Many medications designed to help people fall or stay asleep are sedative-hypnotic products, which, the FDA warns, can lead to side effects more severe than users may be expecting. These side effects may include eating, driving, making phone calls and even having sex while asleep. The user is usually left with little to no recollection of the events in the morning. While these side effects pose obvious dangers to the patient, the FDA’s website states that other side effects, while rare, include severe allergic reactions and facial swelling, “which can occur as early as the first time the product is taken.” 

While these severe side effects are associated with prescription sleep medications, over-the-counter medications are also available and non-habit-forming. These medications do not carry the risk of allergic reactions or any of the more severe side effects associated with prescription sleep medications. However, they also do not have the “same level of precision” as prescription medications and can cause people to feel drowsy for longer than eight hours, which can lead to anything from a lack of concentration in class to poor reaction time.

To improve sleep without drugs, Dr. Paul Mikowski, a psychologist at the Hammond Health Center who runs a meditation group, suggests avoiding caffeine, and even chocolate, after dinner. Try to go to bed at the same time each night, and wake up at the same time every morning to set a pattern. 

“I know as a college student it is tempting to wake up at different times, and it isn’t always possible to set a pattern,” Mikowski said, “but the closer you adhere to these principles, the more sleep will be improved.”

Mikowski also said that de-stressing is important because being stressed has very harmful effects on sleep. He said that stress can cause the body to revert back to a primitive state during sleep. This can cause a person to wake up frequently because the body has reverted back to a time when it was necessary to sleep lightly to avoid being caught off-guard by an animal attack.

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For more information on side effects of sleep medication, go to: http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm107757.htm

For Dr. Mikowski’s podcasts on improving sleep: http://www.ithaca.edu/sacl/counseling/docs/crisismeditationmp3

-Nikki Black

Image by David Lurvey

The unhealthy ways companies sell us their drugs

By Isabel Braverman

Everyone knows the shtick—you go to the doctor’s office, talk for 20 minutes about what is ailing you, the doctor gives you a prescription and you go to the pharmacy to pick it up. No one ever questions this age-old practice, yet there is still an underlying sketchiness. What exactly is in the medicine that doctors give us?

There are many answers to this question, and most of them are unethical. It’s clear that drug companies have a hidden agenda. They want to make the consumer believe that they need their product, even if that means making up a disease. Drug companies get through to consumers in two major ways: advertisements and doctors.

Everyone has seen drug commercials with attractive people riding bicycles or a mom in the park with her children. Somehow, these cliche and contrived ads sell drugs. These commercials ask general questions in order to make their drugs seem needed by all viewers, such as “Are you not getting enough sleep?” And it is no coincidence; drug companies know exactly what they’re doing. In fact, direct-to-consumer drug commercials are only legal in the U.S. and New Zealand, though there are many advocates for outlawing this practice. In other countries, drug commercials are banned.

Although they make it seem like they do, drug companies do not care much about people’s health. They are simply companies trying to make a profit in any way possible, even if that means harming the customer (ever really listen to the side effects at the end of a drug ad?)

“Drug advertisements to consumers are intended to make them buy, not to educate. They hurt, not help, public health,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization and a blogger for the Huffington Post.

According to Our Daily Meds by Melody Petersen, a former New York Times reporter, the drug company Warner-Lambert illegally sold neurontin, a drug used to treat epilepsy, as a treatment for bipolar disorder, migraines, attention deficit disorder in children and other conditions. The drug did not work, and many users were injured and wasted money and emotional energy.

How do they do this? Just like any other company, they appeal to the masses. “Advertising works,” Weissman said. “Advertising for drugs is no different than advertising for cars or candy bars.”

But the general public isn’t the only pool Big Pharma is persuading; doctors also fall for their trap. In fact, drug advertisements only account for less than a tenth of their industry’s marketing expenditures ($4 billion of $57.5 billion in 2004). The majority, 70 percent, of drug companies’ focus is aimed at doctors. Researchers Marc-Andre Gagnon and Joel Lexchin concluded in an issue of the journal PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science, that Big Pharma spends more than $20 billion a year on “detailers”—the drug company representatives that ply doctors with free coffee and lunches, distribute samples ($16 billion worth) and coerce doctors to prescribe their drugs. These companies also pay doctors to attend informational sessions about their product, provide consulting fees for services rendered and fund scientific research.

Everyone who has been to a doctor’s office knows it is laden with pens, calendars, clocks, coffee mugs and other paraphernalia bearing the emblems of different drug companies. It may seem like it is product placement for the patient, but really pharmaceutical companies give these free gifts to doctors in the hopes that they will subconsciously return the favor.

