jeanjauthor:

qweerhet:

toadbutch:

smoldragonborn:

“we need to stop the stigma towards drug users and addicts” and “we need to challenge the idea that being sober makes you boring” and “we need to stop acting like binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage is fun and normal for young people” are all ideas that can and should coexist.

just so we’re clear, the threshold for “binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage” is waaaay lower than you think.

I work in an obstetrician and gynaecologist’s office. we have to tell patients on a regular basis that they are binge drinking weekly when they think they are simply consuming a normal amount of alcohol on the weekends.

having more than 3 drinks in a single sitting if you have an estrogen based endocrine system is a binge that is medically significant.

having more than 5 in a sitting is a medically significant binge for someone with a testosterone based endocrine system.

every time you do this, it significantly impacts your risk of getting breast cancer, and damages your liver. it takes time to recover from that liver damage. if you’re having a 3-5 or more drink binge on a weekly basis, you are an alcoholic, medically speaking, and your liver is not recovering.

again: the bar for what binge drinking is, medically, is so much lower than what you think it is.

alcohol is a really toxic substance and not something you should fuck around with.

again: if you have an estrogenized hormone system (common for most women), then 3 drinks is a binge. if you have a testosteronized hormone system (common for most men), then 5 drinks is a binge.

anything above that number, consumed as frequently as weekly or more, and you’re medically a binge drinking alcoholic.

also, if you’re drinking any quantity of alcohol 6 days a week or more, that’s another threshold at which, medically speaking, you meet the definition of alcoholism. your liver needs more days without alcohol in your system than just one a week to recover and be healthy.

I don’t say any of this to shame anyone—to me, alcoholism or substance use disorders aren’t a sign of weakness or moral failing. and most of us genuinely don’t know this stuff.

rather—I point this out because it’s important to reduce harm, and find ways to live healthier, happier lives. there is a life outside of constant binge drinking. it’s not always easy to find it. but it’s out there. you deserve a life where your emotional needs are met by something other than alcohol, and a life in which your liver is healthy, and the ways you cope and celebrate and find joy don’t put you at increased risk of cancer.

also–even if alcohol is the only way you can self-medicate, or if you choose to go on with your alcohol usage anyway regardless of other options–you still deserve to know what it’s doing to your body.

information is key. you don’t have to stop drinking, but the utter lack of education on alcohol + the normalization of binge drinking in current society leads to many people drinking without any idea of what it’s doing to their bodies.

addicts deserve accurate medical information regardless of what they decide to do with it. for some people, losing liver function is worth the benefits they get from binge drinking, but they can’t make that choice if they don’t know what the consequences are to begin with.

addicts deserve accurate medical information regardless of what they decide to do with it.

charaah:

toadbutch:

smoldragonborn:

“we need to stop the stigma towards drug users and addicts” and “we need to challenge the idea that being sober makes you boring” and “we need to stop acting like binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage is fun and normal for young people” are all ideas that can and should coexist.

just so we’re clear, the threshold for “binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage” is waaaay lower than you think.

I work in an obstetrician and gynaecologist’s office. we have to tell patients on a regular basis that they are binge drinking weekly when they think they are simply consuming a normal amount of alcohol on the weekends.

having more than 3 drinks in a single sitting if you have an estrogen based endocrine system is a binge that is medically significant.

having more than 5 in a sitting is a medically significant binge for someone with a testosterone based endocrine system.

every time you do this, it significantly impacts your risk of getting breast cancer, and damages your liver. it takes time to recover from that liver damage. if you’re having a 3-5 or more drink binge on a weekly basis, you are an alcoholic, medically speaking, and your liver is not recovering.

again: the bar for what binge drinking is, medically, is so much lower than what you think it is.

alcohol is a really toxic substance and not something you should fuck around with.

again: if you have an estrogenized hormone system (common for most women), then 3 drinks is a binge. if you have a testosteronized hormone system (common for most men), then 5 drinks is a binge.

anything above that number, consumed as frequently as weekly or more, and you’re medically a binge drinking alcoholic.

also, if you’re drinking any quantity of alcohol 6 days a week or more, that’s another threshold at which, medically speaking, you meet the definition of alcoholism. your liver needs more days without alcohol in your system than just one a week to recover and be healthy.

