| Noteworthy News Articles on Mental Health Topics, December 1-8, 2003 The Biological Basis of Homosexuality Judy Foreman, Boston Globe- 12/2/2003 Is there a biological basis for homosexuality? With gay marriage now supported by the state's highest court and homosexuality likely to be a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign, the question of whether sexual orientation is an innate or acquired trait is an increasingly urgent one. Since at least 1991, some scientific research has suggested a biological basis to homosexuality -- meaning sexual orientation is probably at least partly natural destiny, not a choice. But that point is still open to political and scientific debate, and our understanding of how biology may drive sexual orientation is still fuzzy. Some data on identical twins suggest that homosexuality -- particularly in men -- is inherited. Other scientists have tried to pin down anatomical differences in brain structure between gay men and straight men. Understanding homosexuality, or even heterosexuality, involves, among other things, figuring out how the brain, the seat of all complex behavior, becomes male or female in the first place. Until recently, researchers thought that a surge in the male hormone testosterone set the brain on a male track. Without testosterone, the brain continued developing on a female track. But, in October, California researchers studying fetal development identified 54 genes that play a role in the expression of sex -- before hormones are ever released. "This refutes the idea that hormones are the only story in sexual differentiation of the brain. That has been the dogma in the field for 30 years," said Dr. Eric Vilain, an assistant professor of human genetics and urology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, who led the research. The study in mice "gives us a radical new insight into sexual differentiation of the brain," said Dr. Elliot S. Gershon, a professor of psychiatry and human genetics at the University of Chicago. "It's quite an important paper." Its implications are many. An estimated one in 4,000 babies is born with "ambiguous genitalia," making it difficult to tell whether the baby is a boy or a girl. By analyzing chromosomes and looking for internal sexual organs such as ovaries or a prostate gland, doctors make their best guess as to the true sex of the child and sometimes perform surgery to make the anatomy conform to that. DNA analysis of the variations in these 54 genes and other genes that interact with them may help doctors figure out to which gender the child most appropriately belongs, Vilain said. The 54 genes also may help explain transgenderism, the situation, which affects about one in 50,000 people, in which a person believes he or she was born the "wrong" sex. Some transgendered individuals simply live as the gender they feel they are, regardless of anatomy; others have sex-change surgery. The UCLA study does not address homosexuality directly. But Vilain said other data suggest that 75 percent of boys who were confused about their gender identity as children grow up to be gay. The new study, he said, may help "pave the way to find out about gender identity" in such children. Other studies on the genetic roots of homosexuality, which affects at least 3 percent to 4 percent of the population (activists say the figure is higher), are mixed. Dr. Richard C. Pillard, a professor of psychiatry at the Boston University School of Medicine, has studied male and female homosexuals. In men, he said, sexual orientation is often inherited. In women, "sexuality is not as rigidly set." In identical male twins, his research shows, if one is gay, there's a 50 percent chance that the other one is. Granted, if homosexuality were totally genetically determined, that figure should be 100 percent. On the other hand, in male fraternal twins, there's only a 20 percent chance that if one is homosexual, the other will be. In 1991, an autopsy study by Simon LeVay at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego found that part of the brain called the anterior hypothalamus was twice as large in heterosexual men as in homosexual men, suggesting a biological basis for homosexuality. Because the gay men all had AIDS, it is possible that the disease, rather than their homosexuality, transformed their brains. And other studies that have tried to draw a biological link to homosexuality have faced problems as well. In 1993, Dean Hamer, a molecular biologist at the National Cancer Institute, studied 40 pairs of gay brothers and published his results in Science. With a technique called linkage mapping, Hamer identified a region called Xq28 on the X chromosome (inherited from the mother) that was statistically correlated to homosexuality. In 1995, a second study by Hamer