What is detoxification?

Detoxication - destruction and neutralization of various toxic substances by chemical, physical or biological methods.

Detoxification is a natural or artificial removal of toxic substances from the body. Or a complex of artificial and natural measures to cleanse the body of toxins.

Complex detoxification presupposes first of all an artificial stimulation of natural processes of cleansing the body, and methods of artificial purification that the body would never be able to use independently, in view of the lack of such opportunities and resources in it.

Toxic substances enter the body in the form of drugs or alcohol and gradually accumulate in it. The longer a person uses narcotic substances or alcohol, the more toxic substances accumulate in his body. In simple terms, detoxification is the removal of poisonous substances from the body, purification of the poisoned organism.

What is the purpose of detoxification?

Detoxification is needed in order to rid the body of harmful substances, withdraw them naturally, while replacing the substances removed from the body for new vitamins and minerals necessary for the body.

Detoxification is useful to everyone, but it should be done correctly, so as not to harm the body. Studies were carried out, during which it was found that detoxification presupposes certain norms of necessary vitamins and minerals, which must be taken only in the right proportions.

After all, if you use them unbalanced the body can be destroyed, and not restored. Therefore, detoxification is a very important program, which requires close attention of specialists in this field of knowledge. This is why before the program detoxification for the public, the most complex studies were conducted, after which, for about 50 years, people have achieved success and become freer and happier.

Detoxification for addicts
Detoxification is necessary for people dependent on something either because in the body of these people accumulated deposits of any drugs or alcohol, which prevents a person from getting rid of addiction. It was noticed that these deposits in the fatty tissue of a person from time to time can again fall into the blood of a person, and even years later again cause a state of euphoria or the need to take this or that drug. Therefore, an inevitable step for any dependent is detoxification.

Detoxification involves running, sweating in the sauna, and filling the body with the necessary vitamins and minerals (Heptral, cyanocobalamin, B1 etc) that are washed out on the program. Detoxification becomes a simple and natural process, if we start with only these components. Detoxification should not be difficult, and its purpose is very simple, to remove toxins and teach the body to independently in the process of life get rid of those that in the future accidentally fall.

Formation of drug abuse

The use of narcotic drugs is due to the peculiarities of their action on humans, one of which is the ability to cause euphoria.

This euphoria is one of the signs of the state of narcotic intoxication (intoxication). Its nature, severity of subjective effects of pleasure, pleasure, imaginary improvement of physical and mental well-being are determined by various factors: the type of drug, the state and mood of the consumer, the environment in which it is located. The euphoria caused by opioid preparations is inherent in the sensations of somatic pleasure and the emotional background of rest, bliss. With euphoria caused by psychostimulants, a feeling of intellectual recovery, enlightenment prevails. The euphoria observed in narcotic intoxication is necessarily combined with a perceptual disorder, a change in thinking.

It should be emphasized that the degree of drug exposure is directly dependent on the dose taken, and is also related to previous experience of its consumption (the presence of tolerance to the drug). The nature of the euphoria caused by it also depends on the prescription of the drug. It is known that drug addicts with experience do not reach the euphoria they received at the beginning of anesthesia. As you get used to the drug, the intensity of euphoria decreases. Over time, the addict begins to take the drug not to evoke euphoria in its original concept, but only in order to remove the subjectively painful, uncomfortable state. Taking a drug does not make him particularly pleasant, but without him he can not do.

The ability of narcotic drugs to cause addiction (drug dependence) is explained by their pharmacological action on those areas of the brain, the irritation of which causes positive sensations. Narcotic substances and substances that cause substance abuse, activate zones of comfort, pleasure, reward, encouragement, positive reinforcement, and thereby strengthen emotionally positive reactions. Physiologists, assessing the significance of these zones for an animal, believe that its behavior is determined by the irritation of these zones and zones of the opposite sign (zones of punishment, zones of displeasure).

Nerve impulses coming along the conducting paths bring information to the brain about the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of a particular need. As a result, the animal chooses that tactic of behavior, which in the end provides an irritation of the positive zones. In humans, this system is certainly more difficult, since its needs and activities are largely due to social factors, but the principle of the system is similar.

Narcotic substances, activating pleasure zones, form a new need, a new desire - the need for the use of narcotic drugs. This new need begins to suppress will and mind.