Drug companies did not attain their power by accident. They know what they are doing and exert control over every aspect of their campaigns. For example, a November 2005 New York Times article stated that drug companies recruit sales representatives from the likes of college cheerleaders. In the article, Dr. Thomas Carli of the University of Michigan said, “There’s a saying that you’ll never meet an ugly drug rep.”

The reason our population is over-medicated is traced to pharmaceutical companies. In her book, Petersen states Americans spent $250 billion on prescription drugs in 2005, more than they spent on gas or fast food in 2004. It seems shocking then that Americans are pooling their money into a product that is more dangerous than car accidents. Prescription pills are estimated to kill 270 Americans each day, twice as many as the number for car accidents (110). These are mostly caused by side effects which can be more damaging to patients than the original disease.

Not only can prescription drugs be harmful, but also unnecessary. For example, one study showed, in cases of depression, a placebo is 80 percent effective as an actual pill. The reason for this is because some doctors are more influenced by drug companies than actual research when determining which medicines are most effective.

As Petersen said in her book, “Patients do not get the best medicines for their ailments at the best prices… [They] suffer when they get the wrong drug because the industry’s powerful promotional forces have distorted the available medical information.”

These “medicine merchants,” as Petersen calls them, are so powerful they can create diseases. Petersen cites in her book a case where formerdrug manufacturer Pharmacia made a pill called Detrol to alleviate Pharmacia’s newly coined disease, “overactive bladder.” The company made people believe that going to the bathroom too much was not only a problem but a disease. However, many doctors said it was not a disease to be treated with medication but is a normal part of aging and should be changed by changing one’s habits. Pharmacia’s vice president, Neil Wolf, even held a presentation in January 2003 at the Pharmaceutical Marketing Global Summit titled “Positioning Detrol (Creating a Disease).”

The solution to this huge dilemma is for the government to exert more control over drug companies. If direct-to-consumer drug advertising were made illegal and doctors were not allowed to accept favors from the medicine merchants, then there would be a glimmer of hope that patients would receive medication they truly need and America would not be excessively drugged.

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Isabel Braverman is a sophomore journalism major who is never fooled by a placebo. E-mail her at ibraver1@ithaca.edu.

Image by Bryan Cipolla

How students illegally buy prescriptions to finish their work and have a good time

By Marc Phillips

When teenage smoking peaked in the 1970s, parents were urged to check their children for cigarettes. When underage drinking became prevalent in society, parents were commanded to put a lock on the family liquor cabinet. When prescription drug abuse soared among adolescents, watchdog organizations stressed the importance of flushing excess pills. But when parents send their children off to an independent college setting, without constant adult supervision, they wonder if any of the previous lessons stick.

In a study by Martha J. Farah, director at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, as many as 25 percent of students on some college campuses admitted to abusing prescription drugs. In fact, because there is little regulation of prescription medication and pills are so easy to conceal, it is almost impossible to actually enforce laws. It is illegal to re-sell prescription drugs, but when college students have five papers, two tests and an oral presentation due tomorrow morning, the temptation to ease a problem by popping a pill seems like a pleasant idea.

Adam* is an Ithaca College freshman who openly admits to buying prescription pills from a dealer on campus. Adderall, a drug typically prescribed to people with ADHD, is his pill of choice. He explained how $5 per capsule is the average, but it depends on the strength—initial or extended release. Adam has used Adderall to help him buckle down and concentrate during finals last fall.

“I only use [Adderall] every once in a blue moon,” he said. When on the drug, he is able to concentrate better. “I once knocked out a five-page paper in two hours,” he laughed.

At such an affordable price-point, it is no wonder why pills are seeing a surge in popularity.

“Almost 60 percent of students have been offered an opportunity to try prescription stimulants by their junior year of college in the United States,” said Amelia Arria, a senior researcher at the University of Maryland’s Center for Drug Abuse Research in a 2008 Reuters article.

Non-prescription users of Adderall call it the “study drug” and say how many extra hours of studying they are able to accomplish with the pill in their system. In a 2006 article, William Frankenberger, a psychology professor at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire stated, “If you can take a drug that allows you to stay awake through finals week and concentrate on relatively boring topics, you can see how the word would spread.” Frankenberger raises a valid point—instant-gratification is infectious. When work must be done in a timely manner, students will do anything it takes to compete with classmates.

The abuse of prescription pills can be severe, but with Adderall, the only negative side effect for Adam is a loss of appetite. In other people, the side effects can be as severe as dizziness, vomiting and weight-loss. Occasionally popping an “Addy”—the pill’s street name—should not cause the long-term effects listed above. However, prolonged usage can form a dependency and ruin one’s natural body chemistry. Adderall controls the brain’s neurotransmitters, which lends itself to addiction.

