Think Don't Drink

Unpopular Opinion: I cannot fathom the idea of drinking wine or anything alcohol base when and if I get pregnant. If you are expecting and a glass of wine sounds appealing remember your child is always growing. You are hurting your child for your selfish act, and I feel like if you chose a sip of alcohol over your baby then you are an unfit mother. I am seriously in rage to know some people are living with this syndrome, something that can be completely prevented due to a selfish mother.

Ok, now on to the actual post that I meant to write.

What is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome? Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is caused when high level of alcohols was consumed by the mother during pregnancy. This causes the fetus to develop in odd patterns of mental and physical ways -  affecting his or her entire life. In the United States alone 1 in every 750 infants is born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS).

What are the symptoms? Before I go any further, some of these physical attributes doesn’t necessary mean they have it, other things could’ve happened. DON’T POINT FINGERS AND SCOWL THE MOTHER. Just to name a few here are some:

Physical:

• smaller eye openings
• flattened cheekbones
• short nose
• thin upper lip
• undeveloped jaw

Mental:

• poor coordination
• poor socialization skills
• lack of imagination or curiosity
• behavioral problems 

When they are born they tend to be low birth weight as well as have a small head not to mention have organ dysfunction. Here is a picture of things to look at.

not much of an educational video, but I commend this woman for adopting a child with FAS.

Drugs Are the Religion of the People — The Only Hope is Dope

I have always been fascinated with LSD, the way people react differently to it. Those “trips” aren’t hallucinations, but a different perception of reality. You hear color, and look at music. Your IQ skyrockets, and you see things that aren’t there you see everything differently. These “trips” can last an hour even up to 12 hours but to some people they last a life time. This drug absolutely fascinates me. If you put one drop of it in the Rio Grande River you will see the effects of the people and other living things. Some people claim you aren’t living until you use LSD.

Some of the physiological changes that happen to the body are: dilated pupils, increase in blood pressure, high body temperature. Some people experience sweaty palms, dizziness, blurred vision, tingling of the limbs – but over all they feel happy and at peace in this euphoric stage of life.

LSD stimulates the hormone Serotonin. LSD doesn't block serotonin from filling the receptors, it mimics and enhances the effects of serotonin within the body. Since serotonin is responsible for sensory and emotional processing, creating these psychedelic experience.

LSD doesn’t kill people, it is the poor judgment, skewed perception, and lose inhibition is what physically harms them, if not, kills them. You hear it all the time on the news of people killing themselves over what their mind is on. I knew of this one girl that saw her own vain on her wrist and decided to cut her arm to see how “pretty” her veins were. She died.

Although people say they are addicted to the drug, they are actually talking about the feeling of it. LSD isn’t an addictive drug by any means, there isn’t a rehab center for it. If people regularly use it are the people that only do it once a week, as it is if you use it twice a week you are consider a “heavy user.” Every trip is different, and you are gambling to see if you will have a “good” trip or a “bad” one. Other drug users need that stable and consistent trip, hence why they become addicted to their respective drug of choice.

This is a documentary that I saw, super amazing. I warn you it is about an hour long. But if you want to experience a "trip" look at the bottom picture for a minute and then look at the wall.

YOU'RE WELCOME.

Korsakoffs Syndrome; What is it?

As I was reading the other day something interested me right away – Korsakoff’s syndrome. I kept reading but my mind was now wondering what is it? Is it contagious? Is it named after the person it was discovered by? These are the thoughts that haunt me (and get me distracted).

 So what is Korsakoff’s syndrome? It is (from further research) a neurological disorder associated from lack of thiamine, Vitamin B1, in the brain. From further inspection the syndrome really is named after the person who discovered it; his name is Sergei Korsakoff a neuropsychiatrist of Russian descant during the 19th century.

What are the symptoms? The symptoms are vague and can be for anything else (DON’T JUMP THE GUN THINKING YOU HAVE THIS!) it includes confusion, drowsiness, and difficulty with your balance.  Before you go running to your doctor, please read further to see if you really have something to worry about.

What causes it? I already mentioned that Korsakoff’s syndrome is caused by lack of thiamine, there is a correlation with the extreme amount of alcohol. It isn’t just the extreme amount of alcohol some people take in; it is the poor diets that go with it. Little to no nutrition ergo lack of B1. But this isn’t just a syndrome for the alcoholic, it is for anyone with a poor diet. It can be eating disorders, or extreme dieting. Basically anything “extreme” with your dieting.

Is it treatable? In a more perfect world we would say “yes, if it is caught early” but most of the time people are diagnosed with it already ‘fully developed.’ The treatment is just as life changing as the syndrome itself. Some people need to go cold turkey from the alcohol. This means that from one day to the next you change your alcohol intake from your usual 5+ to completely 0. From then they have to adopt a healthier lifestyle/diet. This doesn’t meant hat this can completely disregard your syndrome but it can prevent further damage and that is always better than nothing!

This syndrome really intrigued me, maybe because of the name? But you never lose anything with a little research, oh and thank you for reading. Remember...

Video for your viewing (educational) pleasure. It is really interesting to see people with the syndrome and how they are. Note: this video is a little old.

Animal research, how ethical are you?

What is your stance on animal research? Do you believe they should be used primarily for medical reasons? Or do you believe it should be used for everything else (i.e. cosmetics, cosmetic surgery, etc). One of the things that caught my attention in the readings was that of Animal research. First thing that popped into mind, was People Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA for short. I was surprised that their name did not come about in this module. My stance for Animal research is in a grey area, and I am sure most people’s it is too. I do believe in it for medical research, but for cosmetics surgery? Not too sure on it. You hear of these cruelty free cosmetics everywhere, and it sounds too good to be true, but how do we know if it is good for us to wear without extensive tests? I am no stranger to buying cruelty free makeup, and I will be the first to tell you it is gambling. Sometimes you will get a reaction with the foundation, or a sty in your eye due to the mascara, so there are some things that is better to let it be tested than messed with.

My opinion is just that, an opinion. With animal research it is better to be safe than sorry. If it can either be replaced, refined, or reduced as much as possible it would be best; I guess, I can consider myself a minimalist? I hear it on the news all the time about extremist using violence to get their message across that they hate what researchers are doing, but aren’t they the ones hurting living beings too? Taunting kids because of their parent’s occupation, disturbing the peace, bombing houses? If they get their message across what will happen then? Our science will not progress as fast as it does with animal research. Do these people really love animals or do they just really hate people? Maybe one day our science will be advance enough to eliminate our usage of animals, but for now we have to make do with what we got. For more pro’s on animal testing click here.

The short list of a few examples of medical advancements found through animal testing: 

• VACCINES- Anthrax, chicken pox, cholera, diphtheria, flu, influenza B, hepatitis A and B, measles, mumps, polio, rabies, rubella, smallpox, tetanus, whooping cough, yellow fever
• MEDICATIONS- Insulin, penicillin, streptomycin, anti-inflammatory drugs, painkillers, anticoagulants, chemotherapy, cyclosporine
• DEVICES- Pacemakers, artificial heart, artificial hip, artificial knee

Another amazing video can be found here (they disabled embedded sharing)