Many makers of the patent medicines of the late 1800s time period sought trademarks, but not true patents – meaning their actual ingredients were unregulated and largely unknown to the public. For example, alcohol was a key ingredient in several popular elixirs. Some patent medicines were fifty percent morphine, prompting many serious addictions and untimely deaths of children.

Early settlers brought some English varieties of patent medicines with them, calling them cure-alls for everything from women’s health issues to fussy babies to stomach problems. They were sold by postmasters, grocery owners and various other tradesmen.

Many patent medicines also contained cocaine, especially during the mid 1800s, and were prescribed to children and infants as well as adults. Arthritis and tuberculosis were also among the list of ailments for which patent medicines could be prescribed, even those claiming to increase breast size or help with male sexual dysfunction.

By the late 1800s, communication tools like the newspaper had spread the word through glamorous advertising about these products, which were still sold in an unregulated market. Even reputable, larger-scale pharmaceutical businesses were reported to sell patent medicines with contents unrevealed to users.

Some early doctors and societies were skeptical of these medicines, claiming they failed to resolve medical problems and contributed to addictions. Temperance efforts in the late 1800s helped lessen some of the use of alcohol-containing patent medicines, and preliminary laws asking makers to reveal the medicines’ ingredients and use more accurate advertising were in place by the early 1900s.

However, the new laws were not favored by the patent medicine manufacturers, who threatened to pull their highly profitable advertising from newspapers if the regulatory laws were enforced. Journalists like Samuel Hopkins Adams who exposed the harmful ingredients and false health promises may be credited with saving thousands of lives before the Pure Food and Drug Act was officially passed in 1906.

From “Cocaine Toothache Drops” to Metcalf’s “Coca Wine,” a wine-based product that included cocaine – to medications for infants containing nearly 50 percent alcohol and opium – many lives were potentially destroyed by the patent medicines of the 1800s and early 1900s. Addiction was both unknown and underestimated during this dangerous time in medical history, in comparison to today’s strict pharmaceutical regulations and tailored addiction therapy programs.

Patent Medicines with Addictive Substances Necessitated Food and Drug Act is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

To better understand the role glial cells play in morphine’s effects in the brain, researchers funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) gave rats either twice-daily doses of a drug called ibudilast, which inhibits the activity of glial cells, or a control injection. On the third day, the rats began receiving morphine in increasing doses.

After 5 days of morphine exposure, the rats received a dose of the opioid inhibitor naloxone to induce withdrawal. In contrast to control rats that showed dramatic increases in levels of the chemical dopamine in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) region of the brain in response to morphine injection, rats who had received the ibudilast showed smaller increases.

Moreover, the rats who received ibudilast also showed significantly fewer physical signs of withdrawal after naloxone injection. They also noted that, after naloxone administration, as dopamine levels decreased so did the physical signs of withdrawal.

These results show that inhibiting glial cells with ibudilast can reduce dopamine levels in the NAc, which are considered indicators of morphine reward and may also be associated with withdrawal. Therefore, targeting glial cell activity with drug therapies such as ibudilast may be a promising approach for treating opioid addiction.

Suppressing Glial Cell Activity Reduces Effects of Morphine on Rats is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Avinza is a highly addictive drug, and it should be taken with great caution. It should only be used under the direct supervision of a doctor, and you should only take your prescribed dose.

Unfortunately, Avinza has become one of the most widely abused drugs in the United States. Adolescents are at particular risk for becoming addicted to Avinza, with teenage use on the rise in recent years. If you or someone that you know may have an addiction to Avinza, there are certain signs and symptoms that you can look for:

• Dizziness

• Clammy skin

• Confusion

• Seizures

• Difficulty breathing

• Memory loss

If you develop any of these symptoms, you should seek medical assistance right away. If an addiction to Avinza has developed, you should know that it is best to seek professional help for treatment. It can be very dangerous to try to stop using this type of drug on your own.

Sources Used

1. RxWiki. “Avinza.” http://www.rxwiki.com/index.php?title=Avinza#More_

Information_on_Avinza. Accessed 08 April 2009.

Avinza Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment