Tag: News

Simon Pegg Details Alcoholism, Depression Battle: It Was Terrible, It Owned Me

“It’s like you have grown a second head and all it wants to do is destroy itself, and it puts that ahead of everything else—your marriage, children, your job.”

Now feeling secure in his recovery, British actor Simon Pegg is discussing the years he spent hiding his drinking problem and depression from his family and friends.

“One thing [addiction] does is make you clever at not giving anything away. People think junkies and alcoholics are slovenly, unmotivated people. They’re not—they are incredibly organized. They can nip out for a quick shot of whisky and you wouldn’t know they have gone. It’s as if… you are micro-managed by it,” he told the Guardian, while promoting his new film Mission: Impossible: Fallout.

But one can only hide it for so long, he cautioned. “Eventually the signs are too obvious. You have taken the dog for one too many walks,” he said.

Pegg’s secret battle with alcoholism and depression—“It was awful, terrible. It owned me.”—was even hidden from his best friend and collaborator Nick Frost. The two have starred in many films together, including Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead.

The actor, now 48, says he’s felt depressed since he was 18. He drank to self-medicate. “It’s like you have grown a second head and all it wants to do is destroy itself, and it puts that ahead of everything else—your marriage, children, your job,” he said.

The worst of it—the “crisis years”—began during filming of Mission: Impossible III (2006).

Even the birth of his daughter Matilda was not the turning point he’d hoped it would be. “It was the most cosmic experience of my life. I thought it would fix things and it just didn’t. Because it can’t,” he said. “Nothing can, other than a dedicated approach, whether that’s therapy or medication, or whatever.”

That dedicated approach came a year later, when his drinking came to a head during a 2011 Comic-Con convention in San Diego. “I sort of went missing for about four days. I got back to the UK and just checked myself in somewhere,” he said in a June interview.

At rehab, Pegg seized the opportunity to get well. “I got into it. I got into the reasons I was feeling that way. I went into AA for a while, too. I don’t think I would be here now if I hadn’t had help,” he told the Guardian.

Now that he’s come out on the other side, he’s more comfortable discussing the times that he struggled.

“I’m not ashamed of what happened. And I think if anyone finds any relationship to it, then it might motivate them to get well,” he said. “But I am not proud of it either—I don’t think it’s cool, like I was Mr. Rock ’n’ Roll, blackout and all that shit. It wasn’t, it was just terrible.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 July 2018
Does Teen Drinking Affect Metabolism?

A recent study examined how underage drinking affected the metabolism of teens ages 13 to 17.

In addition to it being illegal, underage drinkers now have another reason to refrain from drinking alcohol, as a recent study has determined that teenage alcohol use can negatively impact metabolism.

The study was based on a previous study done by the same team of researchers at the University of Eastern Finland, which found that drinking may decrease gray matter volume in teenagers’ brains. Researchers believe the decrease in gray matter and negative impact on metabolism may be connected.

“Despite [the participants’] alcohol use being ‘normal,’ their metabonomic profile and brain gray matter volumes differed from those in the light-drinking participant group,” Noora Heikkinen, a researcher from the University of Eastern Finland’s Institute of Clinical Medicine, told Newsweek.

The recent study was published in the journal Alcohol and was a followup to a study in which data was collected on teens between the ages of 13 and 17 in eastern Finland.

The original data was collected between 2004 and 2005. At that time, the teens completed questionnaires about their hobbies, family life, lifestyle and substance use.

Additionally, they took a test created by the World Health Organization which is designed to identify alcohol use disorders. Some of the questions had to do with how much alcohol they drank on a typical day of drinking and how often they consumed more than six drinks at a time.

For the recent study, which was done between 2013 and 2015, researchers recruited 40 moderate-to-heavy drinkers and 40 light drinkers. The light drinkers had scored a maximum of two on the World Health Organization test, which meant they drank two to four times monthly.

Moderate-to-heavy drinkers were those who had a score of four or more for males, or three or more for females. This meant drinking two to three or four or more times weekly.

With those participants, researchers measured metabolism and the volume of gray matter in the brain.

In doing so, researchers found that the moderate-to-heavy drinkers had undergone changes in their amino acids and how their energy was processed, when compared to the lighter drinkers. In heavy drinkers, there was also an increase in 1-methylhistamine levels, a substance connected to the amount of gray matter in the brain.

Heikkinen tells Newsweek that based on the findings, researchers believe histamine production rises in the brains of adolescents who drink heavily.

“This observation can help in the development of methods that make it possible to detect adverse effects caused by alcohol at a very early stage,” she said. “Possibly, it could also contribute to the development of new treatments to mitigate these adverse effects.”

