Tag: drug addiction

NAD Therapy

NAD therapy is touted as a cure-all for addiction and several chronic diseases. Evidence supporting these claims is lacking.

/ December 9, 2021

Caffeine Withdrawal Headaches

Caffeine is not addictive. Regular users of caffeine can develop tolerance and mild physical dependence, and sudden withdrawal can cause headaches and other symptoms (but only in half the population). This is does not qualify as addiction.

/ February 5, 2019

Just How Addictive Are Opioids?

There is an opioid epidemic, with increasing overdose deaths from both prescription drugs and illegal drugs. Just how addictive are opioids? It appears they are safe when used appropriately, but there is a high risk of abuse, and they are deadly when misused, especially OxyContin.

/ January 22, 2019

The Ethics of Involuntary Pediatric Drug Testing

Although it may seem like a good idea, testing for recreational drug use on an adolescent patient without consent is ethically questionable, challenging to interpret, and unlikely to benefit patient or family.

/ June 16, 2017

Nada for NADA: “acudetox” not effective in addiction treatment

The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) teaches and promotes a standardized auricular acupuncture protocol, sometimes called “acudetox.” NADA claims acudetox encourages community wellness . . . for behavioral health, including addictions, mental health, and disaster & emotional trauma. I do not know what “community wellness” is or how one measures whether wellness has been successfully “encouraged.” In any event, in the NADA...

/ September 1, 2016

Anesthesia-Assisted Rapid Opioid Detox

Opioids are widely available as prescription drugs for pain: hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin), oxycodone (e.g., OxyContin, Percocet), morphine (e.g., Kadian, Avinza), and codeine. Heroin, which has no medically approved use, is also an opioid. Unfortunately, opioids are also widely abused. How enticing it is to imagine a magic bullet for opioid drug addiction. Addiction causes huge social problems. Yet it is hard to...

/ April 16, 2015

Legislative Alchemy III: Acupuncture

Acupuncture is typically depicted as sticking needles at various points on the body prescribed (inconsistently, it turns out) by charts indicating purported “meridians” through which “qi” flows in the human, or animal, body. However, from one of the many SBM posts on acupuncture, this one by Dr. Novella , we in fact know that: the consensus of the best clinical studies on...

/ October 6, 2011

Halsted: The Father of Science-Based Surgery

One (dark and stormy?) night in 1882, a critically ill 70 year old woman was at the verge of death at her daughter’s home, suffering from fever, crippling pain, nausea, and an inflamed abdominal mass. At 2 AM, a courageous surgeon put her on the kitchen table and performed the first known operation to remove gallstones. The patient recovered uneventfully. The patient...

/ March 9, 2010