I don’t say any of this to shame anyone—to me, alcoholism or substance use disorders aren’t a sign of weakness or moral failing. and most of us genuinely don’t know this stuff.

rather—I point this out because it’s important to reduce harm, and find ways to live healthier, happier lives. there is a life outside of constant binge drinking. it’s not always easy to find it. but it’s out there. you deserve a life where your emotional needs are met by something other than alcohol, and a life in which your liver is healthy, and the ways you cope and celebrate and find joy don’t put you at increased risk of cancer.

Some people might not even be drinking due to alcoholism, they might just be drinking what they think is a normal amount

Also, I think alcohol is so toxic that humans are one of the only animals that can process it

ahh.

so I think what we’re running into here is that there are two different models of what’s considered alcoholism or addiction. (one other person had this issue too here)

one is psychotherapeutic and one is biomedical.

under a biomedical model of addiction, one of two things determines diagnosis:

(a) meeting the threshold of consumption

(b) biochemical dependency

if someone meets one or both of these criteria, medically, they’re considered addicted. an emotional dependency on the substance is irrelevant.

so it doesn’t matter if someone isn’t emotionally dependent on alcohol, medically speaking, if they’re consuming at a binge drinking level, that’s medical alcoholism.

or if they have withdrawal symptoms when alcohol or another substance leaves their system, that’s medical addiction.

psychotherapeutically, addiction and alcoholism are determined by emotional dependence.

but emotional dependence isn’t necessary for the biomedical definition.

now this is where this is going to get hinky for some folks, but as an addict and a substance user, and someone working in harm reduction, and towards certification to work in psychotherapy—I don’t personally believe in the psychotherapeutic definition of addiction.

I think that it’s been used to pathologize people’s coping strategies for too long.

there are psychotherapists who claim you can be addicted to sex, to food, to sugar, and to video games.

and I think that’s absolute bullshit.

I see a lot of merit to the idea that people can have a physical, biochemical dependency on substances.

but pathologizing coping mechanisms doesn’t strike me as helpful or medically or therapeutically necessary or relevant.

maybe this is just where I’m coming from as someone working from a trauma-informed framework, but I don’t think there’s anything pathological about the brain’s hardwired capacity to look for ways to cope when someone is in distress.

I think the psychotherapeutic model of addiction does way more harm than it heals.

qwertybard:

toadbutch:

smoldragonborn:

“we need to stop the stigma towards drug users and addicts” and “we need to challenge the idea that being sober makes you boring” and “we need to stop acting like binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage is fun and normal for young people” are all ideas that can and should coexist.

just so we’re clear, the threshold for “binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage” is waaaay lower than you think.

I work in an obstetrician and gynaecologist’s office. we have to tell patients on a regular basis that they are binge drinking weekly when they think they are simply consuming a normal amount of alcohol on the weekends.

having more than 3 drinks in a single sitting if you have an estrogen based endocrine system is a binge that is medically significant.

having more than 5 in a sitting is a medically significant binge for someone with a testosterone based endocrine system.

every time you do this, it significantly impacts your risk of getting breast cancer, and damages your liver. it takes time to recover from that liver damage. if you’re having a 3-5 or more drink binge on a weekly basis, you are an alcoholic, medically speaking, and your liver is not recovering.

again: the bar for what binge drinking is, medically, is so much lower than what you think it is.

alcohol is a really toxic substance and not something you should fuck around with.

again: if you have an estrogenized hormone system (common for most women), then 3 drinks is a binge. if you have a testosteronized hormone system (common for most men), then 5 drinks is a binge.

anything above that number, consumed as frequently as weekly or more, and you’re medically a binge drinking alcoholic.

also, if you’re drinking any quantity of alcohol 6 days a week or more, that’s another threshold at which, medically speaking, you meet the definition of alcoholism. your liver needs more days without alcohol in your system than just one a week to recover and be healthy.

I don’t say any of this to shame anyone—to me, alcoholism or substance use disorders aren’t a sign of weakness or moral failing. and most of us genuinely don’t know this stuff.

rather—I point this out because it’s important to reduce harm, and find ways to live healthier, happier lives. there is a life outside of constant binge drinking. it’s not always easy to find it. but it’s out there. you deserve a life where your emotional needs are met by something other than alcohol, and a life in which your liver is healthy, and the ways you cope and celebrate and find joy don’t put you at increased risk of cancer.