Heikkinen also added that some of the damage may be reversible if drinking is cut back.

“There is evidence that at least some of the changes are reversible if the heavy drinking is discontinued,” she told Newsweek. “Therefore all hope is not lost for those who have had their share of parties and binge drinking in the twenties. However, if the heavy drinking is continued for decades, there is a real chance that irreversible brain atrophy will result.”

View the original article at thefix.com

12 July 2018
Chronic Pain Patients Feel The Effects Of Arizona Opioid Legislation

“They told me because of the new law they had to cut me back. It just hurts, I don’t want to walk, I don’t want to… pretty much don’t want to do anything,” said one pain patient.

New bipartisan legislation curbing the pharmaceutical use of opioids in Arizona has been put into action. In January, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed the Arizona Opioid Epidemic Act, calling it “vital to combat an epidemic felt statewide and across the nation,” according to Reuters.

However, some chronic pain patients in Arizona are already feeling harmful effects as the law is put into place. NPR reported that although the act was not written around the issues of chronic pain patients, it negatively impacts them, as doctors who are worried about legal trouble curb their patients’ access to the pain-relieving drugs.

Governor Ducey’s administration had stated that the law would “maintain access for chronic pain sufferers and others who rely on these drugs.”

This is mostly true: restrictions are written to apply to new patients only. Some were exempted, such as cancer and trauma patients, and patients in end-of-life care.

However, in practice, some Arizona doctors are pulling back hard on prescribing opioids for all of their patients.

Dr. Julian Grove, president of the Arizona Pain Society and contributor to the act told NPR that, “A lot of practitioners are reducing opioid medications, not from a clinical perspective, but more from a legal and regulatory perspective for fear of investigation. No practitioner wants to be the highest prescriber.”

Shannon Hubbard, Arizona resident and chronic pain sufferer (she has a condition called complex regional pain syndrome) had her opioid pain relievers reduced by 10 mg in April. “They told me because of the new Arizona law they had to cut me back,” she told NPR, saying that her pain was now terrible. “It just hurts, I don’t want to walk, I don’t want to… pretty much don’t want to do anything.”

The legislation created regulations around opioid use, citing that 75% of those addicted to heroin began their use with an opioid prescription. The act includes a limited initial opioid prescription of five days, and for certain extremely addictive painkillers, set a maximum 30-day prescription.

The law includes $10 million to be spent treating people with opioid addiction who are not insured and ineligible for Medicaid. The “Good Samaritan” provision allows immunity for those reporting an overdose.

Dr. Cara Christ, head of Arizona’s Department of Health Services and contributor to the state’s opioid response laws, told NPR, “The intent was never to stop prescribers from utilizing opioids. It’s really meant to prevent a future generation from developing opioid use disorder, while not impacting current chronic pain patients.”

Still, Shannon Hubbard is living with the effects of the law, and not the intentions.

“What they are doing is not working,” she told NPR. “They are having no effect on the guy who is on the street shooting heroin and is really in danger of overdosing. Instead they are hurting people that are actually helped by the drugs.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 July 2018
Are Dentists Still Overprescribing Opioids?

A new study examined the opioid prescription patterns of dentists who care for patients with private insurance.

While dentists have been writing a declining number of opioid prescriptions in the past few years, two new studies indicate that there still may be reason for dental professionals to take precautions when prescribing.

According to PEW Trusts, one such study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association in April examined the prescribing patterns among dentists who tended to privately insured patients. From 2010 to 2015, opioid prescriptions per 1,000 patients increased from 131 to 147, study authors found.

“The fact that we’re still prescribing opioids when we’ve demonstrated that nonsteroidals are as effective most of the time is a little disturbing,” Dr. Paul Moore, co-author of the analysis and professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s dental school, told Modern Health Care.

The study found that the biggest increase—about 66%—was in those ages 11 to 18. The study also noted that for all age groups, almost one-third of the opioid prescriptions written were for visits that were not surgical in nature, for which study authors state non-opioids could also be effective for pain.

According to Modern Health Care, an analysis of five studies in the Journal of the American Dental Association found that nonsteroidal anti-inflammation drugs like ibuprofen are effective for dental pain.

The second study was published at the same time in the same journal, and examined outpatient care for Medicaid patients. Researchers found that from 2013 to 2015, nearly 25% of those patients filled a prescription for opioids. They also discovered that emergency department providers were more likely to give opioids to patients with dental issues.