Episodic use of intoxicating drugs is replaced by their regular reception. The initial effect of their intake diminishes, the protective reactions to its administration decrease and disappear - all these are symptoms of a change in the reactivity of the organism. He is already differently than before, reacting to the injecting drug. (A person from birth has a number of innate protective reactions, manifested by the ingress of toxic (poisonous) substances into the body. For example, in a person not accustomed to drinking alcohol, even a small amount of alcoholic drinks causes vomiting. Thus the body protects itself from foreign harmful substances. )

The same happens with the first acquaintance with drugs. For example, first when cannabis is taken or when sleeping pills are misused, there are profuse sweats, hiccups, drooling, pain in the eyes, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and then these symptoms are no longer noted even with deep fatal intoxication.

A healthy person can not drink wine, vodka, etc. for several days in a row; they become disgusted to him, and a patient with alcoholism drinks them daily. The same happens when taking intoxicating agents. Regular daily use of them indicates a changed response to these funds - about getting used to them. It manifests itself in increasing the tolerability of narcotic drugs, increasing tolerance. Tolerance is a state of adaptation, characterized by a weakening of the protective reaction to the initial dose of the intoxicating substance so that to increase the former degree of intoxicating effect, its increase is required. The forms of intoxication are also changing, but this happens somewhat later.

At the same time, phenomena of mental dependence arise and intensify, a condition in which a drug causes a sense of satisfaction and requires repeated or continuous administration to continue pleasure or prevent discomfort. Mental dependence manifests itself in constant thoughts about drugs, in raising the mood in anticipation of its reception, and vice versa, in irritability, dissatisfaction, depression in the absence of the usual means. If a healthy person has various pleasures, he can be in a state of mental comfort in a variety of situations, then the addict reaches it only under the influence of the drug.

The appearance of signs of physical dependence, which manifests itself in the intense physical disorders that occur when the drug is discontinued, is the next stage in the development of the disease. Such disorders (abstinence syndrome) are a complex of specific symptoms and signs of mental and physical properties that are characteristic of the action of each type of drug.

Relief comes with the introduction into the body of the same drug or other substance that has a similar pharmacological effect and belongs to the same type. When the appropriate dosage is observed, the physical dependence does not appear externally. It becomes a powerful factor in increasing mental dependence, which causes a person to continue taking the drug or resume its use even after trying to refrain from it.

Review of Psilocybes

Currently, the genus psilocybe has about 20 species. At the same time, American and Asian species are poorly studied. Species of this genus are cosmopolitan and widely distributed in almost all continents. Fungi of the genus psilocybe are saprophytes. They settle on soil, dead branches and stems of plants, are found on sawdust, many live on sphagnum marshes, peat, manure. Occur in the forest on humus forest. A characteristic feature of many fungi is dwelling on boggy soil. Therefore they belong to the helophytic species.

The color of the bonnet is reddish, yellow or olive. The cap is dry or watery, depending on the habitat of the fungus. Plates accreted to the stem or slightly descending along it. The spores are brown-violet, ellipsoidal or grain-shaped. Bedspread is barely noticeable or completely absent. The foot is cartilaginous.

There are no edible mushrooms in this way. However, they have a peculiar application. In some manuscripts of the 16th - 17th centuries, in which the disappearing culture of the Aztecs is described, there is a mention of Indian ritual ceremonies, in connection with which mushrooms that caused hallucinations were used. The hallucinogenic properties of some fungi were known to the Maya priests in ancient Mexico, who used them in religious ceremonies. These mushrooms have been used in Central America for a very long time. The Indians consider them divine mushrooms. Found even stone images of mushrooms, revered by Indians as deities.

Of the fungi belonging to the genus psilocybe, a hallucinogenic substance called psilocybin was isolated. This is a 4-oxidimethyl-tryptamine phosphate ester (CH12O4N2P). Pharmacological tests have shown that one hundred psilocybin is not toxic. A dose of about 1 mg causes a person intoxicated within 20 to 30 minutes after ingestion. A dose of up to 4 mg causes a state of detachment from reality, and at higher doses (up to 12 mg) profound changes in the psyche occur, hallucinations occur. Currently, this substance is synthesized abroad and used to treat certain mental illnesses. Very interesting is the effect of psilocybin on patients suffering from memory loss. Almost 50% of patients have memories, revival, fear and restraint disappear. Patients remember what they have forgotten, and help doctors to better understand the causes of the disease. However, the substance of psilocybin becomes a very dangerous hallucinogenic drug if it is used not for medical purposes, without medical supervision.

To date, psilocybin has been found in some fungi from the genus Paneeolus (Panaeolus), Stropharia (Stropharia), Anellaria (Anellaria). To the hallucinogenic fungus is now attributed to about 25 species and 75% of them are members of the psilocybe family (Psilocybe), for example P. caerulescens, P. semilanceata, P. pelliculosa, P. cubensis.