Harm reduction means making the medical consequences of substance use clear & widely known, imo - not for scaremongering, but so that people can make informed decisions! It’s very very similar to harm reduction in sex ed. If you don’t know the possible outcomes of a thing you’re doing, you can’t give informed consent.

Teens who get good sex ed engage in healthier, less destructive sexual behavior. It’s different from abstinence-based education because it’s all about empowering people to make their own decisions and take only the risks they’re comfortable with.

I can’t help thinking applying that model to substance use of all types - from coffee and booze to cocaine and heroin - would result in similar outcomes, that is, less overall use and more responsible use when it happens. The US needs policy change to go along with that, but solid drug education would both inform people of the consequences of substance abuse AND destigmatize substance use.

yep!

I’m someone who has OD’ed on caffeine. that was a wild one to wake up in the hospital after—caffeine pills will really do a number on you. (especially when you’re using them to self-medicate for ADHD, lol, don’t do this)

and I’m a former cocaine user. people talk a lot of shit about weed being a gateway drug, but caffeine was my gateway drug—I was safer using cocaine, ironically, than I ever was using caffeine (aside from the fact that I live in a city with a horrifically fentanyl and remifentanil tainted supply)

I’m a big believer in knowing what any drug does to your body before you use it.

It’s about informed consent, and also about the fact that we know scaremongering tactics, in which the impacts of drugs are overblown or exaggerated, (like those used in the DARE program, and many other police run programs), ultimately don’t reduce drug use.

I’m also a big believer in full legalization and a regulated, safe supply.

because no substance user should ever have to question whether what they’re using is going to put their life at risk for reasons unrelated to the drug itself.

there is absolutely no shame, ever, in substance use, in my mind.

but there is shame in a society that doesn’t empower and educate substance users to make the best choices available to them.

and there is shame in a society that doesn’t do it’s best to reduce harm by legalizing drugs, maintaining a safe supply, and supporting substance users who want to end the cycle of substance use through adequate health care infrastructure.

slankyh:

toadbutch:

smoldragonborn:

“we need to stop the stigma towards drug users and addicts” and “we need to challenge the idea that being sober makes you boring” and “we need to stop acting like binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage is fun and normal for young people” are all ideas that can and should coexist.

just so we’re clear, the threshold for “binge drinking to the extent you’re doing medical damage” is waaaay lower than you think.

I work in an obstetrician and gynaecologist’s office. we have to tell patients on a regular basis that they are binge drinking weekly when they think they are simply consuming a normal amount of alcohol on the weekends.

having more than 3 drinks in a single sitting if you have an estrogen based endocrine system is a binge that is medically significant.

having more than 5 in a sitting is a medically significant binge for someone with a testosterone based endocrine system.

every time you do this, it significantly impacts your risk of getting breast cancer, and damages your liver. it takes time to recover from that liver damage. if you’re having a 3-5 or more drink binge on a weekly basis, you are an alcoholic, medically speaking, and your liver is not recovering.

again: the bar for what binge drinking is, medically, is so much lower than what you think it is.

alcohol is a really toxic substance and not something you should fuck around with.

again: if you have an estrogenized hormone system (common for most women), then 3 drinks is a binge. if you have a testosteronized hormone system (common for most men), then 5 drinks is a binge.

anything above that number, consumed as frequently as weekly or more, and you’re medically a binge drinking alcoholic.

also, if you’re drinking any quantity of alcohol 6 days a week or more, that’s another threshold at which, medically speaking, you meet the definition of alcoholism. your liver needs more days without alcohol in your system than just one a week to recover and be healthy.

I don’t say any of this to shame anyone—to me, alcoholism or substance use disorders aren’t a sign of weakness or moral failing. and most of us genuinely don’t know this stuff.

rather—I point this out because it’s important to reduce harm, and find ways to live healthier, happier lives. there is a life outside of constant binge drinking. it’s not always easy to find it. but it’s out there. you deserve a life where your emotional needs are met by something other than alcohol, and a life in which your liver is healthy, and the ways you cope and celebrate and find joy don’t put you at increased risk of cancer.

How much alcohol content is a “drink” exactly? For example, how many bottles of beer will medically be considered a binge? How many shots of vodka?

ahh, this is a good question.

but first I just want to clarify, I actually made a mistake.