The study found that 38% of patients who sought care in an emergency department then filled an opioid prescription in comparison to 11% of those who went to the dentist.

“Dentists are providing substantially less opioid prescriptions compared to their medical colleagues for pain treatment following a dental diagnosis in the Medicaid population,” study authors wrote. “When considering pain management for dental and related conditions, dentists should continue with conservative prescribing practices as recommended.”

According to PEW Trusts, the results of the study come at a good time, as the American Dental Association recently released an interim policy on prescribing opioids.

The policy lays out a number of guidelines for providers to follow and encourages continuing education about opioid use for dentists. It also states that dentists should follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines about dosage and length of opioid prescriptions.

View the original article at thefix.com

11 July 2018
Jar Jar Binks Actor Reveals How "Star Wars" Backlash Affected His Mental Health

Ahmed Best made a surprising revelation on Twitter about how the Star Wars fandom’s response to his character led him to a dark place emotionally.

When The Phantom Menace—the long-awaited Star Wars prequel—was released in 1999, a lot of fans were very disappointed, to say the least. And part of that disappointment was unleashed on the character of Jar Jar Binks.

The internet trolling on the character was so severe that, Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar, even thought of suicide.

Right as Episode One was being released, the internet and viral marketing were just starting to take off, and with countless trolls finding a new, and very public, way to unleash their venom, the character of Jar Jar got completely hammered.

As Best told Wired, he had a hard time coming to terms with the backlash, as well as the fact that he was universally hated, while at the same time he was also mostly anonymous to the world without his CGI alien character.

“It’s really difficult to articulate the feeling,” Best said. “You feel like a success and a failure at the exact same time. I was starting at the end of my career before it started… I had death threats through the internet. I had people come to me and say, ‘You destroyed my childhood.’ That’s difficult for a 25-year-old to hear.”

On July 3, Best posted a photograph of himself and his young son overlooking a harbor on Twitter. “20 years next year I faced a media backlash that still affects my career today,” he wrote. “This was the place I almost ended my life. It’s still hard to talk about. I survived and now this little guy is my gift for survival.”

Best’s candid revelation got a much different reaction from the net than his character Jar Jar did two decades ago. Frank Oz, the famed Muppet puppeteer who famously brought Yoda to life, told Best on Twitter, “I LOVED Jar Jar Binks. “I know I’ll get raked over the coals for saying that, but I just will never understand the harshness of people’s dislike of him. I do character work. He’s a GREAT character! Okay. Go ahead. Shoot. Gimme all ya got – but you’ll never make me change my mind.”

Best’s confession comes on the heels of Kelly Marie Tran—who played the lambasted character of Rose Tico in The Last Jedi—leaving social media after being excessively cyberbullied as well.

In her defense, Jedi director Rian Johnson tweeted, “Done with this disingenuous bullshit. You know the difference between not liking a movie and hatefully harassing a woman so bad she has to get off social media. And you know which of those two we’re talking about here.”

If you or someone you know may be at risk for suicide, immediately seek help. Call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-TALK (8225).

View the original article at thefix.com

11 July 2018
Kat Von D Celebrates 11 Years Of Sobriety

The Los Angeles-based tattoo artist took to social media to celebrate her sober anniversary.

Tattoo artist Kat Von D celebrated over a decade sober by sharing her milestone on social media.

“Today, I celebrate 11 years of sobriety,” she wrote across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. “Every year I look forward to posting about my sober anniversary, in the hopes that someone out there in need of a way out from addiction might see this, and realize that you’re not alone. Sending you extra love today.”

The Los Angeles-based tattoo artist, famous for appearing on Miami Ink and then her own show LA Ink, is vocal about her sobriety. She hopes that by putting herself out there, she can show that recovery is possible.

“If anybody out there feels that they relate to me in any capacity and happen to be struggling, perhaps I can lead by example by showing that if I can do it, you can do it too,” she told The Fix in 2016. It’s her way of being of service.

Here’s what she’s said about sobriety in past Fix interviews.

Becoming sober in the limelight

“I am grateful that I was on TV during the tail end of my drinking; the first season of LA Ink. I am glad that happened and that it was public because it shows people that you can change.”

Change is possible

“I definitely was a mess, but as human beings, we are all capable of change. We need to give ourselves that credit. I don’t look at a drug addict or somebody who has a drinking problem as hopeless. I believe everybody can evolve and find their path.”

On creativity

“One of the biggest reasons for me to stop drinking was to preserve and protect my art… More than just having the chemical addiction, I was addicted to dysfunction. A lot of musicians and writers and poets from back in the day until now have used dysfunction as a muse. I don’t want to be that person anymore.”