In addition to psilocybin, hallucinogenic fungi also have another substance that also has a psychotropic effect: psilocin, close in structure to psilocybin. In the fungi of the genus stropharia and psilocybe, as well as in the genus Paneolus, indole derivatives (tryptamine, etc.), which have an anticoagulant effect on solutions of fibrinogen, have been found. Fungal preparations with this effect can be used in the treatment of thromboses.

The species growing on wet, swampy places and being there usual are the dark-brown psilocybe (P. atrobrunnea) with a bell-shaped watery cap of 3-5 cm in diameter. The plates, adhering to the foot, later lagging behind it, are rare, thick, brownish -series, with a white edge. Taste and smell of carbohydrates or flour. A mushroom grows among sphagnum mosses.

On the same peat bogs and boggy meadows, in forests among mosses is widespread psilotsibe moist (P. paupera). It is a small mushroom with an outstretched reddish-brown cap with a diameter of 1.5-3 cm, which has a more prominent, rounded tubercle of a darker color on top. The plates, attached to the stem, are grayish-violet. Leg is hollow inside, rusty-brown, above light, fibrous.

On the pastures and in the hummocks there is a heathlope psyche (P. ericaceae). The cap of this fungus is convex or campanulate, in the center depressed, 2-4 cm in diameter, brown or dark brown with a yellow hue, slightly mucous, with white flakes on the edge. The plates, attached to the stem, are wide, swollen, tapering to the ends and with a white edge. Their color is yellowish-brown, then almost black.

Psilocybe coprophilia (P. coprophila) - a typical coprophilic fungus, settling on cow dung, on pastures. The hat is outstretched, with a tubercle, 2-4 cm in diameter, reddish-brown, smooth, weakly lingual. Flesh white, thin. The plates are notorious, slightly protruding along the stem, very wide, frequent, bluish-gray, later darkening. Leg slightly thickened below, pale, powdery at the top.

In forests, pastures and along the outskirts of the roads, there is also a hallucinogenic fungus with a very characteristic structure - the psilocybe is semi-lanceolate (P. semilanceata). The hat is conical, then weakly prostrated, with a sharp tuber, 1-5 cm in diameter, yellowish-greenish, then darkening, brownish, with a peeling cut off in the form of mucous membranes. The plates are narrow, adherent to the stalk, frequent, at first light cream, and on maturation dark purple-violet.

Smoking Mixtures. Is it dangerous?

Widespread recently, this kind of leisure, like smoking legal mixtures of herbs, which have a light psychotropic and hallucinogenic effect. Smoking mixtures (or as they are also called mixes) consist of extracts of plants and herbs. This species of plants is known to mankind for a long time, and is an entheogen, that is, they contain substances that have psychotropic effect. The composition of popular aromatic mixes includes such plants as red fly agaric, sage, dope, etc.

The smoking mixtures are divided into two groups. In the first group, mixes are composed, which consist of natural plants, the components of which are mixed together and create the so-called "effect of consumption". The second group includes smoking mixtures, the components of which are processed by chemical substances - synthetic cannabinoids, produced in laboratory conditions.

Examination of smoking mixtures found that the substances that make up such mixes have a hallucinogenic and psychotropic effect and contain toxic components that pose a potential danger to human life and health.

It is difficult to imagine, but the use of smoking mixtures can cause a different spectrum of negative mental effects: inability to concentrate, impaired perception, uncontrolled laughter, complete loss of contact with the outside world, lack of ability to navigate in space.

Local reactions resulting from the direct irritant effect of smoke on mucous membranes and irreversibly damaging effects on the nervous system are not the greatest evil. Systematic smoking mixes leads to irreversible destructive processes in the central nervous system: attention is reduced, memory is worsened, thinking activity slows down, and a tendency to depressions appears. The impact of smoking mixtures over time can permanently change a person's personality, lead to severe disability, turn him into a drug addict. Thus, an innocent hobby can become a serious problem. The main difficulty in treating the consequences of poisoning with smoking mixtures is that the patients do not have any drugs in their blood, and therefore it is very difficult to diagnose poisoning and to prescribe adequate treatment.

The problem of mass distribution and use of smoking mixtures that have a narcotic and psychotropic effect takes on alarming proportions. The purchase is quite affordable, any teenager can make an order through the Internet and in half an hour get the desired mixture - be it Salvia or Spice, Bombay, Goa Spirit, Ganesh, Brain Storm. Pricing policy is also attractive for young people, because this category of population is the most unprotected. The lack of information about the dangers of smoking mixtures also plays into the hands of dealers. There are new all kinds of smoking mixtures, under different names, which, in addition to prohibited substances, contain extremely hazardous substances for human health.

