Cure?
Ambien, a drug used to help people go to sleep at night, has been linked to many unreal cases of unpredictably awakening individuals from their PVS. It is in point, believed that the sleeping aid, Ambien (also known as Zolpidem) achieves this by restarting cells in our brains that have been in a dormant state in the comatosed brain after injury (Clauss). According to Ralf Clauss, who spearheaded the PVS study at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, UK the original detection that Zolpidem could actually benefit the many patients of severe brain trauma came about by accident; when the sleeping pill was administer to help a “restless” patient sleep. But in fact it did something greater.
Study & Results
In 2006, Clauss reported and continued by stating that he and colleagues discovered that the sleeping drug administered seemed to somehow help reinstate temporary partial consciousness to the patient treated. Furthermore in his report, he details their new study and the effect of Zolpidem on three patients (patient L, N, and G), all of who have been in a PVS state from about three to five years. According to Clauss, before treatment with sleeping aid, the
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In that 4 hour time span, however, the results were indeed miraculous, one specific patient following drug treatment was able to compute commands like lifting his hand or smiling or even counting to five, the Clauss researchers write, things he was unable to do previously. In addition the patients’ score on the Glasgow Coma Scale, a common rubric of responsiveness, improved temporarily, on average from 6 to 12 points for these patients (Clauss). So, why were these individuals affected by Ambien? How is it that it works on some patients, but not on others? Do we have
It is not rare for doctors to prescribe antidepressants and/or anti-psychotics to those who are suffering from PTSD or mental issues such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Also common is the prescribed use of sedatives to promote sleep in veterans who are suffering from insomnia or other sleeping conditions. Unfortunately, these can be very dangerous. Referring to sedatives or hypnotic sleep medications, “These medicines work on specific nerve endings in the brain, called benzodiazepine receptors, which act by slowing down the nervous system.”(Hoge, 2010 pg 77) Sedatives and other prescription sleep aids should only be used as a last resort and if they are used they are to be taken with extreme caution. Typically what will happen is veterans who drink heavily after deployment will use alcohol while under the influence of these medications. Seeing as how these drugs slow down your nervous system, when they are combined with alcohol the result can be deadly. Furthermore, these drugs can be highly addictive and in turn will make things worse in the long
the surface structure of these poems appears simplistic, but subtle changes in tone or gesture move the reader from the mundane to the sublime. In an attempt to sleep, the speaker in "Insomnia" moves from counting sheep to envisioning Noah's arc to picturing "all the fish in creation/ leaping a fence in a field of water,/ one colorful species after another." Collins will tackle any topic: his subject matter varies from snow days to Aristotle to forgetfulness. Collins relies heavily on imagery, which becomes the cornerstone of the entire volume, and his range of diction brings such a polish to these poems
In the book Introduction to Research: Less Fright, More Insight: a Customized Version of Research Methods: Are You Equipped?, the author defines a case study as “an in-depth observation of an individual, animal, event, or treatment method (pp. 73).” In this paper, the student will be writing a case study about herself, and she will explain what it is that she has learned about research. More importantly, the student will then evaluate her experience from a biblical, Christian perspective.
Sleep deprivation in hospitalized patients can result in increased morbidity and mortality, and can lower their quality of life. Hospitalized patients require more than the average amount of sleep to aid in recovery, but often get an inadequate amount of sleep or experience poor quality sleep. There are increased frequencies of awakening or being awakened too early in the morning, difficulty falling asleep, an increased need for sleep medications, poor sleep quality, an increase in frequency of napping and nightmares. Sleep-wake cycles contribute to adequate protein synthesis and cellular division that is crucial to sustaining the healing process and maintaining immunity. Sleep deprivation changes normal circadian cycles, resu...