What it means to be sober

“Looking back at my wild drinking days, I really never imagined that I would be excited about being sober. When you are on the other side of things, you have such a profoundly different perspective on life… Personally, being sober means that I operate better and I function better; I believe I am meant to be that way.”

View the original article at thefix.com

11 July 2018
Massachusetts Sues Purdue Pharma Over Opioid Crisis

Sixteen individuals are named in the lawsuit, including a few members of the Sackler family.

The state of Massachusetts is suing 16 current and former Purdue Pharma board members and executives for their alleged role in the continuing opioid crisis.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says this is the first lawsuit brought on by a state that directly names executives and directors in connection with opioid-related deaths.

The BBC reports that Judy Lewent, a non-executive director of GlaxoSmithKline, is named in the charges for her involvement with the board of Purdue Pharma until 2014.

Lewent currently serves as a director in GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the six largest British pharmaceutical companies. In 2012, GSK pleaded guilty to promotion of drugs for unapproved uses, failure to report safety data, and kickbacks to physicians in the United States. The company was sentenced to pay a $3 billion settlement—the largest settlement for a drug company at that time.

Sixteen individuals are named in the Massachusetts lawsuit, including a few members of the Sackler family.

Purdue Pharma is owned by the descendants of Raymond and Mortimer Sackler who earned their fortune off of the drug OxyContin, which their company, Purdue Pharma, still produces.

The Massachusetts lawsuit claims that Purdue Pharma “created the [opioid] epidemic and profited from it through a web of illegal deceit.”

Judy Lewent was tagged as one “who oversaw and engaged in a deadly, deceptive scheme to sell opioids in Massachusetts.”

AG Healey addressed the lawsuit in a press conference, “We found that Purdue misled doctors, patients, and the public about the real risks of their dangerous opioids, including OxyContin. Their strategy was simple: The more drugs they sold, the more money they made—and the more people died.”

Purdue Pharma “vigorously denies the allegations,” while GlaxoSmithKline declined to “comment on legal matters faced by another company,” according to the BBC.

Purdue told the BBC, “The Attorney General claims Purdue acted improperly by communicating with prescribers about scientific and medical information that FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has expressly considered and continues to approve. We believe it is inappropriate for the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] to substitute its judgment for the judgment of the regulatory, scientific and medical experts at FDA.”

The company added that it shared “the Attorney General’s concern about the opioid crisis,” and that its “opioid medications account for less than 2% of total opioid prescriptions.”

The state of Minnesota also recently filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma over the marketing of OxyContin.

Purdue Pharma has recently stopped the marketing of opioid-based drugs in Canada, Westfair reported. Purdue already pulled marketing for these drugs in the U.S. back in February. Canada has asked drug companies to suspend marketing and advertising of opioid-based drugs.

View the original article at thefix.com

11 July 2018
Grieving Mothers Band Together To Support People In Recovery

“If we can save just one person, it’s worth it,” said one of the mothers in the Moms of Cherished Angels group.

A group of grieving mothers are turning their losses into something positive.

The Moms of Cherished Angels—a group of women who lost a child or family member to drugs—donate toothpaste, shampoo, other toiletries, and notebooks to people entering rehab across Pennsylvania.

In each care package, they add a note telling their story.

“We decided we wanted to do something to keep our children’s memories alive and help others suffering with this horrible disease,” said Judy Provanzo, whose son Michael died last August.

Judy and her husband decided to address Michael’s drug use in his obituary: “We do not want his death to be in vain,” it read. “Michael did not want to be an addict. His demons were more than he could handle. Addiction is a disease and does not discriminate. Many loved ones did everything they could to get him to stop but the drugs won their battle.”

After that, others who had lost loved ones to drugs reached out to Provanzo, and from there, the support group formed. The women meet every week. One member, who lost her daughter in 2016, called it a “sisterhood.”

“Everybody is different and everybody grieves differently,” said Provanzo. “We get to different places in the process at different times. But if we didn’t have this every Tuesday, I’d be in a loony bin.”

The support of others who are going through the same experience is invaluable to the grieving moms. “We understand one another. There are times we’ll say, ‘Did you get out of bed today?’” said Provanzo.

In her note about Mikey, Provanzo wrote: “The day Mikey died a part of me and his father died with him. I’m sharing this with you in hopes it helps you along your journey. Mikey always thought he had his addiction under control and this wouldn’t happen to him. If you’re feeling like you want to give up, please think of Mikey and how my heart is breaking not having him. Remember you are loved and you can do this one day at a time.”