Recently, cases of people turning to medical institutions with poisonings namely smoking mixtures have become more frequent. Only a qualified specialist can determine the degree of poisoning and prescribe the necessary treatment. Think about whether the minute pleasure is a complex process of treatment and rehabilitation.

In search of Meldonium

In Siberia, create a device for doping control

While in the sports world are continuing of meldonium scandals, Tomsk scientists bring to the market a new device for determining the express method of substance content in the body of athletes and in the dietary supplements. It is expected that the portable electrochemical analyzer will appear in free sale in the winter of this year and its application can become a legal method for research and doping control.

Standard electrodes
At the beginning of the year, researchers from the Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) micro-admixture laboratory became interested in doping scandals, which threatened the career of Maria Sharapova and other athletes. After discussing the problem with sports medicine experts, scientists decided to create a new method for determining Mildronate in the blood - convenient and inexpensive. By this time the laboratory already had experience in developing methods for determining a wide range of substances - cardioprotectors, vitamins, antibiotics, developed a method for express control of uric acid in the blood, and prepared several models of devices for their determination.

The most popular way to determine the meldonium in the athlete's blood is liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry. According to the head of the laboratory Galina Slepchenko, this is a stationary method, which is used in large laboratories with the use of expensive imported equipment and consumables. "We proposed an alternative for more mass application. Our reagents are available, and therefore inexpensive: the electrodes that we use in the apparatus are standard and are suitable for most voltammetric devices, "says Olga Mezentseva, one of the method developers.

Now the technique passes a metrological appraisal, so that it can be entered in the register of measurement techniques. While it is not clear whether it will be an arbitration method or an additional one, however, Tomsk citizens do not doubt in the use of development. "The changes that we fix with the instrument depend on the concentration of Meldonium in the blood of a person. The signal is recorded with a high enough accuracy, the error is 5-10%. With metrological certification, this figure may increase to 20%, - says Galina Slepchenko. "Even if this happens, our reliable and fast method is useful for confirming the result."’

Convert to Money
The device is planned to be placed on the basis of the partner of the laboratory - a small innovative enterprise Tomanalit, which has already produced more than a thousand devices for the determination of other substances. Scientists suggest that in the winter the analyzer will enter the market, and its price will be about 200 thousand rubles.

Member of the Commission of the Russian Paralympic Committee on Medicine and Anti-Doping, ex-head physician of the Continental Hockey League Boris Tarasov does not yet see the point of the emergence of an express method for determining the content of meldonia in the blood of athletes: "First, we must wait for official data on the rate of removal of Meldonium from the body professional athlete. Such studies are now conducted by WADA and FMBA. Secondly, meldonium at the moment simply can not be accepted, since it is included in the prohibited list of WADA. If it becomes clear in the fall that some athlete, after a monstrous scandal, takes meldonium, this, at least, means his full profavility, as well as the incompetence of the sports doctor who watches him. " If for Mildronate WADA and FMBA establish usual, as for most other drugs, the timing of excretion, there is no point in determining in the body the presence of only Meldonium, since the doping of WADA is the overwhelming majority of drugs, the expert believes.

In the opinion of Boris Tarasov, for a real counter to the spread in the sport of doping, absolutely different methods and approaches are needed, both from WADA and from the IOC. "It is necessary to completely change the WADA Code and the criteria for including medicines and methods in the banned list, which professionals in sports medicine have been talking about for many years. This is the only way to protect Russia and other countries from similar doping scandals. Otherwise, not Meldonium, so something else will come up, because the pharmacological guide is very large, "- sums up the expert.

Dysbacteriosis: how to restore balance

Today they speak about this problem very often. At the doctor's reception, TV screen, Internet sites, magazine and newspaper pages - everywhere this word: "dysbacteriosis." This is a very strange violation, it is so often declared the main culprit of our health problems, that many have become very skeptical about the very fact of the existence of dysbiosis. And is there such a disease? And is it so serious, how does the ubiquitous advertisement broadcast it? Let's try to figure it out together.

And to begin with we will specify that the separate disease "dysbacteriosis" really does not exist. But thus a dysbacteriosis is quite serious medical problem which can become the reason of development (indirect or direct) the most different pathologies.