When I asked a group of my friends if they knew of any prescription drug dealers on campus, many initially gave a blank stare, followed with, “How do you not know a guy?” One might laugh at first, but in reality, there is a niche market on campus for ADHD medication. Alyssa* said, “There’s a guy in my building. I don’t use him, but I know of other people on my floor who stop there during midterms and finals.”

More sources for these quick-fix pills are appearing. Online pharmacies have grown in popularity due to the ease of use and 24/7 shopping hours. In 1999, Drugstore.com became one of the few websites given accreditation by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy. Anne Marshall, director of public relations for Drugstore.com, is not allowed to speak publicly about people using the website to abuse drugs. But she did explain the actual process for attaining legitimate pills.

All prescriptions must be verified with the patient and doctor. Copies of the doctor’s script can be faxed to Drugstore.com’s office for processing. The company sells legitimate prescriptions and cautions against dealing with shady pharmacies.

“Legitscript.com is a database for looking up safe online pharmacies,” Marshall said.

Image by Emily Miles

Sadly, with select students acting as dispensaries, the source of the pills can be vague. While excess pills are often sold, the rise of questionable online pharmacies has added fuel to this dangerous fire. Counterfeit drugs from illegitimate vendors make up the rest of this lucrative market. Buying one bottle of faux Adderall can fetch a drug dealer several hundred dollars; student clients are none the wiser. Some websites tout how no prescriptions are needed. But that is often a warning sign of illegal business.  Creative dealers could see this as an opportunity to pay for a semester’s worth of textbooks.

In addition to taking prescription Adderall and other ADHD medications, students have found another valuable commodity: painkillers. During the college years—ages 18 to 22—most oral surgeons recommend wisdom teeth removal. As a result, leftover Percocet can be sold for as much as $15 a pill, according to Alyssa. In reality, a patient will only need a few of them over a week to help reduce oral pain. However, patients may fib the number of pills they need in order to get extra dosages. One duped doctor often leads to a few extra crisp bills in an opportunistic patient’s wallet.

According to Brad Stone, director of communications for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), a 2008 study ranks the rate of incidence for illicit drugs at 19.6 percent for young adults between the ages of 18 to 25.

Stone said, “More information is available online, and we break down the data by geography and other various ways.” SAMHSA takes several influences into account when analyzing data such as age, gender, level of education, and ethnicity among other factors.

“Rates [of illicit drug abuse] have remained steady for the 18 to 25 age group,” Stone said.

Additionally, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health collects and analyzes data every year. It is still too early to view 2009’s findings, but according to past trends, the rates have reached a plateau.

Various interviews with Ithaca College students revealed many instances of prescription drug abuse begining in the suburbs. According to a 2008 Reuters story, the classic example is Sarah Roisman—a high school newspaper editor and star athlete. Roisman was from an upper-middle class suburb of Philadelphia and at age 11, she was prescribed Klonopin, a muscle relaxant, to quell seizures. The trouble began three years later at age 14… after the seizures ended. Roisman, who was addicted, and her friends would raid their medicine cabinets and try different drug cocktails to explore the effects. This youthful innocence towards trying lethal non-prescribed drugs continues to echo across college campuses.

Keeping up with the Joneses is the basis for prescription abuse in my affluent New Jersey suburb. During finals week at my high school, certain academically driven students would whisper about “popping an Addy” to complete Advanced Placement study guides in a few hours. Ten bucks seems like a small price to pay for an A. That’s not to say that all the successful people at my school popped pills.  Hard work and constant review will ultimately help students learn information the proper way.

Students often fancy pills to plow through piles of paperwork. While the problem may not be escalating on our campus, the fact of the matter is that it attracts the naïve. Students assume they are purchasing safe pills. The prescription pills sold at a typical CVS Pharmacy often bare striking resemblance to counterfeits from the Netherlands.

Students will always abuse prescription drugs—it’s a simple, irrefutable fact. Many abusers find something exhilarating about breaking the law, or “getting ahead” by whatever means necessary. By that same token, students should be educated about the side effects. The hours after the “crash.” For those who purchase pills in a bottle, warnings appear on the label. For those who pay-per-pill, a far-reaching PSA campaign should be targeted to 18 to 23 year olds. Risking one’s health for a good grade is never worth it.

“Get at least seven hours of sleep. Make sure you eat three meals a day and drink plenty of fluids. Make a study schedule and plan ahead; that way you are not cramming last minute,” recommended Nanette Vega, the director of the William W. Sandler Jr.  Center for Alcohol and other drug education at the University of Miami, in a 2008 Miami Hurricane story.