The mothers honor the memory of their children and loved ones by supporting not only one another, but others in recovery.

“If we can save just one person, it’s worth it,” said Kim Janeczek, who lost her 21-year-old son Matthew in 2017.

In her care package note she wrote, “He had a heart of gold. He helped so many people in the short time he was here.”

View the original article at thefix.com

10 July 2018
"Sharp Objects" To End Episodes With Mental Health, Substance Abuse PSA

The HBO limited series follows a reporter who struggles with self-harm and alcoholism while investigating a murder case.

The HBO limited series Sharp Objects will feature a card at the conclusion of each episode that will provide information on help for those who may be experiencing issues of self-harm and/or substance abuse.

The critically praised series, created by Marti Noxon (Dietland) and based on the novel by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), stars Amy Adams as a reporter who struggles with both conditions while investigating a murder case.

As Deadline‘s coverage noted, the addition echoes the use of a similar title card on Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why.

The card reads as follows:

“If you or someone you know struggles with self-harm or substance abuse, please seek help by contacting the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 1-800-662-HELP (4357).”

In addition to the card, HBO has also set up a website with links to resources including SAMHSA and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The series’ title alludes to Adams’ reporter, Camille Preaker, whose troubled childhood has manifested itself in adulthood through alcoholism and self-harm.

The first episode opens shortly after her discharge from a psychiatric hospital, and over the course of the next seven episodes, Preaker will return to the hometown where her issues first took root, and which bloom anew as she becomes deeply involved in the murder of two girls there.

As Deadline noted, the Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why, which focused on a teenager’s suicide, drew critical fire from members of the mental health community for what was regarded as graphic depictions of rape and suicide.

The network added a disclaimer and PSA to the second season of the show that advised viewers about the subject matter and, as Vulture noted, even suggested that certain individuals should consider watching the program with a “trusted adult.” 13 Reasons Why is slated to return for its third season in 2019.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, author Gillian Flynn, who also serves as an executive producer for Sharp Objects, discussed the very personal reasons for tackling the subject of self-harm in the book and series.

“I felt that misery of, like, ‘Why can’t anyone see how much pain I’m in?’ I wished I could bear witness somehow,” she said. I had these fantasies of being mangled—of showing how much pain I was in.”

View the original article at thefix.com

10 July 2018
Opioid Crisis “More Deadly” Than AIDS Epidemic, CDC Director Says

CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield discussed the parallels between the crises and his plans to combat opioids during a recent interview.

Robert Redfield has only been the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since March, but in that time he has made his stance on the opioid crisis known.

Redfield, 66, tells The Washington Times that the opioid crisis will be worse than the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, which he was also involved in fighting. “I would say the opioids-fueled epidemic is clearly already more deadly than the AIDS epidemic ever was,” he told the Times.

According to Redfield, the CDC is working with pharmacies and states to keep up with the opioid epidemic in real time and collect overdose death data as quickly as possible. He says the goal is to release the figures for 2017 in the fall of 2018.

The most recent data, from 2016, has overdose deaths at 42,000. The Times notes that some researchers predict that the newest data will show that overdose deaths have passed the 48,000 HIV/AIDS deaths in 1995 which was the most fatal year of that epidemic.

Redfield says that when it comes to annual rates, drug overdose deaths have already overtaken those of the HIV/AIDS crisis. “If you look at all overdose deaths, not just opioids deaths, we’re over 60,000 now,” he told the Times.

The number of deaths isn’t the only similarity Redfield sees between the two epidemics. He tells the Times that with both, there have been empathy gaps, meaning people initially saw the diseases as something that happened because of dangerous behavior.

“It’s a medical condition. It’s not a moral choice,” Redfield told the Times. He added that as with the HIV/AIDS crisis, combating the opioid crisis will take new scientific innovations and “public health efforts.”

In June, Redfield told the Wall Street Journal that the CDC would be increasing efforts to fight the opioid crisis. He stated the organization would be developing new guidelines for opioid prescriptions for acute pain, as well as introducing a new system to track emergency department data.

Redfield also told the Wall Street Journal that he has personal experience with the opioid crisis, as a close family member had struggled with opioid use. “I think part of my understanding of the epidemic has come from seeing it not just as a public-health person and not just as a doctor,” he told the Wall Street Journal. “It is something that has impacted me also at a personal level.”

Redfield also called stigma the “enemy of public health” and stated that it’s vital to find “a path to destigmatize” opioid use.

“We were able to do it to some degree for HIV, and I think pretty successfully, but it’s not over,” he said.

View the original article at thefix.com

10 July 2018