What is dysbiosis?
According to one of the definitions, a change in the quantitative and (or) qualitative composition of the bacterial flora is called a dysbacteriosis, caused by a violation of adaptive, protective and compensatory mechanisms.

Such a vague definition of this condition was received due to the fact that the experts still do not have a common opinion about what is dysbiosis. So, the concept of "dysbacteriosis" is absent in ICD-10 and other generally accepted classifications of diseases. That is, it is not considered an independent nosological unit, but rather a deviation from the norm of one of the indices of the internal environment of the organism. Nevertheless, none of the clinicians deny that the development of dysbacteriosis has a huge impact on the body as a whole and leads to a violation of its metabolic, biochemical and immunological balance.

About the emergence of dysbiosis it is customary to speak in the case when the basic microflora, which constitutes 90-95% of the total number of microorganisms in a healthy person, for whatever reasons begins to give way to a rapidly developing residual (conditionally pathogenic) flora, the number of which normally does not exceed 1% of the whole flora.

How and why does dysbacteriosis develop?

According to statistics, which leads the RAMS, at least 90% of the inhabitants of our country during their lifetime suffer from any manifestations of dysbiosis. This prevalence of this disorder is primarily due to the large number of risk factors that are capable of provoking an imbalance in microflora.

Here is just a short list of the main causes of dysbiosis:

- irrational use of antibiotics;
- deficiency in the daily diet of dietary fiber;
- excessive use of products that cause fermentation and putrefactive processes;
- prolonged and frequent stress;
- adverse environmental conditions;
- metabolic diseases;
- bad habits and addictions (drug addiction, alcoholism);
- violation of intestinal motility;
- decreased gastric secretion;
- acute and chronic infections;
- hypovitaminosis;
- violation of digestion and absorption processes.

The main symptoms of dysbiosis

Despite the fact that dysbiosis is not an independent disease, it is possible to identify the most common symptoms characteristic of this condition.

For example, it is believed that the appearance of conventionally pathogenic strains in the intestinal microflora is primarily manifested by irritable bowel syndrome. Also in patients with dysbacteriosis, even at early stages, various metabolic disturbances can be clearly traced (weight loss, dry skin, eye fatigue, deficiency of fat-soluble vitamins and calcium develops).

Disturbance of digestion in the small intestine leads to an intensification of putrefactive and fermenting processes and the emergence of persistent, non-dietary dyspepsia (flatulence, osmotic diarrhea, paroxysmal abdominal pain), and various allergic reactions.

Active multiplication of conditionally pathogenic flora can cause inflammatory processes in the intestinal mucosa (duodenitis, enteritis, colitis, etc.) and functional disorders in all parts of the digestive system.

The change in the qualitative and quantitative composition of the microflora inevitably triggers a chain of pathological processes. Conditionally pathogenic microorganisms begin to multiply actively, which is accompanied by an increased release of bacterial toxins that enter the bloodstream and have a systemic effect on the state of the whole organism. In addition, some digestive enzymes are partially destroyed by the action of bacteria and bile acid transformation takes place, as a result of which digestion and absorption of nutrients are disrupted.

Depending on the degree of expression of the nature of the prevailing flora, it is customary to allocate several degrees of dysbiosis:

I degree - a violation of appetite, unstable stool, flatulence, uneven staining of feces;

II degree - a feeling of overfilling of the stomach and intestines after eating, belching, heartburn, flatulence, migraine pains in the abdomen, unstable stools, skin allergic reactions, symptoms of hypovitaminosis;

III degree - symptoms of gastrointestinal dyspepsia become even more pronounced and frequent, signs of trophic disorders appear;

IV degree - signs of systemic intoxication, violations in the work of all organs and systems, general weakening of the body, pathological impurities in the feces.

Bacterial vaginosis

No less serious problem than intestinal dysbiosis, is a common gynecological pathology, such as bacterial vaginosis - i.e. violation of the qualitative and quantitative composition of the microflora of the vagina.

Normal genital microflora plays a huge role in maintaining the reproductive health of women. The main representatives of the "useful" flora in the vagina, as well as in the intestines, are lacto- and bifidobacteria. They produce lactic acid and hydrogen peroxide, which form an acidic environment and prevent the propagation of opportunistic pathogens and the penetration of infection from the outside.

Violation of the balance of the microflora of the vagina creates favorable conditions for the development of fungal, bacterial or mixed infection. Chronic inflammatory process of internal genital organs leads to permanent damage to the mucous membrane of the vagina and cervix, it disrupts its protective mechanisms and the ability to regenerate, thereby increasing the risk of developing precancerous and malignant diseases. In addition, a direct relationship between vaginal dysbacteriosis and infertility, as well as an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome, has been found.

Symptoms of vaginal dysbacteriosis are nonspecific, and in a number of cases the disease proceeds secretly and is only detected by chance, with a routine examination by a gynecologist. Most often, patients complain of copious prolonged discharge with an unpleasant odor. If the itching, burning and irritation of the mucosa are added, then it is about attaching any infection and developing the inflammatory process.

General principles of treatment of dysbiosis

Treatment of dysbiosis includes 5 consecutive stages:

1. Correction of external risk factors

It is necessary to normalize the diet, to review the qualitative composition of the diet (supplementing the diet with vitamins and microelements, increasing the intake of dietary fiber and pectin to create the optimal habitat for microflora), and to monitor the quality of drinking water.

2. Treatment of functional disorders and chronic diseases

Even the most effective therapy of dysbacteriosis will give only a short-term effect if conditions for repeated relapse persist.

3. Suppression of excess conditionally pathogenic microflora

To prescribe drugs (antibiotics), it is necessary to determine the severity of the dysbacteriosis and the spectrum of the microflora sown. In most cases, antibiotic therapy is prescribed only after an intestinal infection has been identified and confirmed.

4. Reception of pre- and probiotics taking into account the peculiarities of the patient's condition
To correct the imbalance of microflora, pre- and probiotics are very widely used today. Probiotics include preparations containing living microorganisms that help restore the microbial composition of the intestine (or vagina). First of all, they include lacto- and bifidobacteria. Also used as probiotics are preparations containing streptococci, non-pathogenic strains of E. coli and clostridia, fungi Saccharomyces boulardii. Prebiotics are agents containing substances that create optimal conditions for the growth and reproduction of beneficial microflora. Prebiotics are most often used food fibers (drugs and dietary supplements) and carbohydrate complexes: fructo-oligosaccharides and galactooligosaccharides.

5. Fixing and maintaining the achieved therapeutic effect

To this end, the general strengthening non-drug methods are used: correct mode of work and rest, rejection of bad habits, prevention of stress and strengthening of immunity, dietary restrictions, supplementation of multivitamins and periodic maintenance courses for prebiotics.

Harmless marijuana?

Often savvy teens flaunt their knowledge and tell their parents that marijuana does not give an addictive effect, so its use is not harmful. It is even allowed in some countries, and it is sold in pharmacies to people in the late stages of AIDS and cancer, because it helps relieve pain symptoms. And all this is true. Rather, one side of the coin. And on the other side is your still healthy child, who has not lived for twenty years, and he does not have any stages of cancer and AIDS, but he has a golden childhood and great prospects.

Do not conflict with the child about the issue of addiction, give him the following facts.

• Almost 90% of those who use such strong drugs as heroin, started with marijuana.

• Five marijuana cigarettes have the same ability to cause cancer as 112 normal cigarettes.

• Marijuana remains in the body, deposited in fat cells for a period of three to five weeks. It has a negative effect on mental activity and on the physical state of the body throughout this period.

• A person who smokes marijuana regularly suffers from intense formation and accumulation of toxic substances in body fat cells, especially in brain cells. So for a complete cleansing of the body of a smoker it takes from three to five months after stopping smoking.

• In adolescence, the formation of that part of the brain that ensures the ability of a person to concentrate his attention, engage in creativity, learn, form concepts at a sufficiently high level is still continuing. The constant use of marijuana at this age leads to a slowdown in the normal growth of brain cells.

• A study conducted at Columbia University found that women who smoke marijuana suffer from a sharp increase in the number of cells with damaged DNA molecules that carry genetic information. Female eggs are particularly susceptible to destruction by marijuana.

• In another study, also conducted at Columbia University, it was found that a control group whose members smoked one cigarette with marijuana every day throughout the year had a 39% decrease in the blood of white blood cells compared to the norm. This meant damage to the immune system, which increased the susceptibility of these people to infections and various diseases.

• Smoking one cigarette with marijuana leads to a reduction in motor functions by 41%, and two - by 63%.

Lerivon - instructions, dosage, side effects, analogs

Antidepressant: Lerivon

Active ingredient: mianserin (Mianserin)Analogs: Venlaksor, Mirtazapin Sandoz, Simbalga, Velaxin, Prefaxin, Remeron, Mirzaten, Esprital 45, Melitor, Deprim Forte, and others.

Lerivon (Mianserin) refers to tricyclic antidepressants. It is well tolerated, and comparable in effectiveness to other modern antidepressants. The drug acts on presynaptic adrenoreceptors by suppressing them, which in turn increases the mediator concentration in the brain. In addition, it blocks H1-histamine and serotonin receptors. Thus, lerivon affects the re-uptake of norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin.

In addition to the antidepressant effect, the drug has a pronounced soothing, hypnotic effect. Notable improvements appear already in the first week of reception: sleep is normalized, and anxiety also disappears. Lerivon (Mianserin) does not have a negative effect on the cardiovascular system, moreover, due to the analgesic effect it can be used in the treatment of depression in patients with postinfarction cardiosclerosis, as well as coronary heart disease.

Indications for use: Treatment of various depressions, including endogenous and reactive (involuntary depression).

Contraindications: Minor age, hypersensitivity to the drug and its components, acute stage of myocardial infarction, manic syndrome, pregnancy and breastfeeding, serious impairment of liver function.

Dosage and administration: Lerivon is taken orally, with water, without chewing. It is advisable to take the drug at night, given its sedative effect. The daily dose can be divided into several receptions (a single evening reception is still preferable).

The dose is selected individually, based on the age, the features of the course of the disease, as well as the response to taking the drug.
It is recommended to start with 30-40 mg / day (elderly patients are not recommended to exceed the initial dose of 30 mg / day), the effective dose is 30-90 mg / day (the optimal average dosage is 60 mg / day). In the event that the desired clinical effect was not achieved within 2-4 weeks, the dose may be increased to 90-150 mg / day.

Once the onset of improvement is monitored, it is necessary to begin a gradual decrease in the amount of the drug to the minimum maintenance dose.
To fix the achieved improvement, it is recommended to continue taking mianserin for at least 4 months (best six months). If after the next 2-4 weeks, the therapeutic effect does not occur, you must abandon the drug. Termination of mianserin administration rarely provokes withdrawal syndrome.

Side effects: The most common side effects are: drowsiness, orthostatic hypotension, hypomania, exanthema, skin allergic rashes.

Storage conditions: Keep away from children, in a dry, dark place (temperature - no higher than 25 ° C).

Terms of selling from pharmacies: Lerivon (Mianserin) is released on prescription.

Antidepressants: take or not?

This question is now almost rhetorical. And all because the modern rhythm of life, constant stress, lack of time for a loved one is guaranteed by a constant high level of anxiety, sleep disturbance, nervous breakdowns without a reason and other "delights".

Why?

There is an opinion in the society that people are coming to specialists for treatment, especially if it concerns delicate problems. Depressions, neuroses, and emotional stresses are also among the delicacies. Not wishing to become a target for gossip, many ladies go to the pharmacy for an antidepressant, bypassing a psychologist, neuropathologist and other specialists.

It turns out that all or almost all herbal preparations, defined as antidepressants, can be found in the ordinary pharmacy, which is near the house. The situation is different with their synthetic counterparts: such preparations can not be sold without a doctor's prescription.

Soothing or antidepressant?
Interest in drugs, called antidepressants, strongly warms up advertising, which promises the necessary effect, the absence of contraindications and accessibility for every layman. However, not everyone understands the difference between conventional sedatives and antidepressants proper. Let's try to figure it out.

Soothing drugs are called such biologically active additives and drugs, the action of which is based on the usual relaxation of muscles and calming nerves. Antidepressants also normalize the production in the body of those essential substances that can improve mood. The development of certain substances in depression, for example, serotonin, is reduced, and without normalization of its level, normal brain work is impossible.

St. John's Wort, which is known to everyone, it turns out, is not only a "booster" of pressure, but also an antidepressant. Some sedative preparations on the plant basis of the current generation also have some antidepressant properties, despite a greater soothing effect. Therefore, for home use, such drugs are quite appropriate. But synthetic drugs are needed to treat more severe disorders, for example, at a high level of depression, when simple sedatives are ineffective. That is why it is important to distinguish antidepressants and their properties from conventional sedatives.

Harm or benefit?
Undoubtedly, the effect of antidepressants on the human body takes place. However, the therapeutic effect does not stop only at the level of the human psyche. There is an opinion that where the treatment ends, addiction begins. This is so, but only if the dosage and regimen are not met.

The current stereotype "taking antidepressants indicates weakness" is currently rejected. At least, doctors. After all, depression is like a sore that requires treatment (you should agree that it is foolish to blame a patient for hypertension in wanting to reduce the aggravation or desire of a patient with polyarthritis to relieve pain). So in the case of depression.

