Day: 02/22/2015

Hacker Extorts Bitcoin Ransom From Illinois Police Department

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/22/illinois-police-hacker_n_6730344.html

MIDLOTHIAN, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago police department paid a hacker a $500 ransom to restore access to data on a police computer that the hacker had disabled through the use of an increasingly popular type of virus...

Dreams, Pain, Suicide and Bud

The Role of Dreams in Our Lives

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/dreams-and-sleep_b_6680490.html

Research has found that among patients with Major Depressive Disorder, the presence of frequent nightmares is associated with suicidal tendencies…

There’s evidence that one type of drug commonly used to treat depression may alter dreaming. SSRI — selective serotonin uptake inhibitors — appear to affect dreaming in several ways. SSRI may decrease dream recall — the ability to remember dreams. This type of drug may intensify dreaming. SSRI may lead to the presence of more positive emotions in dreams. Withdrawal from SSRI, on the other hand, may lead to nightmares and may also intensify dreaming.

Drugs and alcohol also can affect dreaming. Alcohol disrupts the normal, healthy sleep cycle and leads to fragmented sleep. Consuming alcohol heavily and too close to bedtime may alter and diminish time spent in REM sleep. Studies show that alcohol dependency is linked to dreams with more negative emotional content. Marijuana also disrupts and reduces REM sleep. Withdrawal from marijuana and cocaine have been shown in studies to induce strange dreams…

Funny, I had the opposite effect when I consumed cannabis — the drug actually increased REM sleep, including dreams.  And when I stopped having access to cannabis, I had very few withdrawal symptoms; and they only lasted for a day or two.  Compared to detoxing from prescription medications, it was a cake walk.

Insomnia can heighten dream recall and also lead to more stressful and disturbing dreams…

Okay, I’m not reading any further, this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about…

http://forum.nmcannabisreview.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=234

Re: Effects of Discontinuing the Use of Cannabis

by Painkills2 » Mon Jun 16, 2014 6:26 pm

What happens when patients can’t renew, and must discontinue their pain medication?

1. Increased anger and frustration, along with a decreased ability to handle these strong emotions
2. No change in sleep patterns [because I don’t really have sleep patterns]
3. Loss of patience [but not much to begin with]
4. Smoking (cigarettes) like a chimney [major bummer]
5. Loss of interest in healthy foods
6. Some increased sadness and anxiety
7. Easier to retain short-term memory, but harder to think
8. And, of course, increased pain levels, with no adequate way to manage them

(I am not too proud to beg for mercy. And maybe some compassion.)

by Painkills2 » Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:10 pm

I’m not sure doctors understand how easy it is for suicidal thoughts to creep into the mind of a chronic pain patient…

You’ve got patients who have suffered from chronic pain for months or years, and are still searching for that magic pill. They’re frustrated, they’re tired, and they are suffering from unmanaged pain. If they’re still able to work, their job performance and attendance is suffering, along with their personal relationships. They are having to make an incredible effort just to appear normal, to do the things they normally do, and to hold out hope that things will get better.

You’ve got chronic pain patients with high expectations of the medical industry, still able to access adequate treatment, and still holding out for some kind of miracle treatment or cure. Their hope is based mainly in their opinion that this miracle cure will come with a price tag they can afford, but pain and fear are still constant companions.

You’ve got intractable pain patients who have been around the block, know the score, and have reached a level of acceptance — that the pain will always be around, and will only get worse. They’ve seen the criminalization of pain patients, and the DEA’s power grow and grow. They know that past is prologue, so there’s not much hope left that the medical industry will overcome the existing and ever-growing prejudice against pain patients (not that many doctors are really trying).

Does acceptance have to mean a loss of hope? I don’t know, you tell me.

All this to get to the point of how much cannabis helps to keep those suicidal thoughts at bay for all patients who are suffering, both physically and mentally. It can get to be a constant struggle to steer your thoughts away from the negative, and cannabis — more so than any other drug — provides an amazing assist.

Thank you, Mother Nature, for creating this plant, and thanks to all the growers who work so hard to create this miraculous medicine for patients.

“Promise me you’ll never wear a pink ribbon in my name…”

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-becklund-breast-cancer-komen-20150222-story.html#page=1

I’m proof that early detection doesn’t cure cancer. I had more than 20 mammograms, and none of them caught my disease. In fact, we now have significant studies showing that routine mammogram screening, which may result in misdiagnoses, unnecessary treatment and radiation overexposure, can harm more people than it helps…

The medical establishment tells me I have “failed” a number of therapies. That’s not right: The establishment and its therapies have failed me…

We are each, in effect, one-person clinical trials. Yet the knowledge generated from those trials will die with us because there is no comprehensive database of metastatic breast cancer patients, their characteristics and what treatments did and didn’t help them…

The most powerful organization in the breast cancer universe, Susan G. Komen, has raised $2.5 billion over the last 20 years, much more than many corporations will ever earn… Most of that money continues to go to a breast cancer “awareness” campaign that is now painfully out of date…

We must create a new system of data collection and an open, online, broad-range database about patient histories that will provide information invaluable to those who’ve been given a death sentence. Patients as well as doctors must contribute…

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/22/breast-cancer-awareness-ribbons.aspx

I Will Not Be Pinkwashed: Komen’s Race is for Money, Not the Cure

Five Times National Heroin Use And They Are Worried About Fentanyl?