and others confirmed that finding. In 1999, researchers led by George Rice at the University of Western Ontario in Canada studied the same brain region in 52 gay male sibling pairs and reported contradictory findings. Clearly, more research is needed to prove homosexuality is inherited. But Dr. Fred Berlin, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said the basic conclusion is already clear: Homosexuality, he said, "is not due to voluntary choice. None of us as kids sat down and said, `Do I want to be attracted to members of the same gender?' " Research on Ecstasy Is Clouded by Errors Donald G. McNeil, Jr., New York Times- 12/2/2003 In September, the journal Science issued a startling retraction. A primate study it published in 2002, with heavy publicity, warned that the amount of the drug Ecstasy that a typical user consumes in a single night might cause permanent brain damage. It turned out that the $1.3 million study, led by Dr. George A. Ricaurte of Johns Hopkins University, had not used Ecstasy at all. His 10 squirrel monkeys and baboons had instead been injected with overdoses of methamphetamine, and two of them had died. The labels on two vials he bought in 2000, he said, were somehow switched. The problem corrupted four other studies in his lab, forcing him to withdraw four other papers. It was not the first time Dr. Ricaurte's lab was accused of using flawed studies to suggest that recreational drugs are highly dangerous. In previous years he was accused of publicizing doubtful results without checking them, and was criticized for research that contributed to a government campaign suggesting that Ecstasy made "holes in the brain." Dr. Ricaurte, a 50-year-old neurologist at Hopkins since 1988, is probably the best-known Ecstasy expert in the war on drugs. He has received $10 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, more than any other investigator of the amphetamine analogs known as designer drugs, club drugs or diet drugs, including MDMA, better known as Ecstasy, and its close relative MDA. He vigorously defends his work, saying much of it has been confirmed by other researchers, and arguing that he is often unfairly attacked by scientists who minimize the dangers of designer drugs because they want to use them in research. Johns Hopkins stands behind him. "The institution has every confidence in his ability," said Gary Stevenson, a spokesman. Of the primate study, he said Dr. Ricaurte "made an honest mistake, then discovered it and revealed it." But other scientists, and two human research subjects of Dr. Ricaurte's who came forward after the retraction, say they see a pattern of shaky research supporting alarmist press releases. It is hard to find impartial observers in the highly politicized debate over illegal drugs. But even three scientists whom Dr. Ricaurte cited in his own defense said that while his high media profile had made him a "whipping boy" for those favoring Ecstasy research, some of his best-known work has nonetheless been "sloppy" or "not as methodologically rigorous as you might want." Longtime critics are harsher. "It's hard to trust George," said Dr. Julie Holland, a professor of psychiatry at New York University who has edited a book on Ecstasy and wants to test it in psychotherapy. She accused him of "playing games with his data" to win more federal grants by making the drugs look bad. Dr. Richard J. Wurtman, a prominent clinician at Harvard and M.I.T. who has clashed with Dr. Ricaurte, accused him of "running a cottage industry showing that everything under the sun is neurotoxic." For 20 years, Dr. Ricaurte has produced studies saying the amphetamine analogs may cause the tremors of Parkinsonism, depression and memory and sleep problems. But the consensus among many amphetamine researchers, Dr. Ricaurte included, is that there is no proof thus far that Ecstasy causes permanent human brain damage. In animal studies, very high doses have destroyed serotonin-pathway nerves, which convey pleasure and affect memory and appetite. Just last month Dr. Stephen J. Kish of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto published a review of all Ecstasy research, including Dr. Ricaurte's, and concluded that there was no evidence that Ecstasy caused the tremors of Parkinsonism or any other brain damage "with the possible (but as yet unproven) exception of mild memory loss." Some heavy users have memory problems, but no studies prove the loss is permanent, or that it is caused by Ecstasy rather than other drugs in the mix that virtually all heavy users take. Ecstasy — invented in Germany in 1912 by Merck Pharmaceuticals in its search for an anti-bleeding drug — has been outlawed in the United States since 1985, a decision that Dr. Ricaurte has taken partial credit for. Since about 1970, when it was called Adam, some psychiatrists had tried giving low doses to trauma victims; in 1985, they stopped, fearing arrest. Dr. Holland says it relieves anxiety-provoking memories like a sedative, but as an amphetamine, it does not induce sleep. Patients "want to talk things through." As a potent painkiller, she said, it also may help the terminally ill. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a study in traumatized crime victims who have failed to respond to antidepressants. A study of rape victims is under way in Spain, and another one in the United States is proposed for depressed patients with terminal cancer. When Dr. Ricaurte's 2002 primate study was published, his critics said he could not possibly have given "typical recreational doses" if 2 of 10 animals died and two others collapsed of heatstroke. According to an annual federal survey, almost 10 million Americans have tried Ecstasy. Few have died. "Those dead animals should have sent up a red flag," said Dr. Charles R. Schuster, a former director of the national drug institute whom Dr. Ricaurte has called a mentor. "The better part of valor would have been to not publish until it was repeated." Dr. Ricaurte said such arguments "do not hold water," since animal deaths are common in amphetamine research, and two is too few to compare to human death rates. Dr. Nora Volkow, the new director of the national drug institute, declined to pass judgment on his whole body of work, but called his latest error "crying wolf and losing your credibility." Because of it, she said, she spent a weekend checking the agency's Web page on the dangers of Ecstasy "to make sure it was not overstated." The agency had already removed all current references to another well-known study from the site, one from 1998 by Dr. Ricaurte and his wife, Dr. Una McCann. Dr. Volkow described it as using "methodologies that were not optimal." Pictures from the study — PET scans of the brains of Ecstasy users — were used on a famous postcard from the drug agency, "Plain Brain/Brain After Ecstasy." The postcards were distributed to thousands of teenagers and implied that Ecstasy users had shrunken brains with holes in them. The study had nothing to do with holes, but with serotonin levels, which Dr. Ricaurte found drastically depleted in 14 subjects who had taken Ecstasy 70 to 400 times. Dr. Marc Laruelle, a Columbia University PET scan specialist, called the work so technically flawed that it was "something to put under the rug." He cited a recent German study showing that serotonin decreased only modestly and returned to normal within six weeks. The Hopkins team, he said, presented its data in logarithmically compressed graphs that seemed calculated to mask the fact that it had found impossible results: its 15 "control" subjects had serotonin levels 50 times normal. Dr. Ricaurte defended the study, saying his recalculation technique was common when results from two groups varied widely, although he said he no longer used it. Of the photos, Dr. Ricaurte said he had no control over what the national drug institute did with his work, but he had asked an agency official to fix their "poor quality." In the 1990's, Dr. Ricaurte was involved in a dispute over the danger of dexfenfluramine, another amphetamine analog sold in Europe as a prescription diet drug. In 1994, a company founded by Dr. Wurtman, director of clinical research at the Harvard-M.I.T. health science division, sought F.D.A. permission to market it in the United States. Dr. Ricaurte released a study saying it caused brain damage; that was immediately disputed by an Environmental Protection Agency study that found it did no permanent harm. In September 1995, Dr. Mark E. Molliver, a Hopkins colleague who frequently published with Dr. Ricaurte, presented slides to an advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration showing Alzheimer's-like brain tangles. Dr. Wurtman, who contacted The New York Times after the Science article retraction, said that Dr. Molliver, with Dr. Ricaurte in the audience, misled the committee by implying the damage was done by dexfenfluramine. In an interview, Dr. Molliver called that "a blatant lie," and asserted that he had clearly said he was showing damage done by similar drugs. Dr. Ricaurte agreed. But transcripts of a follow-up hearing in November 1995 provided by Dr. Wurtman show that several panelists and the F.D.A.'s expert were confused and believed that Dr. Molliver had been showing dexfenfluramine damage. Ultimately the drug was not approved. For a week in 1996, Greg M. was one of Dr. Ricaurte's lab subjects. At the time, he said, he was using large amounts of Ecstasy, marijuana, LSD, cocaine, amphetamines and heroin. After seeing the retraction of the primate study, he contacted The Times, and