Over time, the drug du jour will lose its glory and eventually stagnate at lower levels of incidence. Just like cigarettes, we can only hope that enough students will see the firsthand effects of dependence and steer clear of the habit. But alas, there is an easy prescription for getting ahead on your paper! Log out of Facebook, clear off your desk, and crack open that once-used textbook—it’s time to work.

*Names of students have been changed.

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Marc Phillips is a freshman integrated marketing communications major. His anti-drug? Hugs. E-mail him at mphilli1@ithaca.edu.

Image by Hannah Knight

Why people should think twice before judging students who use drugs

By Quinton Saxby

It is quite an experience to walk around campus on a Sunday morning to find empty cans of Keystone and Bud Light strewn about like shrapnel.

Though students who come to college work hard to receive an education, they still find time to drink a lot of alcohol and smoke a lot of pot in four years of undergrad.

This is the “good time” that students find so alluring—finally away from parents and largely under the radar of adult society, they can now revel in pleasurable excess.

“When I first got here, my expectations were pretty much fulfilled,” said Jordan,* a freshman at Ithaca College. “Those crazy going-out weekends with drinking—those were my expectations and that’s what we do.”

But a “good time” is not the principle reason for students’ excessive consumption of mind-altering substances. Beneath many students’ perpetual search for pleasure and intoxication is a drive to escape from the less gratifying reality of school and expectations.

However, it would be inaccurate and patronizing to generalize students as shallow, pleasure-seeking and incapable of making rational decisions.  Instead, drinking and smoking patterns among college students are products of stress, expectations, the pressure to fit in and boredom.

Applying the term “self-medication” to the many forms of substance consumption is not too far off the mark.  Some students, whether consciously or subconsciously, are “self”-treating their unpleasant reality with the “medication” of alcohol or pot.  Medication is defined as a substance designed to treat a condition. So many students use these drugs to “treat” various anxieties.

In modern American culture, a lot of treatment is necessary.  Teenagers are forced to fill predetermined roles they might not find appealing: the student, the worker, the spouse, the parent, the retired and then the deceased.  This pressured environment causes college students to feel a sense of isolation as they attempt to embody the American Dream. Students are bored and lonely, disconnected from their studies, their social life and their identities.

Brian Karafin, an IC philosophy and religion professor, said that in modern Western culture, young adults find it very difficult to “find themselves.” That, “combined with the radical individualism of modern capitalist culture… forces people to try and initiate themselves.” Though they are forced to grow up in this damaging culture, students “still grow up, still need to share bonds with others, need to have some sense of a meaningful life-course, [and] need to know who they are,” he said.

Young adults are then forced to initiate themselves amidst a double standard in their society. On one hand, America’s drug of choice, alcohol, is seen as a great way to celebrate a football game, to toast a salary raise or to complement a big, fat cheeseburger. On the other hand, there’s a movement in colleges to stigmatize alcohol consumption, telling students that alcohol-free events are more fun. Colleges, like IC, focus more on chastising students for alcohol consumption instead of meeting them halfway, by signing something like the Good Samaritan policy which would be a compromise.

There’s another double standard between alcohol and pot: although they are both mind-altering drugs, pot has the added stigma of being illegal. This causes college officials, other authorities and even fellow students to pass moral judgment on students who smoke pot, while binge drinkers are just seen as a natural part of college.

“There are moral stigmas against pot,” said Pat,* an IC student. “There’s a negative stereotype against it, which I think is unmerited.”

Trying to grab a hold of some sense of identity or find satisfactory answers to life’s big questions is a confusing and conflicting process for students. Because of this, many students “medicate” themselves with alcohol or pot as a way of escaping and trying to make sense of aspects of life that really don’t make sense.

Tyler,* another IC student, argues that students do this the minute they set foot on campus.

“What’s one of the first things you might do? You drink.”

Karafin loosely compares the use of drugs in America to the idea of a “vision quest” in other cultures.

“All traditional cultures have rites of initiation,” Karafin said. “Often this requires a physical and psychic ordeal, as in Native Americans’ ‘vision quests’ in which the youth goes out into the wilderness alone, fasts and prays for a vision that will show him something of his path in life and role in the community.”

He said, however, in America, young people are dissatisfied with answers mainstream culture is providing them.

“The surrounding pop-culture is largely devoted to entertainment rather than psycho-spiritual guidance, so it doesn’t really help much when you’re facing your inner demons or forces of the mind.”

American college students are using drugs in an attempt to find some answers.

“At least for some people it is an escape route, especially after you’ve had a hard exam and all you want to do is not think about it anymore,” Tyler said.

According to this student, weekend drinking is fueled at least in part by a drive for escapism and a dissatisfaction with school. Escaping from one reality, some students drink and enter another, and the week is split between two different states of mind. Alcohol easily suppresses inhibitions temporarily.