Five times national Heroin use and they are worried about Fentanyl ?

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/233544-Fentanyl-vs-Heroin

Abraxus said:  Fentanyl is an incredible high, as it is much more potent than heroin. The problem lies with its duration of action. Fentanyl does not last long at all. As such, when one develops a tolerance to it, they need to redose constantly to avoid severe withdrawals. The shorter the action, the more intense the withdrawals are, but they don’t last as long…  Also, unless you have a very high tolerance, DO NOT FUCK WITH FENTANYL. It is active in the microgram levels and therefore is extremely dangerous to someone without a large tolerance. A couple of milligrams can easily kill a non-tolerant user. Also, if you have pure fentanyl, it’s extrodinarily difficult to get an accurate dose therefore creating a large danger of overdose. If you manage to not kill yourself and develop a bad fentanyl; habit, congratulations, you have King Motherfucking Kong of a monkey on your back. As far as price, H is ridiculously cheaper especially considering the fact that you’ll need to redose on fentanyl every 2 hours to stay well, unlike H that lasts at least 6.

https://drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64023
Psych0nautPlat

Join Date: 27-02-2006, Male from Netherlands, Posts: 2,285
Re: fentanyl compared to morphine and mcg to mg
For an opioid naive person, 100mcg of Fentanyl IV is certainly a strong dose. And SWIY is right, 100mcg of Fentanyl IV is equal to 10mg Morphine IV. The standardardised IV doses of opioids for severe pain are; Morphine(10mg), Fentanyl(100mcg), Diamorphine(5mg), Oxycodone(5mg), Hydromorphone(2mg), Oxymorphone(1mg), Pethidine(100mg), Buphrenorphine(600mcg).

That’s because Fentanyl is never taken orally, for medical use it’s taken either intravenous, transdermal(through the skin, with patches) or buccal(through the mouth lining). Fentanyl has a low oral bioavailability, and should be taken through other routes than orally, if possible. Patches for example, can be taken sublingually(under one’s tongue), which has a much higher bioavailability than oral intake.

Heroin is twice as potent as Morphine, but simmilar in potency to Oxycodone…

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Addiction-Substance-Abuse/Similarity-of-fentanyl-Duragesic-to-heroin–/show/44471

mrmichael67 said (Jun 11, 2003):  …I felt like withdrawal was a bit more nasty from the fentanyl. But, that could also have been my elevated tolerance causing it. I am not really sure on that one. I do know many doctors drop their patients off after the 25ug/hr patch and their patients get sick as hell. A 25ug/hr patch is equal to between 7-8 10mg Norco a day. There are people that are taking that much Norco a day and want to start tapering. The 25ug/hr patch may be the lowest strength made, but it sure as hell isn’t the end of the road as far as tapering goes. I think that is where people get into trouble with it. “It’s the lowest strength, so where else is there to go?” Well, many doctors try to get by with that thinking. And, many people suffer because of that.

One more thing: Once it is metabolized, heroin is, for all purposes, morphine. That is why I used morphine in my last post. If one were to do a urinalysis, heroin is only detectable as heroin for six hours after ingestion. There is one short living metabolite from heroin that is detectable for up to six hours. After that, the person will test positive for morphine. In the first six hours, the person will test positive for morphine as well, but further investigation will reveal the heroin. After six hours, it will only show morphine.

You have to wonder how the DEA has determined there is a heroin epidemic if lab tests, to be accurate, have to be taken within a certain amount of time.

Psychiatric Issues in Multiple Sclerosis (2007)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2706287/

The most compelling reason to investigate psychiatric disorders among persons with MS is that reported rates of completed suicide in MS populations are high [6], and psychiatric disorders appear to be the major risk factor for suicidality [7]…

The majority (75%) of cases of neuropsychiatric side effects from corticosteroids fit an affective profile, of mania and/or depression…

Numerous case reports have documented an association between bipolar disorder and MS…

Alcohol and illicit drug use may be more problematic in people with MS than in the general population, potentially causing further neurologic damage to an already compromised central nervous system, or leading to dangerous interactions with prescription medications. Heavy alcohol use can magnify the subtle cognitive impairment associated with MS [73], and has been shown to cause persistent cognitive impairment, even in persons who do not meet the criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence…

Cannabis. Cannabinoids have been purported to alleviate a variety of MS-related symptoms including spasticity, pain, tremor and bladder dysfunction [86], but clinical trials of cannabinoids in MS have not consistently demonstrated beneficial effects. A large randomized controlled trial (n=660) compared the effects of oral cannabis extracts with pure oral THC and placebo on spasticity. The study found no differences with respect to spasticity, but did note significant subjective improvements in pain and sleep..

90% of the subjects who started using cannabis after MS diagnosis reported that they started using it because of MS symptoms, most commonly for pain and spasms. The majority of patients using it for these symptoms reported benefit. Seventy-one percent of individuals who had never used cannabis stated that they would try the drug if it were legal or available by prescription…

Although psychiatric conditions are highly prevalent among individuals living with MS, many persons with MS do not exhibit clinically significant levels of depression, anxiety, or other serious mental illness. The ability to maintain psychological well being and functioning in the face of adversity, such as loss, trauma, and serious medical illness is often referred to as resilience…

Gotta get me some of that 🙂