Of course, not always and not all drugs can cure depression itself, but their action is based, rather, on the removal of painful feelings of the soul. Moreover, antidepressants are prescribed in combination with other methods of treatment. Eliminating depression, drugs give a sense of confidence and stability - that's why such drugs, if they are prescribed by a doctor, should be taken because they can really help to cope with the manifestations of the disease, and modern medical technologies exclude the moment of habituation.

What is being treated?
Currently, there are many antidepressants (Xanax, Phenazepam), but on the positive side only a few dozen drugs have proven themselves. In this case, each antidepressant is different from its counterpart and the effectiveness of the impact, and side effects and a number of other indicators. But the common property of all drugs of this kind is based on the object of treatment. Antidepressants have a direct effect on depression and its manifestations: chronic headache, tension, musculoskeletal pain, migraine attacks, etc.

Of course, in addition to depression, such medications are treated with anxiety disorders and vegetative dysfunctions, manifested by attacks of fear and panic, obsessive thoughts and actions, states of constant internal tension and an increased level of anxiety. Often in combination with psychotherapy.

The choice of the drug, dosage and duration of treatment is determined only by the doctor on the basis of anamnesis and an analysis of the degree of depression in each particular patient. Only a specialist can analyze the causes of the disease, the presence of concomitant somatic diseases.

Mechanism of action
When the balance of the state of mind is broken, the symptoms do not make you wait long: sleep deterioration, loss of appetite, loss of strength, the inability to concentrate for long on something other than your pain and experience, chronic pain is not a complete list of symptoms of depression. The mechanism of action of antidepressant drugs is simple: the active substance adjusts to the cyclical nature of the manifestations of disorders, improves and controls the balance of chemicals, and therefore the thoughts, behaviors, physical signs characteristic of depression are under constant management.

Antidepressants eliminate pain and fatigue, normalize sleep and energy. Agree that in a more or less normal state, when a person feels rested, it is easier to struggle with daily problems, which means that one can easily and without interference be carried away by something interesting, to plan the future from a positive angle, and this is the essence of treating depression.

Result from application
Far from always the effect is immediately apparent. Some improvement, of course, is noticeable already from the first days of treatment, but certainly a good therapeutic result is felt by the patient only after some time from the moment of application. In this case, doctors approach each case individually, advise taking the drug from 2 months to 6 months, because only a sufficiently long reception will provide the maximum effect, and the deterioration of the condition does not occur immediately after discontinuation of treatment. At the same time, the mode of taking medications becomes important.

In order for the patient to take antidepressants on a regular basis, it is important for the doctor to explain why this is necessary. In addition, the treatment takes into account the effects of the drug: to normalize sleep, the drug with a soothing effect is prescribed overnight. To reduce drowsiness during the day, another drug is chosen that increases the efficiency and activity that must be taken in the morning.

Restrictions
As in any treatment, antidepressant therapy has its own nuances. First, the intake of medications should be strictly according to the scheme determined by the treating doctor. Secondly, it is worth remembering that some antidepressants can adversely affect the feelings and manifestation of libido, and therefore the other half should be warned about taking such medicines to avoid misunderstandings. Thirdly, if a couple is going to have a baby, then it's worth remembering that the optimal time for taking antidepressants is about six months, and therefore you do not need to plan for conception for this period.

Depression is a disorder characterized by a depressed mood with a negative, pessimistic assessment of yourself and your situation in the present, past and future. Proved is the fact that depression increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases of the heart and brain (heart attack, stroke) regardless of age. To understand what to drink: antidepressants or soothing - only a specialist will help. But on the very rhetorical question that is given in the title, the answer should be positive. Because it is better to lower your painful sensations, than to splash out them on associates. Positive attitude to you!

Third stage of alcoholism

Duration 5-10 years.

All manifestations of the third stage - pathological attraction to alcohol, loss of quantitative control, withdrawal syndrome, alcoholic amnesia - undergo further development and are manifested in the form of the most severe clinical variants.

Intensive attraction is also manifested in the loss of situational control (there is no criticism of the place, circumstances, the company of drinking companions), which is facilitated by the loss of intellectual abilities that has come.

The main sign of the transition of alcoholism to the third stage is a decrease in tolerance to alcohol, the patient gets drunk from smaller, than usual, doses of alcohol. Activating effects of alcoholic beverages are reduced, they only moderately level the tone, almost every alcoholic intoxication ends with amnesia.

Physical dependence and irresistible attraction determine the life of the patient; The lack of quantitative control in combination with decreased tolerability often leads to fatal overdoses.