle with depression, explaining how “a drug habit like Philip Hoffman will probably put me in a coffin.” He also made references throughout the songs to cocaine, codeine cough syrup, and angel dust.

A year later, Miller seemed to be doing better, both physically and mentally. Speaking to Billboard after the release of his 2015 album GO:OD AM, he discussed his path to sobriety, his changing mindset and acknowledged how his new album was much different from his “depressing” previous work.

“I was doing a lot of drugs around that time,” Miller revealed. “Which is another difference now: I’m not doing as many drugs. It just eats at your mind, doing drugs every single day, every second. It’s rough on your body.”

He also admitted to having suicidal thoughts before releasing his album, on which he claimed “every single song is about coke [and] drugs,” in 2014.

“That was the plan with Faces: [Closing song] “Grand Finale” was supposed to be the last song I made on earth,” Miller explained. “I don’t feel that way as much anymore.”

When asked about his mental and physical health, Miller was confident about his progress and claimed he was “way healthier” than he was in the past, though the rapper acknowledged he still struggled with substance abuse.

“I still smoke cigarettes. I’m not completely sober, but I’m way better than I was at that point,” he said. “I was afraid of what my life had become. But once you just breathe and relax, you come to terms with it. This is my life, I enjoy it, and it’s OK that I enjoy it.”

Although Miller admitted to feeling ashamed of his addiction and “hiding” parts of his life, he was still able to find the silver lining in his complicated world.

“You’ve got to look in the mirror and tell yourself to stop being a little bitch: ‘OK, dude, you’re 23 and this is your f—ing life. Go out there and do it, stop hiding,’ because that was me before,” he said. “Great music came from it, but I’d rather be in the place I’m at now… I’m not 100 percent clean, but I’m not a piece of s— anymore. I can look in the mirror and be like, ‘I look OK.’”

Added Miller: “I was too worried about the legacy that I would leave behind — how I would be remembered if I died. That was my whole thing. Like, you never know, man, so I’ve got to make sure I make all this music so when I die there’s albums and albums. But now, I’m going to make sure I do some s— in life, too.”

Two years after getting sober in 2015, Miller told W Magazine that after having “spent a good time very sober…now I’m just, like, living regularly.”

“I don’t believe in absolute anything, but I think not sharing that type of information, because it becomes like, ‘Oh he’s sober, oh he’s not, oh he has a beer, oh my God.’ I just realized some things are important to just keep for yourself,” he added.

In February 2016, the rapper released a personal documentary, Stopped Making Excuses. In it, Miller got candid about his drug use, claiming he would “never stop” and also revealed that “overdosing” — which became the ultimate downfall for the rapper — was “not cool.”

“I get f—ed up, let’s keep it real,” he said. “I get super f—ed up, still, all the time. That will never stop. But I’m in control of my life. I’m not f—ed up right now. I’m chillin.”

Added the “Donald Trump” singer: “I’d rather be the corny white rapper than the drugged-out mess that can’t even get out of his house. Overdosing is just not cool. There’s no legendary romance. You don’t go down in history because you overdosed. You just die.”

The Pittsburgh rapper also explained exactly how he spiraled from using marijuana into harder drugs.

“I needed to get a drug that was a little more numbing, if you will,” he said in the 12-minute doc. “I think that’s what really sparked me doing other drugs because I hate being sober. I wanted a drug to do.”

August of that year saw a positive turn for Miller when he started dating pop-star Ariana Grande. After collaborating on “The Way” for Grande’s 2013 album Yours Truly, the pair made things official, but even Grande’s clean image couldn’t help the rapper, whose substance abuse problem became a dealbreaker for the two.

In May 2018, Grande, 25, and Miller ended their two-year relationship, claiming their busy schedules got in the way, though Grande also noted the relationship was “toxic.”

The Pittsburgh rapper also explained exactly how he spiraled from using marijuana into harder drugs.

“I needed to get a drug that was a little more numbing, if you will,” he said in the 12-minute doc. “I think that’s what really sparked me doing other drugs because I hate being sober. I wanted a drug to do.”

August of that year saw a positive turn for Miller when he started dating pop-star Ariana Grande. After collaborating on “The Way” for Grande’s 2013 album Yours Truly, the pair made things official, but even Grande’s clean image couldn’t help the rapper, whose substance abuse problem became a dealbreaker for the two.

In May 2018, Grande, 25, and Miller ended their two-year relationship, claiming their busy schedules got in the way, though Grande also noted the relationship was “toxic.”

A little more than a month before his death, Miller had released his fifth album Swimming. Many of the songs on the album focus on the aftermath of his breakup with Grande, as well as his own struggles with depression and anxiety. He was also slated to kick off a national tour in October.

On the track “Small Worlds” off of his new album, Miller grimly raps, “Tell myself to hold on/I can feel my fingers slipping/In a motherf—in instant I’ll be gone.”