(classic, I know what the guidelines are for women and people with estrogen-based hormone systems because I mostly work with those populations).

recommended safe drinking in a single sitting for people with estrogen based hormone systems is 2 drinks, with regular consumption of 3 drinks being considered binge drinking (this was accurate in my original reblog).

recommended safe drinking in a single sitting for people with testosterone based hormone systems is actually 3 drinks—not 4. regularly consuming 4 drinks is considered binge drinking. (sorry y’all).

one more drink is reasonable on special occasions (a few times per year), but not reasonable on a regular basis (monthly, or weekly).

also: it’s recommended that the first group not exceed 10 drinks per week, and that the second not exceed 15 drinks per week.

Health Canada considers “one drink” to be:

• 43 mL (1.5 fl oz) of 40% hard liquor (like vodka, gin, rye, whiskey, rum, etc)
• 142 mL (5 fl oz) of 12% wine
• 341 mL (12 fl oz) of 5% beer or cider

it’s worth noting that the percentages on certain alcohols might not match up to these percentages perfectly—but in particular, watch out for double IPAs or other beers that have twice the alcohol content of other beers, ciders with abnormally high alcohol content, and some mixed drinks which contain multiple shots of different liquors, or bartenders with a heavy pour.

here’s a link to some information about this from HealthLink BC, (note that it doesn’t use trans inclusive language! sorry): https://www.healthlinkbc.ca/health-topics/abj7553

also remember: even if you are consuming alcohol above these numbers, there is never any shame in substance use. we all cope in different ways.

harm reduction doesn’t necessarily look like quitting cold turkey—sometimes it starts with one less drink today, and another drink less tomorrow.

whatever your journey to health looks like, I fully support you doing what it takes to survive.

Low-Risk Drinking Guidelines

weaponizedhorse:

toadbutch:

Heating pad/ Chronic pain PSA

Heating pads can burn you.

They can burn you quite badly.

I saw a post the here other day that asked how to “get rid of heating pad marks.”

Folks. If you have “heating pad marks” those are burns. And they can become much, much worse if you continue to use a heating pad on the same area of your body.

I know most folks with chronic pain scoff when we read the warnings on a heating pad. “Don’t lie on this pad.” Yeah. Sure. Lying on it is exactly the main thing you’ll be doing.

But please. Please always have a layer of protective fabric between the pad and your skin. Never, ever use a pad directly on your bare skin.

Never fall asleep on a heating pad. I know it’s easy to do, but you’re much more at risk for getting a bad burn when you’re asleep.

And never combine use of a heating pad with a topical analgesic (like Icy Hot, A535, Tiger Balm, Voltaren, Lakota creams or roll ons, essential oils or any other topical pain reliever) the oils and plant compounds in these products will accelerate burns. Do not apply anything to your skin and then use a heating pad.

And if you burn your skin, take a break from using the heating pad. I know that’s hard because many of us rely so heavily on them for pain management.

But you can permanently damage your skin by repeatedly burning it and dramatically increase your risk of cancer by doing so.

Be careful.

Please reblog this for the chronically ill folks in your life/ who follow you who use a heating pad

It’s call hot water bottle rash or Erythema ab igne. It’s not actually a burn. It changes your pigmentation (or gives you spider viens or redness) that’s why your skin looks different, it’s hyperpigmentation, but its not a burn. Here is a .org website talking about it. Cancer from hot water bottle rash is rare but as always consult your doctor.

So if you read the notes, you’ll see that I’ve both discussed this condition and the fact that you can get both it AND actual burns from heating pads.

Many people have both, and while Erythema ab igne is more common among long-term users, anyone who uses a heating pad long-term likely also (a) has started to use it at increasingly higher temperatures and (b) likely is more lax about safety than an irregular user, due to familiarity with the device.

One of the issues with Erythema ab igne is that it both makes people more susceptible to actual burns in that region, and also makes the affected area less sensitive to burning pain. It isn’t only a change in pigmentation—it’s an indication that the tissues have changed as well.

This means that if someone allows the condition to persist or exacerbates it by continuing to apply heat to the affected area, they’re more likely to wind up with an acute burn.