Substance addiction is becoming an epidemic. While some people can quit using a substance without any help, most people need help to their recovery. Narcotics anonymous is an important support group for our society. There are many different narcotic anonymous programs to join that have meetings throughout the week. The members of the support group all share one thing in common, they suffer from different types of chemical dependency. Members help each other because they have the same problems and worries that everyone in the room has. Though they may be struggling with different stages in their life, for the most part, they all relate to what each is going through. Just as AA, NA focuses on the 12-step program. The members of
Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2008). Reactivation and consolidation of memory during sleep. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 188-192. doi: 10.1111/j.14678721.2008.00572.x
INTRODUCTION: Benzodiazepine is considered as a drug with high addictive potential. Dependence develops with long term use of even with therapeutic dose. As benzodiazepines are widely prescribed for various conditions, particularly insomnia and anxiety, therapeutic dose dependence are the largest category of people dependent on benzodiazepine. Benzodiazepines are one of the most prescribed drugs which have abuse potential. There must be special attention toward the patient's addiction history before these agents are prescribed. Understanding the abuse pattern and alternative anxiolytic and hypnotic agent can help health care providers maximize treatment result and reduce medico legal liability.
Wilson, J.F. (2005). Is sleep the new vital sign? Annals of Internal Medicine, 142 (10), 877-880.
Kales, A. (1972). The evaluation and treatment of sleep disorders : Pharmacological and psychological studies. In M. Chase (ed.)The Sleeping Brain. Los Angeles : Brain Information Service.
I realize that a brief summary article like this does not provide all the details of the experimental methodology, but a couple of things that were reported in the article struck me as curious. The researchers studied physical functioning (cortisol levels, etc.) in men who had a normal night’s sleep (eight hours in bed) the first three nights of the study, followed by a period of sleep deprivation (four hours in bed) the next six nights of the study, and finally a period of sleep recovery (12 hours in bed) the last seven nights of the study. In reporting the effects on the body (the discussion of glucose metabolism, in the fifth paragraph of the article) the author’s compare the sleep deprivation stage only to the sleep recovery stage, not to normal sleep. This seems to me like doing an experiment on drunkenness and comparing the drunk stage to the hangover stage, without ever reporting what happens when the person is sober.
The implications of using nonpharmacological method of sleep, while not only providing more rest to support healing, also can allow patients to feel as if the medical staff is concerned about them and gives them some control (Jones & Dawson, 2012) while reducing the adverse effects that can accompany sedatives (Robinson et al., 2005...
The phenomenon of sleep paralysis can be a frightening experience: many who suffer can feel tremendous anxiety and fear, even though occurrences are considered as harmless as a bad dream. The disorder does not discriminate on the basis of race or gender, but age sometimes is a factor. Treatment for sleep paralysis is limited; in general, doctors treat the disorders linked to sleep paralysis such as sleep apnea or narcolepsy. Sleep paralysis continues to be one of the many mysteries of the human brain, which science will continue to investigate.
Dr. Steven Feinsilver, the director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, described the mental effects of sleep deprivation as causing "tremendous emotional problems" and that it has been used for torture (Mann, Jeff). The director of the Unit for Experimental Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, psychology professor David Dinges, said that people who are not getting enough sleep can receive physical and mental damages. This has been shown in many research results over the past years. Meanwhile, he also has a similar opinion to Dr. Feinsilver: depriving one's sleep on purpose is very inhumane, considering the serious emotional damage of sleep deprivation. Research shows that while being sleep deprived our brain does not function and cognize correctly. It can be hard for people with a lack of sleep to recognize other people's emotions, which might cause many unnecessary problems such as arguments and misunderstandings that could affect people's social relationships. People in a condition of lack of sleep don't show a positive look on their faces, either. They may also make mistakes in recognizing other people’s facial expressions. Other people's neutral face may seem negative to a sleep deprived person while their happy face may seem neutral (“Sleep and Mood”, Mann, Jeff, Miller Sarah G. , “What Are Sleep
Across the world, hundreds of individuals are being affected by one common disease, Sleep Deprivation. This common problem is becoming more detrimental to their health than various types of cancer. Many are losing daily sleep, in such a way that it has become a constant struggle to stay awake during work, class, and even worse driving. This problem has grown to the point of endangerment for not only the individual driver but also others on the road.
Rasch, Björn, and Jan Born. "About Sleep 's Role in Memory." Physiological Reviews. American Physiological Society, n.d. Web. 06 May 2016.