persuaded a friend who had accompanied him to call, too. The two revealed their names and occupations but declined to be fully identified for fear their former drug use would hurt their careers. Greg is a graduate student in chemistry at a leading university. His friend, who said he used to follow Grateful Dead tours selling up to 10,000 doses of LSD a month, now works at a West Coast law firm and is in line for a federal job. Curious to see if they had damaged their brains, and enticed by a promise of $100 a day and a free East Coast trip, they enlisted. Although the two used many drugs, the research assistant who interviewed them by phone told them what not to admit to her if they wanted to be in the study, Greg said. They were instructed to avoid all drugs for three weeks to avoid tainting the study; Greg says he had used heroin five days earlier. They and other Ecstasy users flown in from the West Coast took memory tests while still jet-lagged, they said. Then after lumbar punctures to check serotonin levels, neither was given the usual night's rest to prevent fierce headaches. They had to carry their backpacks across campus and be wired up for a sleep study, which Greg argued could not reflect normal sleep patterns because they were in pain. Both had subsequent tests after shots of morphine and a drug, mCPP, that causes the same eyeball twitching and teeth-grinding as Ecstasy, but none of the euphoria. Then they had PET scans. Dr. Ricaurte said his research protocols are approved by university committees. He acknowledged testing sedated or jet-lagged subjects, but argued that he had always noted that limitation in his published papers, and switched to testing in early mornings when jet lag was minimal. Test subjects who get lumbar punctures are warned about headaches, and given rest and painkillers, he said. To weed out subjects who confound results by using other drugs, Dr. Ricaurte said, his staff quizzed volunteers and did blood and urine tests. His papers acknowledge that hair tests, which can show many drugs taken even months back, would have been more accurate. (Dr. Laruelle, who does PET scans of Ecstasy users, rejects subjects with hair less than an inch long.) Told that Greg had used heroin without getting caught, Dr. Ricaurte said that was "unfortunate." But like all drug researchers, he said it was impossible to find heavy Ecstasy users who used no other drugs. His papers, he said, always warn that poor performance by heavy Ecstasy users may have been caused by other drugs. His critics say that such fine-print disclaimers are not enough, that all mental tests on multiple-drug users are pointless and cannot be used as evidence that one particular drug damages the brain. Greg's friend reiterated that he had been badly treated and said he felt the research was skewed to prove he was brain-damaged. "Most of the people I used to do drugs with are pretty screwed up," he admitted. "But if Ricaurte's studies are true, Greg and I should both be dead. We ate grams a night of pharma-grade stuff." Nonetheless, he said: "We're fairly intelligent, rational guys. We had a stretch of three or four years where we really blew ourselves out. But we're still smart and ambitious. Some of their assertions about long-term brain damage are way off." Man Kills His Wife, Self During Counseling Wendy Thermos, Los Angeles Times- 12/3/2003 A man shot and stabbed his wife to death during a marriage counseling session Tuesday, then fatally shot himself as their horrified psychologist fled to another suite in a Sherman Oaks office tower. Police who swarmed the second floor of 15720 Ventura Blvd. within minutes after the 12:45 p.m. murder-suicide found the woman dead and her husband lying critically injured nearby with a gunshot wound to the head. He died about an hour later at a hospital, Los Angeles Police Lt. Art Miller said. The identities of the couple, described only as middle-aged, were not released pending notification of next of kin. Det. Rick Swanston said the husband became infuriated during the therapy session because his wife said she wanted a divorce. The man shot his wife once with a semiautomatic pistol and then stabbed her several times with a knife, Capt. Jim Cansler said. Clinical psychologist Danesh Faroughi was shaken but unhurt after narrowly escaping the violence. In an interview, the psychologist gave this account: The couple were "having troubles" typical in a marriage and the man's anger escalated during the joint counseling session. The psychologist told the husband to "calm down." Without warning, the man pulled a gun and pointed it at his wife. As Faroughi reached for the phone to call police, the man tersely ordered him to put down the receiver. "He pointed the gun at me," Faroughi said, adding that normally he has no fear of