Everything You Need to Know About Actos

Some people have heard of the drug Actos, and some individuals in the United States use it. However, it is somewhat controversial. Many doctors have spoken out against it, while others still seem to support its use.

It’s worth knowing what Actos does, as well as the associated dangers. If your primary doctor does recommend that you use it, you’ll know something about it, and you can then make the best decision as to whether using it is worth it.

 

What is Actos?

Some people also refer to Actos by another name, pioglitazone. It’s a drug that the pharmaceutical company Takeda manufactures. You take it to treat Type 2 diabetes.

Takeda tested the drug before releasing it, but, like so many other medications, it’s hard to predict what it will do if a person takes it for a long time, like a period of months or years. The problem is that some studies link Actos to bladder cancer, and also diabetic macular edema, liver disease, and even heart failure.

Those are some pretty scary side effects, and many individuals who have used Actos are contacting lawyers to see about bringing individual or class-action lawsuits against the manufacturer.

 

What Do Other Countries Think About Actos?

If you go back to 2011, you’ll see that both France and Germany removed pioglitazone from the market. However, the FDA has not gone that far. They have issued a very strong warning against the drug, but they have not yanked it from the shelves yet.

Still, it’s evident that they are aware of the problems that it poses. The FDA did block Takeda Pharmaceuticals from putting aloglipitin on the market. That is one of their newest drugs, which does include pioglitazone in the formula.

 

What Else Can You Use to Treat Type 2 Diabetes?

There are more cases of adult Type 2 diabetes that doctors diagnose every year. Numbers keep rising because of certain genetic factors, but also because of sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets. The pandemic has not helped anything, as it has led many adults to exercise even less, with many gyms still closed.

If you want to treat Type 2 diabetes, changing your diet and exercising more can certainly help with that. Researchers are also studying the disease, and they are trying to come up with new ideas both to ward it off and to get people off of drugs like pioglitazone.

 

The Canadian Study

There’s an interesting Canadian Type 2 diabetes study that has led researchers in some new directions. It found that women who have little or even no control over their working conditions are more likely to develop the dangerous Type 2 diabetes condition than men.

The study pointed to micromanaging women as a stressor that could help lead to diabetes. It’s not clear why this happens, but some scientists theorize that a woman’s hormonal makeup might be a contributing factor.

If there’s a hormonal cause to Type 2 diabetes, that might lead to additional drug development down the line, perhaps even to gender-specific medications. The Canadian study seems to indicate that women, in particular, should avoid too many fat and sugar-containing comfort foods if they want to prevent Type 2 diabetes.

 

Detecting Glucose Levels

New human glucose-level detection methods should also help with trying to predict Type 2 diabetes. Scientists have now come out with sensors that use so-called nanoparticle rose petals. They can detect glucose levels in urine, saliva, and tears.

This is a less expensive testing system, and since it can utilize different fluids, it’s more practical than the widely-used blood test. With this device, doctors can detect early-onset Type 2 diabetes much better. 

They can warn the individual in question, and they can take steps to modify their eating habits and exercise routine. They can try to eliminate stressors as well.

 

What About Actos?

As for Actos, it remains legal and available for now. The FDA is still monitoring the situation, and some doctors no longer recommend it.

Still, it’s just another example of the medical community not agreeing about a drug’s efficacy. This sort of thing definitely happens more often than you might realize.

As someone with Type 2 diabetes, or if you are in a high-risk group, it’s tough knowing what to do if there’s no consensus about a drug. The best we can suggest is to talk to your doctor and to try and get as many facts as possible before starting or discontinuing an Actos regimen.

I’ve Come To Learn That Drug Addiction Is A Disease, Not A Choice

I grew up in a small neighborhood where kids grew up pretty fast. It seemed as though when we hit high school, something switched in my friends’ minds that going to dinner and seeing a movie just wasn’t fun anymore. We began drinking and partying at an age that was much too young for any of us to handle. When our parents were out, away, or even going to bed early, we’d sneak in booze and liquor, partying until late hours—hindering our childhood and rushing into adulthood far too soon for us to handle.

I could handle the drinking. I was never a huge drinker, so I didn’t feel as though it was hurting anyone to have a few beers on a Friday night or drink a mixed solo cup at a party. But, when kids started bringing drugs into the picture—I took a step back. I wasn’t ready to experiment with drugs the way that my friends were, and I wasn’t ready to let it tear me apart.