“Alcohol makes you forget. You drink and you try to forget,” Tyler said.

Pot also helps students escape from their conflicted, stressful week.

“Pot lowers your inhibitions and allows you to be free and not really worry about things that would typically bog you down during the week,” Pat said.

Not only do drugs give students the chance to forget their anxieties, but it allows them to make awkward social situations a little less awkward. It’s easier for students in American colleges to conform by drinking or smoking than to make a public statement about their attitudes towards alcohol or pot.

“It’s a social thing,” said Julian Ciany, an IC sophomore. “You want to be included.”

Many students are especially vulnerable because of the isolating society they live in. American college students are so used to being independent that entering a room full of people with the purpose of solely socializing is in some ways unnatural, and alcohol or pot may be helpful in breaking down social barriers. Music is especially helpful in stemming awkwardness—imagine a party without constant background music.

Pat, who says she smokes pot on weekends, argued that pot not only lowers her inhibitions socially, but creatively as well.

“I’ve done a lot with drawing and sketching,” Pat said. “Pot has made a huge influence on that.”

Perhaps students feel disconnected from their creative side, a product of a society that forces them into conventional roles.

This unhealthy society calls for some treatment. Alcohol and pot therefore serve to aid students, playing very complex roles in a college environment. Whether these drugs allow students the opportunity to reduce tension, or act as social lubricants to deal with awkward situations, they ultimately provide some escape to students who are disillusioned with the answers given by an individualistic, materialistic American society. Students are dissatisfied with established roles, and react by finding new ways of thinking. If students are escaping, this means they are unhappy enough to leave behind old roles and try new ones that might go against the status quo.

“By encountering extremities of intoxication young people are testing themselves, seeing how they fare in the face of unleashed psychic forces,” Karafin said.

But whether or not students choose to do alcohol or pot or both, it is important not to moralize. Students choose to do these things not necessarily out of recklessness—there are bigger societal problems occurring, which may drive students to consume mind-altering substances. Whether these drugs can give satisfactory guidance is debatable, but students will continue to take the test.

*Names of students have been changed.

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Quinton Saxby got crunk after spending hours editing this article. E-mail him at qsaxby1@ithaca.edu.

Image by Emily Miles

Keep your cool while studying

By Kacey Deamer

t is finals week and you are sitting at a table in the library. It is well after midnight and your leg is shaking under the table as you clutch your pencil so tightly that your knuckles turn white. Your head feels like it is in a vice, slowly being compressed. At this point it feels as though you can’t continue on.

Stress. College. They go together like milk and cookies. However, stress is something you can manage, something you can prevent.

Everyday Health is an online network that provides up-to-date medical information to the public. In Jennifer Scott’s “College Life: 10 Ways to Reduce Stress” on its website, stress is defined as “when your tension level exceeds your energy level, resulting in an overloaded feeling.”

As a college student, the imbalance between tension and energy is common. One way to ensure that you don’t become overwhelmed by stress is to have a healthier lifestyle. Sleep more, eat better, exercise: the three things your parents, physician and teachers tell you. However, as a full time student living on campus, these tasks may seem nearly impossible.

Suggesting a lifestyle change is asking to not be a student, this is not an option. So how do you manage your stress while on campus?

The American Institute of Stress suggests activities such as “jogging and other aerobic exercises, different types of meditation, prayer, yoga and tai chi…” However, the AIS explained that while these actions may be highly beneficial for some people, others may find that they become bored, or possibly more stressed. The key is to try many different stress relievers to find which work best for you. The AIS also suggests trying muscle relaxation, such as massage or acupuncture.

As mentioned by the AIS, yoga can be a very successful stress reliever and it can also be easily accomplished in the college campus setting. Jessica Rodgers, a yoga teacher at Soma Yoga & Living Arts in downtown Ithaca, said that yoga relaxes the nervous system.

“In today’s world of non-stop communication, the mental activity is so excessive that the nervous system, for many, is constantly over-stimulated,” she said.

Essentially, this over stimulation causes the sympathetic nervous system’s—the part of the nervous system that deals with stress—“fight or flight” to be triggered on a more constant basis.

“The human body is not designed to run off the sympathetic system,” Rodgers said.

Yoga and meditation help to strengthen the relaxation response and with prolonged practice, it can reverse the reactionary state of the “fight or flight” response. Rodgers suggested the Viparita Karani pose for immediate stress relief. She said that the pose allows for more blood to circulate to the brain, which calms mental activity.

If the high stress situation is more similar to the one described above, lying down on the floor may not be an option—unless you don’t mind awkward stares from fellow library patrons. A simple breathing exercise that Rodgers suggests helps to “relax the breath.” How to? The primary thing is to learn to not stop the flow of breath for one to three minutes.

One other stress-relieving trick is to munch on food, which is what many students tend to do anyway.

“I definitely eat more when I’m stressed… maybe it is my natural reaction to stress,” freshman Madison Vander Hill said.

The key, however, is to snack on stress-free food. Health News, an online forum listing information on natural health, noted that foods high in vitamin C promote stress relief. Marie Claire’s consolidated list of nine foods that can help to reduce stress levels actually included oranges. It also suggested almonds and avocados, which help lower blood pressure. Dried apricots made the list due to their natural muscle relaxing ability. Other foods that made the list: sweet potatoes, turkey, spinach, salmon, green vegetables, pistachios and walnuts.

One item not on the list, but that Health News mentions is licorice. Also theanine—a natural ingredient in tea—is also noted as worthy of helping to relieve stress.

The annoying rants on the need to make a lifestyle change in order to reduce your stress and anxiety, which is never really an option, doesn’t help when you are in need of immediate stress relief. Instead of giving up or turning to unhealthy options, maybe you can go for a jog or grab a turkey and spinach sandwich. While these in-the-moment fixes may not keep the stress from returning, they can keep that vice from tightening more.

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Kacey Deamer is a freshman journalism major who wants you to go on http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/690 to learn the Viparita Karani.  E-mail her at kdeamer1@ithaca.edu.

By Carly Sitzer

When I’m sick, you’ll hear very little talk of aspirin or antibiotics in my house. Instead, there’s one remedy, no matter what the ailment is: chicken noodle soup. My grandma’s soup, which no one can seem to duplicate—although many have tried and failed—has the perfect balance of spices and simplicity. The soft, spiral noodles soak up the flavor of the broth, which is enhanced by the small pieces of chicken. All I have to do is smell the soup when my grandma walks in the door and I’m immediately feeling better. 

“I swear by it,” my grandmother said of her famous soup. “It makes everyone feel better, even if they aren’t sick!”

Research done at the University of Nebraska Medical center has found that it’s more than the love my grandma puts into her soup that makes me feel better—chicken soup is actually beneficial to the sick and helps the body fight the common cold. Chicken soup prohibits the movement of neutrophils released by viral infections, which are white blood cells that eat the bad bacteria. The movement of neutrophils to different areas of the body, such as the bronchial tubes, stimulates the release of mucous and causes congestion. Additionally, the hot soup can act as an anti-inflammatory that helps fight a sore throat, the flu or the common cold. While the biological benefits of chicken soup have been proven by research, work is still being done on whether an apple a day keeps the doctor away or if going out with your wet hair will make you catch pneumonia. 

Although chicken soup may seem like a silly alternative to traditional medication, there are many things sick people can do today other than stop by the pharmacy. One popular alternative is herbalism, also known as herbology, which is defined as the use of plants for medicinal purposes. While it may sound like something from the world of Harry Potter, herbology has a huge presence beyond Hogwart’s classes with Professor Sprout—and you don’t even have to worry about the screaming Mandrakes! 

The study of herbs and their use as medicine dates back further than recorded history. Herbalism crosses many cultures, and there is evidence of the medicinal use of plants by the ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans. It’s widely believed that modern, chemical-medicinal practices are rooted in herbalism; additionally, there are still many people who use herbal medication today. The modern practices of herbalism have come a long way since Pliny was creating and prescribing concoctions to ancient Greeks. 

According to research from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 38 percent of American adults use some kind of complementary or alternative medication regularly. 

One of the appeals of herbal medication—according to CoreyPine Shane, a clinical herbalist and a ’92 alum of Ithaca College—are the long term effects herbs offer that mainstream, modern medicine does not. While he appreciates the immediate effects of conventional medicine, it’s the continuing effects that make herbal medicine an ideal choice. 

“For example, arthritis. Modern medicine can give an anti-inflammatory and keep giving the anti-inflammatory to help reduce the pain, but it won’t do anything to really bring about a cure for the disease,” Shane said. “We have herbs that can help, for example, to increase circulation in the joints and therefore bring blood and nutrients in and take waste products out. So after taking herbs for a while, people would actually feel better rather than just the immediate reduction of pain. In other words, the joint will actually be healthier, rather than just temporarily not having as much pain.”

Shane first got into the field of herbology while attending Ithaca College, when he met with local herbalist 7Song, the director of the Ithaca’s Northeast School of Botanical Medicine. Shane now runs his own school, the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine in Weaverville, N.C. 

Allison Lopatkin, a freshman at the University of Rochester, sees both an herbalist and an acupuncturist for medical consultations. She has had several experiences where conventional remedies failed, but herbal medicines were able to provide solutions. 