clients, but he believed the man was about to shoot him. Faroughi ran from the office as a single shot was fired behind him. Yelling "Call 911! Call 911!" to a puzzled receptionist behind glass doors at a securities brokerage, he darted down a carpeted hallway about 50 feet to the office of a friend, insurance broker Solomon Sage, who locked the door and dialed police. The two men waited tensely for about five minutes until officers came to Sage's suite. "We didn't know where the husband was. We didn't know he had shot himself. We thought he might be in the hallway," Sage said. "The police came to our door within five minutes, so then we felt safe." Other nearby tenants in the six-floor building, occupied by about 100 business and professional offices, said they neither saw nor heard anything because their doors to the hallway were closed as is typical. "I saw the doctor running down the hall, shouting," said Cynthia Cruz, a receptionist sitting behind large glass panels at Wedbush Morgan Securities, next to Faroughi's office. "I called 911, but I didn't know anything about the shooting until the police came." Julianne Pogue, a licensed marriage counselor who shares a waiting room with Faroughi, said she arrived later than planned at 1 p.m. Only one person was in the waiting room and perhaps one other therapist, also sharing space, was behind a door with a client in an adjoining room, Pogue said. "I'm really shaken by this. Thank God I was running late." Warrants: Limbaugh Was 'Doctor Shopping' Associated Press, 12/4/2003 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.— Investigators who raided the offices of Rush Limbaugh's doctors said in search warrants filed Thursday that the conservative radio commentator engaged in illegal drug use and "doctor shopping" for prescription painkillers. The warrants which name four doctors and several prescription drugs show investigators were looking for medical, insurance and appointment records for Limbaugh, as well as cash receipts and prescription forms, when they raided two offices Nov. 25. No charges have been filed and no arrests have been made. "Mr. Limbaugh's actions violate the letter, and spirit" of the law that relates to doctor shopping, stated one of warrants, signed by Asim Brown, a law enforcement agent assigned to the state attorney's office anti-money laundering task force. Doctor shopping refers to looking for a doctor willing to prescribe drugs illegally, or getting prescriptions for a single drug from more than one doctor at the same time. "The prescriptions were issued sometimes in the same week and less than 30 days apart," the warrants said. "Mr. Limbaugh alternated physicians to obtain overlapping prescriptions" and failed to tell each doctor that he was seeing others. Limbaugh denied any wrongdoing to listeners on his radio show earlier Thursday and accused prosecutors in Palm Beach County of going on a "fishing expedition." Reading from a statement prepared by his attorney Roy Black, Limbaugh said the medical records will clear him. "What these records show is that Mr. Limbaugh suffered extreme pain and had legitimate reasons for taking pain medication," Limbaugh said. "Unfortunately, because of Mr. Limbaugh's prominence and well-known political opinions, he is being subjected to an invasion of privacy no citizen of this republic should endure." State Attorney Barry Krischer said in a statement that Limbaugh's rights have been "scrupulously protected." "Whether Mr. Limbaugh is subject to prosecution for any crimes is still under investigation. Mr. Limbaugh is presumed innocent," Krischer said. The warrants, filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, show that prosecutors began investigating in December 2002 after Limbaugh's former maid, Wilma Cline, told them she sold Limbaugh "large quantities of hydrocodone, Oxycontin and other pharmaceutical drugs in Palm Beach County over the course of many years." Cline provided investigators with e-mails and answering machine recordings to support her claims, according to the warrants. The medical offices were raided after investigators examined records from Palm Beach pharmacies near Limbaugh's $24 million oceanfront mansion that they say support the doctor-shopping allegations. The records seized in the raids list prescriptions for more than 2,100 pills from March 24 through Sept. 26. The medications include the powerful painkillers Oxycontin, Lorcet, Norco, hydrocodone and Kadian. In addition, Limbaugh received prescriptions for the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, the cholesterol-lowering drug Niacin, and Clonodine, which treats high blood pressure. Two of the four search warrants filed Thursday in Palm Beach Circuit Court were executed at the offices of Jupiter Outpatient Surgery Center. A third