I have two older sisters, and they’d warned me about drug use at such a young age. They told me scary stories of their friends, losing their lives and their innocence to experimenting with things they couldn’t handle. So, I stayed away, I chose to stay away. My friends chose to partake in the experience. They chose to step through a door that they had no idea was going to be locked shut on them for years to come.

I’ve heard so many stories in the media about drug use, how it’s a choice to use drugs so often that you overdose on them. That every time you use drugs, you’re making a choice to put them in your body. That if you overdose, you chose to die. Every time a celebrity death comes up that is drug related, I brace myself for the comments that will come through social media, how selfish it is and how stupid they are to have chosen such a life.

I used to think that taking drugs every day was a choice. When I was young and my sisters told me about using drugs, they told me I had a choice—a choice that would affect my life for years to come. I agreed, that trying drugs, and beginning to take them—it’s a choice. It’s a choice to succumb to peer pressure and other pressures of society telling you to do so. It’s a choice to decide if your SO uses drugs, you should, too. It’s a choice to try a stronger drug, once the other drugs have lost their strength.

But, once you become addicted to drugs, it is no longer a choice for you—it becomes a disease.

Being an addict is a disease. It’s one that should be recognized as a health condition and treated as such. I never thought this way until I saw friends—close, family friends of mine—battle addiction with drugs for years. I watched friends I grew up with go to rehab multiple times. I saw friends of mine die from overdoses. I saw friends in abusive relationships with addicts. It was hard to escape the epidemic that was taking over my town and neighboring towns—everyone was sick.

The way that people look at addicts disturbs me. They look at them as though they’re disgusting, they’re pathetic, they’re a burden on society. But, they don’t look at people with other illnesses the same. People who develop diabetes from poor diets, they made a choice to eat the way they did. They didn’t choose to develop the disease, but they chose what to eat. Those who are diagnosed with cancer due to smoking—they did not choose to develop cancer, but they chose to smoke. However, if you find out someone is sick with cancer, or diabetes and heart disease—we don’t look down on them as though they are horrible, disgusting people in society.

There is a stigma that is associated with addiction. People look at addicts as though they are trash. But, I’ve come to learn that they are not trash, they’re not horrible, they’re not disgusting. They are sick.

They are sick with a disease that needs curing. They are sick with an illness they cannot shake. Instead of looking at these people as though they are horrible and disgusting, be kind. Understand that—like a person with cancer—they, too, are terrified to lose their life. They are fighting every day to stay alive. They didn’t choose to be an addict.

But, just as any other sick individual, they are fighting to stay alive.

Your Words Are My Drug Of Choice

Your words are my drug of choice. They hoist me up to the heavens, leaving me awash in airy lightness as you strip the weight of life from my soul. They leave me high off a blissful euphoria as I long to hold onto every coveted syllable, hoping I can remain among the clouds for eternity.

As the words cascade from your lips, every hit of you leaves me longing for more, clinging to your promises that I am your future, wishing you were beside me. My worries escape me as I savor your powerful high; a sense of unquellable serenity. I drift further and further away from my problems as I immerse myself in your swirling kaleidoscope of colors, knowing there is nothing on Earth but me, you, and your magical mirage of deep blues and pure golds.

Your vivacious appellations seem to vanish too quickly, a mystical haze of fragrant smoke too alluring to resist. They can never seem to satiate my powerful hunger for endless sweet nothings, until you faithfully supply me with your linguistic charm, the drug that keeps my heart beating only for you.

I aimlessly flit away the days mindlessly dreaming of the music that flows from your lips and endure the nights lying awake in your absence, tossing and turning as my entire body burns with a passionate fever, itching for you as if you are the sole key to my survival. With an aching heart, I withdraw from the gentle rhythm of your voice, fruitlessly convincing myself that I can live without you.

But I am hopelessly addicted to your adoring locutions, the powerful ecstasy of pure love. Every trip takes me higher, further into your heart’s endless wonders. I ensconced myself in your dreamy euphoria, too faded on your love to return below the clouds.

Perhaps, I will recover from my unyielding desire for your passionate language. Perhaps, I will discover the natural high of self-validation. But every time the fantastical syllables slip from your mouth, leaving me high off your addictive love, I know that your words will always be my drug of choice.