“In my experience, there are some cases where modern medicine can only do so much, and the only treatments that have actually worked are alternative herbal remedies with things such as pain and immune system response,” Lopatkin said. “Traditional medicine has countless strong chemicals and unknown interactions both with other medicines and the body. I feel much more comfortable relying on natural remedies that have been around for thousands of years.”

Of course, professional herbalists like Shane agree that even with the benefits of herbal medicine, modern medicine still has an important place in the medical world. “Conventional medicine does a great job at some stuff; if someone has appendicitis, a kidney infection—I’m not going to treat it with herbs,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that alternative medicines aren’t recognized as legitimate treatments because they are much safer, more natural,” Lopatkin said. 

In any case, in a world where chicken soup has been proven—by scientists and grandmothers—to have health benefits, it’s important to keep an open mind when it comes to medicinal strategies. 

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Carly Sitzer is a freshman journalism major who eats an apple a day. With peanut butter. E-mail her at csitzer1@ithaca.edu.

Image by Ciara Goldman

How birth control’s side effects may harm women

By Kayla Gomula

According to Planned Parenthood’s website, a birth control pill is safe, effective, and convenient. The website states that some birth control side effects are bleeding between periods, tender breasts, nausea and vomiting. The rest of the side effects are general warnings, which could easily make a girl trying to prevent pregnancy think that birth control is simple, sometimes having only a few disadvantages.

Although it seems as if birth control information is well-known, or at least readily available from healthcare providers and the media, many women are still having problems with their birth control. As of mid-February, over a thousand lawsuits have been filed against Yaz, the number one selling birth control pill in the country. Women are claiming that they have suffered greatly, with the most severe cases being strokes and heart arrhythmia, seizures, deep vein thrombosis, eye occlusions and kidney failure.

Birth control companies are known for using commercials to reach out to women looking for new methods of contraception. A majority of most commercials’ time is spent advertising the product’s benefits. When it came time to list the undesired side effects in a Yaz commercial, all that were listed were blood clots, stroke and heart attack. There was no mention of gallbladder problems, which has become a prevalent issue among the women filing lawsuits.

Brook White, a student at Ithaca College who used Yaz said, “I was menstruating for the better part of the month and my gynecologist told me to go to the emergency room and to stop taking Yaz.”

Brooke stopped taking the pill but during her next visit, when she asked for a new birth control, her doctor told her she was fine on Yaz. “I had mixed feelings because I trusted her opinion as a doctor, but then I had second thoughts afterwards because I feel like she was ignoring the side effects it caused me.”

Last year, Bayer HealthCare, who makes Yaz, was required to spend $20 million to run an advertisement campaign that would accurately reveal the side effects that had been downplayed in previous commercials. Still, are people paying attention to girls dancing around while balloons with “bloating,” “fatigue” and “cramps” written on them float away? Or are these people listening to the side effects, even though there are few actually said.

The truth is that although it is easy to get birth control, it is not always easy to find the best product. Maureen Kelly, vice president for education, training and communication at Planned Parenthood said, “Birth control decisions are profoundly personal. It is about your body, your schedule, your personality type, your physiology, and your biology.”

As of today, the most common types of contraception are birth control pills and condoms. But those numbers are changing among college-aged women who are becoming more aware of the pros and cons of what they’re taking.

Condoms are easy and cheap to buy. Because of the possibility of them breaking, many women use other various methods of contraception. Each type of birth control comes with different side effects. For example, blood clots are proven to be more common among women that use the patch over birth control pills.

The diaphragm, which contains no hormones, can be difficult for some women to insert and can be pushed out of place. It is also known for causing urinary track infections and vaginal irritation.

The birth control shot is easy enough and for most women, the series of shots will stop their periods after a year. However, the shot also takes up to nine months to stop being effective after stopping its use, which would be a disadvantage to someone trying to get pregnant. It also can decrease sex drive and cause a change in hair growth on the body.

Kelly said, “The biggest thing when it comes to side effects is to know your body. That is the biggest mandate I can say for every woman that is true no matter their sexual orientation, race, background. Know your body.”

Kelly urges women to go on the Planned Parenthood website and take the “My Method” quiz to see which form of birth control is right for them.

While there are some serious side effects associated with birth control girls don’t take into consideration or even know about, it is still a form of control and prevention that is important for women in the world.

“People have been using birth control for thousands of years, even if it was dung being placed in the female vagina so we know this something women want,” Kelly said.

However, women must remember that birth control companies may put profit over their health. Women should do their own research and work together with their health care providers so they can play a role in finding a safe and effective birth control method.

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Kayla Gomula is a freshman writing major who wants women to take action by learning more about birth control. E-mail her at kgomula1@ithaca.edu.