was executed at Palm Beach Ear, Nose and Throat Association in Palm Beach Gardens. A fourth for the same location has not yet been executed. The physicians named in the warrants are Nathaniel Drourr, Antonio De La Cruz, Lawrence Deziel and John Murray. Drourr and officials at both centers declined comment, citing privacy laws. Murray did not return a phone call seeking comment, and the other doctors could not be immediately reached. Limbaugh was absent from his show for five weeks recently while spending time at a drug rehabilitation program because of his addiction to prescription painkillers. Previously, law enforcement sources in Palm Beach County confirmed that a criminal investigation into a prescription drug ring involved Limbaugh. Last month, a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity said authorities also were investigating the money trail related to Limbaugh's drug purchases. Limbaugh allegedly withdrew cash 30 to 40 times at amounts just under the $10,000 limit that requires a bank to report the transaction to the federal government. The radio host responded with a blanket denial of the allegations during his third day back on the air. Limbaugh, reading from his lawyer's statement, said Thursday, "Let us make our position clear: Rush Limbaugh is not part of a drug ring. He was never a target of a drug investigation. He became addicted to a prescription drug during legitimate medical treatment. He has publicly admitted this problem and has successfully sought treatment which continues today." Doctor Who Detoxed Stars Cited Chuck Philips, Los Angeles Times. 12/4/2003 The state medical board has accused Dr. David A. Kipper, a Beverly Hills physician with a celebrity clientele, of overprescribing habit-forming drugs and running an illegal detoxification program for addicts. Kipper, an internist with no training in addiction medicine, has offered a detoxification regimen to celebrity patients for years. Treating them in their homes or in luxury hotels, he used a variety of medications to wean addicts off drugs quickly and painlessly. In Hollywood circles, the program was long seen as a discreet alternative to traditional drug rehabilitation, which can last months and require years of follow-up therapy. In a complaint dated Nov. 26 and served on Kipper Wednesday, the medical board contended that he violated state health and safety codes by operating an unlicensed detox program at locations where such treatment is prohibited, including hotel suites, the estates of several patients and his Beverly Hills office. The 44-page document also charges Kipper with gross negligence, contending that he repeatedly prescribed excessive amounts of dangerous drugs. The complaint seeks revocation of Kipper's medical license. Kipper's patients include entertainment executives, producers, actors and musicians. The complaint cites eight patients, identified by their initials. Kipper declined to comment. His attorney, John Harwell, said a tentative settlement that would allow Kipper to keep his license had been submitted to the board. Board officials declined to comment on the proposed settlement. The complaint follows a protracted legal battle between the board and Kipper, who had refused to surrender some patient records on grounds of confidentiality. Ultimately, a court ordered Kipper to turn over the files and pay a $90,000 fine plus fees. Authorities began investigating Kipper five years ago, after an article in The Times reported that he was running an unorthodox detox program at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, next door to his office. The article quoted Kipper as saying he had detoxified more than 40 addicts at the Peninsula and that his program, which included the use of buprenorphine, a powerful synthetic opiate, might not be "completely legal." It was illegal to use buprenorphine for detoxification in the U.S. when Kipper was treating addicts at the Peninsula and the patients cited in the board's complaint. The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of buprenorphine for detoxification in October 2002, but set strict conditions which Kipper had not met. According to the complaint, Kipper gave one patient 110 injections of buprenorphine during a 140-day detoxification at the patient's home. Kipper allegedly gave another patient 120 doses of the drug. The board also criticized Kipper for prescribing habit-forming medications to some patients after he had detoxified them. Kipper told The Times in 1998 that he used buprenorphine "specifically for heroin detoxification," but wrote on patients' medical charts that he was prescribing the drug for pain relief, then the only permissible use. After the Times article appeared, Beverly Hills officials told the Peninsula and other hotels that it was illegal for