When asked about his new album on Sept. 6, Miller told Vulture that he enjoys — and actually prefers — the ups and downs in life.

“I really wouldn’t want just happiness,” Miller said. “And I don’t want just sadness either. I don’t want to be depressed. I want to be able to have good days and bad days … I can’t imagine not waking up sometimes and being like, ‘I don’t feel like doing s—.’ And then having days where you wake up and you feel on top of the world.”

The post Mac Miller Candidly Discussed His Drug Use And Getting Sober: ‘Overdosing Is Just Not Cool’ appeared first on Reach Out Recovery.

Emotional Sobriety – What Exactly Does It Mean?

From Sober Nation:

Emotional sobriety. We hear about this in meetings, in therapy settings, in treatment centers, or maybe some have never heard the coined phrase at all. No, it’s not about being overly emotional, as sometimes that can happen in early sobriety. However, some may think that emotional sobriety means being “happy, joyous, and free,” or “living life beyond our wildest dreams.” At the beginning stages of sobriety, it is often considered that one gives their attention to staying away from drugs and alcohol or situations that will “trigger” them to use. When we’re in our addictions, emotional sobriety can be something that the person caught in the midst of addiction can lose, and in addition the family members dealing with their loved one can lose sight of their emotional sobriety.

We can kick and scream our way to emotional sobriety, or emotional regulation, and the good news is, we’re doing the work – we’re feeling our feelings.

Emotional sobriety is something everyone needs to get back after a long journey through addiction. So.. what is emotional sobriety? And what exactly does it mean? We’ve put a list together to get down to the nitty-gritty.

What Is Emotional Sobriety?

 

Emotional sobriety can be a term used to describe a state of mind that goes beyond physical recovery. There’s no argument that giving up drugs and alcohol is the most important first step, emotional sobriety is essential to maintaining the positive lifestyle change. However, recovery doesn’t always mean that we’ll be surrounded by rainbows and butterflies or free from our problems and intense feelings. Sometimes we can be pushed to the edge by our emotions. Learning how to deal with these feelings in a healthy way without having to resort to old habits is the basis of emotional sobriety.

Are you emotionally sober? Here’s a list of signs that you may be:

You’re Able To Regulate Feelings

We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t feel, and it is all apart of the experience of life – even negative feelings. However, emotional sobriety is less based on the quality of the feeling (“good” or “bad”) and more about the general ability to feel one’s feelings.

These newfound feelings can be like a roller coaster, especially when we’re in the early stages of our sobriety. When we’re in our addictions, we try to push our feelings down by using substances. We drank when we felt happy, and we used drugs when we were upset. Becoming physically sober is a process, and so is learning to overcome our emotions and adapting new coping skills to regulate feelings.

Unfortunately we can’t get rid of these feelings, but we can learn to regulate them. When we’re able to be thoughtful and think before acting out on our feelings with our old maladaptive behaviors, we’ve reached an important epoch in our recovery. We must think first, but live easy.

You’re Able To Live In The Moment

No matter who you are, recovery or not, living in the moment is tough. Sometimes we can get stuck in the past and stay there, but it doesn’t do anything for us. The past is the past, and now the only way we can move is forward. Instead of looking backwards and sulking about the future, we can focus on what we’re currently doing, or what we want to be doing, and do something different the next day. Being present and living in the moment can become empowering.

Additionally, a person who is emotionally sober will be able to handle their feelings in all of life’s moments and also acknowledge when they need help. By doing this we can find peace with our past actions, and not overthink about what the future holds.

You Can Form Deep Bonds

Interpersonal connections. Friendships. Bonds. Relationships. Whatever you want to call it, that was something that hardly existed during an active addiction to substances. However, when we get sober and shed those that we thought were friends, we can form new relationships where one can talk through stressors and emotions without leaning on the relationship of alcohol and drugs that we used to have. Once these bonds begin to form, one can develop commonalities and we can begin to see people for who they really are, as well as they see us. These type of bonds can help us reconnect with friends and those that were once close to us.

In addition, those who are newly sober can form deep bonds and re-establish their relationship with themselves. Addiction can take a toll on one’s self-esteem and confidence, and without the substances we can begin to see who we are on a deeper level, and recognize what kind of person we want to become. Self-reflection along with interpersonal connected-ness is a staple of emotional sobriety.

You Take Life As It Comes

Being emotionally sober means seeing our struggles as beneficial and grief as a necessary tool to grow. We no longer pity ourselves and begin to see road-blocks in our lives as stepping stones. Those that are emotionally sober see these things for what it is and can continue to be adaptable to the situation without having to resort to a drink or a drug. Whether it be something offensive someone said to you, or a life situation such as getting laid off from a job. Alcoholics and addicts that are emotionally sober will take the appropriate measures to find a solution to the situation, however know at the end of the day everything is going to work out as long as we stay sober.

 

The post Emotional Sobriety – What Exactly Does It Mean? appeared first on Reach Out Recovery.