But also, many people will burn themselves repeatedly and never have Erythema ab igne at all. A series of mild burns will change the appearance of the skin as well— Erythema ab igne looks very distinctive, and if someone has it, it’s easy enough to know. The markings are not ambiguous.

But any other red markings are often the result of long term low-grade burning in the area.

People can also get second degree burns from heating pad misuse (most common when sleeping on a pad), or more serious burns if the pad malfunctions significantly in some way.

Instead of doubling down on War on Drugs policies that aren’t working (and might even be making the problem worse), policymakers should instead embrace harm reduction strategies…

The U.S. government’s current strategy of trying to restrict the supply of opioids for nonmedical uses is not working. While government efforts to reduce the supply of opioids for nonmedical use have reduced the volume of both legally manufactured prescription opioids and opioid prescriptions, deaths from opioid overdoses are nevertheless accelerating. Research shows the increase is due in part to substitution of illegal heroin for now harder-to-get prescription opioids. Attempting to reduce overdose deaths by doubling down on this approach will not produce better results.

Policymakers can reduce overdose deaths and other harms stemming from nonmedical use of opioids and other dangerous drugs by switching to a policy of “harm reduction” strategies. Harm reduction has a success record that prohibition cannot match. It involves a range of public health options. These strategies would include medication-assisted treatment, needle-exchange programs, safe injection sites, heroin-assisted treatment, deregulation of naloxone, and the decriminalization of marijuana.

Though critics have dismissed these strategies as surrendering to addiction, jurisdictions that have attempted them have found that harm reduction strategies significantly reduce overdose deaths, the spread of infectious diseases, and even the nonmedical use of dangerous drugs.

Learn more…

Can We Please Stop Describing Sober People as ‘Clean’?

ForHealthline

When I was newly sober, I told a friend (who lived across the country and admittedly hadn’t seen the worst of my drinking) that I was no longer drinking alcohol. 

“Yeah, but you can still have a glass of wine every now and then, right?” she replied. “It’s not like you’re an addict.”

After a little more discussion, it became clear that her conception of an “addict” was not someone…

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tbh im kinda hoping that Democratic Party Uselessness can keep them from doing much on Gun Control, and like, we need to absolutely press hard to people that, the way things are going, firearms are going to be very good things to own even moreso than they already are. 

a lot of the major gun groups, like the NRA, are awful and tied irrevocably to the Republican Party. but what I’ve found more problematic with looking into the ones that actually DO good work regarding gun policies, advocate for uncompromising and genuinely-held positions, are often libertarian or “anarchist” in a fashion where the views of those associated are either intentionally hostile toward anyone they perceive as leftist, not to mention how many are interested in a very edgy kind of “fascist kitsch” with stuff from Rhodesian Camo to t-shirts with Arkan’s tigers on them. Even relating to the AK and Eastern Bloc weapons, the most “left” you’ll get is the occasional NazBol

now there ARE organizations that offer training to people who dont fit the usual Fudd mold of gun culture, and I have at least some hope that the hypebeast/internet irony/rap-influenced culture a lot of younger gun owners have grown up with will help them move toward making this a larger shift in culture, but im not gonna hold my breath

while I raised objections before to what I see regarding certain groups like Distributed Defense (who, regardless of politics, are an absolutely essential group for the assets they provide) and their politics, there is an admirability in how they look at situations where what they want to do is illegal, and do it anyway, and advocate for it to be made legal. this is incredibly similar to the harm reduction groups I know and admire: reaching out to people doing things illegally and providing ways to make it safer, better, to try and make it so that they can live lives not hampered by prohibition. illegal drugs or illegal guns, both have their place in my eyes right now given what we are limited to

and ive seen discussion of this by other leftists who DO know about guns and how it means that you need to be able to learn, and moreover learn in a way that will let you offer that training to others who do not feel safe going in and being trained by more conventional groups, hosting smaller group training for these people, letting them get what they need to get legally armed. 

and again, when it comes to a lot of things, “solvent trap” suppressors being sold openly is an absolutely fucking great thing, one I hope to see increase. the way that “pistol uppers” are sold on their own and owning a pistol lower can help you avoid constructive intent charges to some degree is great. memes about drilling the third hole and illegal SBRs are great. memes about cops and atf and dea agents getting wasted are great. 

and we may need to come together over those sooner rather than later