doctors to detoxify addicts on their premises. The management of the Peninsula then barred Kipper from treating patients at the hotel. Sources said the internist continued to detox affluent addicts at unlicensed facilities, including the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. The medical board complaint says that Kipper's treatments frequently were not effective and that several of his patients quickly relapsed. Drinking Linked to Tissue Loss in Brain Associated Press, 12/5/2003 DALLAS -- Low to moderate drinking may cause a loss of brain tissue in middle-aged people, a study found. The researchers also found that such alcohol consumption does not lower the risk of a stroke -- contradicting findings from previous studies. "I think this is an interesting study because people talk about the beneficial effects of alcohol intake on cardiovascular disease and they try to extend that to stroke," said the study's lead researcher, Dr. Jingzhong Ding, a research associate at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "Some studies find beneficial effects, but ours didn't." Heavy drinking is known to raise the risk of both brain atrophy and stroke, but findings on the effects of low to moderate drinking have varied. The new study appears in today's issue of the American Heart Association journal Stroke. It moves doctors a step closer to understanding what amounts of alcohol are harmful, said Dr. Edgar J. Kenton III, a professor of clinical neurology at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Ding said researchers cannot make a definitive cause-and-effect link between drinking and brain atrophy because the MRIs were done only once during the study and because they found only a small reduction in tissue. Female Alcohol Abusers Carry Complicated Burdens Medical science has confirmed the old stereotype about alcohol and the sexes: Women get
drunk faster than men. Women drinkers also run a greater risk of liver disease and brain
damage. A new study shows women get worse hangovers. But is our knowledge of alcohol and
the female body enough to help the estimated 4 million American women who are problem
drinkers? "Prevention is the weakest area," said Edith Gomberg, a retired
University of Michigan psychologist who studied women and alcohol for more than 20 years.
"We're better at patching people up, but not at heading them off." Montrose Center Celebrates Gay Health Grant Staffers at Houston's Montrose Counseling Center gathered today to celebrate a $100,000 federal grant to provide counseling and other mental health services to members of the city's gay, lesbian and transgender community. The grant, which came through an "earmark" to last year's federal appropriations bill, will make up for some of the funding cuts subsequently imposed by President Bush's administration, said Ann Robison, executive director of the nonprofit counseling center. U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, was responsible for adding the grant to the funding bill, Robison said. She said gays and lesbians often are not well served by traditional mental health providers, who often lack a full understanding of the community's culture. "When they come here, they don't have to explain to us what it's like to be gay," Robison said. The center recently gained accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, which increases the likelihood that insurance plans will cover the services it provides, Robison said. She said 80 percent of the center's clients receive service for free or for a nominal cost.
Thanks to Online Pharmacies, Addiction is Close By WASHINGTON -- Kelly Knable, a 34-year-old mother of three from the Richmond, Va.,
suburb of Powhatan, didn't have time to be sick. So when Knable was recovering from
surgery that fused several vertebrae in 1998, her doctor minimized her downtime by placing
her on a regimen of prescription drugs: first a narcotic called Lortab, then a
non-narcotic painkiller called Ultram. For more than two years, she took two 50-milligram
Ultram tablets three or four times a day, which allowed her to maintain her busy schedule. Francine Haight will never forget the day she found her son Ryan, a high school senior,
lifeless, in his bed. "I tried to resuscitate him," Haight, said crying. But it
was too late. Doctors found that Ryan Haight, an honor student who was barely 18, had died
of an overdose of powerful prescription painkillers, a verdict that shocked his mother.
"I was just, 'Oh my God - hydrocodone, morphine, morphine. How did he get
morphine?" she recalled. It turned out that some of the drugs that killed the La
Mesa, Calif., teen on Feb. 12, 2001 came from nationpharmacy.com, a Norman, Okla.-based
Internet drug store owned by pharmacist Clayton Fuchs, who also ran other similar Web
sites.
|