This article originally appeared on Thought Catalog.

The Effects of Drug Addiction on Family Members

About this disease        

The cunning, baffling disease of addiction is multifaceted, and continues to be a growing epidemic across the United States. Drug addiction carries an unending amount of dangers to an individual’s physical, mental, societal, and familial well-being. Effective treatments have proven to be successful in battling this disease, and layered prevention tactics are making addiction a preventable health condition; however, even though it is treatable and preventable, there are significant elements to pay attention to. This disease is deadly, and Straub (2012) notes the toxic reality of drug and alcohol addiction has produced more deaths, illnesses, and disabilities than any other unnecessary, preventable illness. Jason Shiers Certified Psychotherapist with UK Addiction Treatment says “While commonly it is believed that addiction is a disease, the truth is, this is only a concept and a way of explaining an unexplainable phenomenom, when we look beyond concepts, psychology and psychiatric diagnoses, addiction is a simple misunderstanding, this doesn’t make it any less devastating”.

 

Addiction is monstrous and calculating, and it houses many victims. Unfortunately, an addict’s family remains in the crosshairs of this fatal disease. Imagine addiction as a glass of salt water. Now, pour the water into a healthy plant. Over time, you will watch the plant slouch, wither, shrivel up, and if you continue to use this same food source, the plant will eventually die. The effects the salt water had on this healthy plant mimic the effects of drug and alcohol addiction. This disease is not defined by the act of drinking or using drugs; there are many other layers including the impact on one’s physical and mental health, attitude and behaviors, inner spirit, and the mere destruction of relationships with family members. One family member suffering from addiction paves the route for their entire family to suffer, as well.

A Family Disease

Addiction is often referred to as a family disease. This simply means that while the person using and abusing drugs is suffering, his or her family suffers also. As it is important to recognize how each member is affected, it is just as significant that each family member receives treatment to heal their relationship and emotional wounds. Recovery is a process that requires every single person within an addict’s familial and societal circle to be unified. Though it may be difficult for some family members to hear and fully accept, their behaviors, emotions, and relationship with their addicted loved one directly and indirectly promote and support their addiction – this unhealthy interaction and family illness is called codependency.

The Roles         

An addict’s family suffers the brunt of many layers of this disease. The immediate family, as well as those extended family members, is right in the path of their loved one’s addiction-driven chaos and mayhem. First, everyone’s feelings are exposed and vulnerable. The relationship that existed prior to addiction is completely overshadowed by someone the family no longer recognizes. An addict’s attitude, feelings, priorities, trust, behaviors, thoughts, and even their personality are gravely affected. The fact is that each person is impacted in a unique way, and how he/she is affected really depends on their previous relationship with the addict.

While some family members blame themselves for their loved one’s addiction, others in the family unit take on a sterner role, to the point of seeking out protective orders against the person abusing drugs (SAMSHA, 2004). The most important familial strategy to begin fighting this treacherous battle is to identify who takes on which role. Each family member, by acknowledging, understanding, and taking accountability, can construct a therapeutic plan of action. Now, let’s understand how family roles hinder one’s addiction.

Just like a “non-addicted” functioning family, there are roles each person fills. When addiction enters the family unit, the roles shift, trying to maintain a balance in this new, unhealthy group (Low, 2015). The major family roles include the addict (chemically dependent), the hero (the caretaker of the family), the enabler, the scapegoat, the lost child, and the mascot.  While the addict lies within the center of everyone’s attention, the enabler essentially provides the addict with the financial, emotional, or even physical (driving them to pick up drugs) aspects to support their disease. Enabler’s feelings consist of helplessness and guilt, and often these codependent roles are filled by a parent, partner, or spouse (Kelly, 2015). The lost child role is the one whose life is put on the back burner, as the addict’s role has taken precedent over everything else. Those who embrace this role are normally filled with resentment, anger, and loneliness, as their emotional and physical needs are not being met (Kelly, 2015). Often, a sibling will take on the role of a scapegoat as a way to cope with their drug-addicted loved one. This person is known to act out and draw attention to themselves in an unhealthy, distracting manner, as they are weighed down with feelings of emptiness, shame, and guilt (Kelly, 2015). Finally, the mascot diverts attention away from the underlying problem of addiction, using humor as a distraction while attempting to alleviate the constant stressors that accompany their loved one’s addiction.

The disease of addiction has the potential to tear a family apart from the inside out. The addict can be viewed as untrustworthy and undependable. At times, drug addiction can lead to the addict lying, cheating, and stealing from their own loved ones to support their habit. Stress builds and fights break out, and what once was a healthy, loving family unit is easily turned into a family just trying to emotionally and physically survive from day to day.

The Interpersonal  Destructions of Addiction 

A number of recent studies have revealed exactly how addiction can wreak havoc within a family.  The National Institutes of Health (2016) noted that parents who are addicts severely impact their children by replacing their parental responsibilities with using drugs and maintaining their addiction. Not cooking meals, forgetting about meetings with teachers, ignoring homework, not monitoring their child’s social circle, and just being detached from their child’s life has a damaging consequence. It has a rippling effect, as the NIH (2016) explains children of addicted parents are extremely vulnerable to following the same unhealthy path of living unstable lives and falling into addiction themselves. They are susceptible to poverty, teen pregnancy, and unhealthy behaviors including drug use and addiction. A pregnant addict’s drug use impacts their unborn child’s weight, eating and sleeping habits, cognitive abilities, and developmental milestones (Lander, 2013). As the child grows, they are vulnerable to learning disabilities and social problems. As you can see, this cycle is vicious and reoccurring, and it can easily be passed on from one generation to the next.

There is Hope, There is  Help

             All families of addicts require professional, therapeutic assistance. First and foremost, they must all learn how to accept and embrace the fact that none of them caused their loved one’s addiction, none could control their loved one’s addiction, and none of them can cure this cunning disease. The light at the end of this addiction tunnel is treatment. While emotional, financial, physical, and psychological damages are left from the storm of one’s addiction, there is hope. Many studies and treatment models have revealed that family members must not only get treatment as a family unit, but must also receive therapeutical services on an individual basis. For those seeking a comprehensive recovery program in a serene environment, visiting a luxury rehab facility in San Francisco can provide the peaceful setting and high-quality care necessary for healing and rebuilding lives. Whether it be a 12-step program, group therapy, or individual counseling, there are many options available to help families heal and move forward after the devastation of addiction.
Addiction is a family disease, and even though a family’s turmoil may have begun with their loved one’s addiction, they all have a responsibility to themselves and to their loved ones to learn healthy thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors to support a road to recovery and abstinence.

Recovery is a lifelong journey. It may have started as an individual problem, but it has the potential to evolve into a beautiful family passage.

            

 

Karen Corcoran-Walsh, CAP, ICADC, MFT, ASAM is nationally known as an expert in the treatment of mental health and drug or alcohol abuse and addiction, also known as Dual Diagnosis, with a specialty in working with teenagers. Renowned as an adolescent addiction treatment center professional, she has worked in the professions of education and drug treatment for approximately 20 years. Karen is the co-founder of Inspirations For Youth And Families, LLC an adolescent treatment program and The Cove Center For Recovery, LLC an adult addiction treatment center.

References

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse Treatment and Family Therapy. Rockville (MD): Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); 2004. (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 39.) Chapter 2 Impact of Substance Abuse on Families. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64258/

Kelly, V. A. (2016). Addiction in the family: What every counselor needs to know. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Lander, L., Howsare, J., & Byrne, M. (2013). The Impact of Substance Use Disorders on Families and Children: From Theory to Practice. Social Work in Public Health, 28(0), 194–205. http://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2013.759005

Low, M. (2015). Substance Abuse and the Impact on the Family System.  Retrieved from

http://www.rehabs.com/pro-talk-articles/substance-abuse-and-the-impact-on-the-family-system/

NIH. (2016). Drug Abuse Hurts Kids. Retrieved from https://easyread.drugabuse.gov/content/drug-abuse-hurts-kids

Söderström, K., & Skårderud, F. (2009). Minding the baby. Mentalization-based treatment in families with parental substance use disorder: Theoretical framework. Nordic Psychology, 61(3), 47-65. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1901-2276.61.3.47

Straub, R. O. (2012). Health psychology: A biopsychosocial approach (3rd ed.). [VitalSource digital version]. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Exit mobile version