By Andrea Bichan

In Vancouver, British Columbia, one substance abuse clinic stands out above the rest as a voice for change in drug policy.

Insite, based in Vancouver’s downtown East Side, is North America’s only “safe injection” facility.  What this means is that people who have purchased illegal intravenous drugs, such as heroin, cocaine or methamphetamines outside the clinic can bring them inside and inject them using clean equipment, under the supervision of medical professionals.  These professionals are able to distribute needles, see that the drugs are being used in a safe manner and will intervene in the event of an overdose by a patient.  The center is also the home of Onsite, a drug rehabilitation facility.

The mission of Insite is to be a harm-reduction facility for the citizens of Vancouver.  The idea of “harm-reduction” drug policies as a more practical way to deal with drug abuse has been gaining momentum in recent years. Harm-reduction centers on the idea of accepting drug use as an unavoidable reality, not a possibility that can be avoided through strict laws.

“Use isn’t affected by legality or how easy it is to get,” said Evan Nison, vice president of Ithaca College’s Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.  All year, the campus organization has been working to introduce harm-reduction policies at Ithaca College, including implementing a medical amnesty policy so inebriated students can seek treatment without fear of punishment. The policy is up for a vote by the end of the year.

Other harm-reduction policies include needle exchanges to limit disease transmission and the decriminalization of marijuana to reduce the amount of drug-related offenders using tax dollars by being incarcerated in prisons.  In short, they offer new solutions to existing problems by addressing them head on.

“It’s such a great way to look at use.  Right now we’re trying to eradicate the drugs instead of reducing the number of people using drugs,” said Celeste Brooks, IC sophomore and SSDP member.

Currently, there is clearly a lot of harm caused by drug use under current policies.  About 25 percent of all prisoners in the United States are incarcerated for drug-related crimes. Lack of access to clean and safe hypodermic needles can certainly cause the spread of diseases like HIV. Vancouver itself experienced an outbreak of HIV related to needle sharing in the 1990s, which some say led to Insite’s creation.

“In 1996, there was a dramatic spread of HIV amongst injection uses in the downtown East Side.  And over the following two years, overdoses significantly increased,” said Dr. David Marsh, medical director of addictions, HIV/AIDS and aboriginal health at Vancouver Coastal Health, in a recorded interview on Insite’s website.  “People looked around to see what could be done.”

And thus, in 2003, Insite opened its doors to drug users.

Insite brands itself as a harm-reduction facility.  But is this local institution really reducing the harm that intravenous drugs inflict on downtown Vancouver?  Some say that by giving addicts a safe haven to pursue their addiction safely, they are condoning, if not encouraging drug use.  Additionally, as addicts flock to Insite, some fear that the facility will make the surrounding area less safe.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, for instance, has voiced its opposition not only to Insite, but also to all harm-reduction policies. “The RCMP has concerns regarding any initiative that lowers the perceived risks associated with drug use,” said Staff-Sgt. C.D. Doucette in a 2006 statement released on behalf of the police service.  Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has also been quoted saying, “We as a government will not use taxpayers’ money to fund drug use.”

Gretchen Duerr, IC senior and president of SSDP disagrees.  “They believe that junkies will all come to the city,” Duerr said. “Junkies don’t really travel that far.”

Marsh views the issue similarly. “The safe injection facility has been very positive for the downtown East Side.”  The facts agree.  Numerous studies have been published regarding Insite, and they have almost entirely come out in the instutition’s favor.

Public drug use in the area has decreased dramatically, as has needle sharing, a serious concern even fourteen hears after a HIV outbreak.  More studies have claimed that Insite patients are more likely to seek and use drug addiction treatment programs than other drug addicts.  “They estimate eight to 15 lives per year that are saved because of the site,” said Mash.

A large part of the Vancouver community has also voiced their approval of the facility, including Mayor Gregor Robinson and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell.

“The least that I, or anyone there can do, is to listen,” said Insite Clinical Coordinator Bethany Jeal in another interview from Insite’s website.  “To say that…you do matter.  And you have needs, just like I have needs.”

The clear success of this harm-reduction facility shows several possibilities in Canada and the United States’ future.  As of right now, there are no other safe injection sites in either country.  But could there be in the future?

“We are involved in San Francisco, New York City, and elsewhere for the implementation of safe injection sites,” said Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.  He claimed that places like Insite could be seen in America within the next few decades.

“The resistance in the United States is very much like that to needle exchange programs, where there were needle exchanges in cities in Europe in the late 80s and 90s but there was a lot of resistance in America.  So what we have here are safe injection facilities being opened up all over the world, and the United States is showing the same resistance.”  As of 2007, there were 185 needle exchange facilities operating in the U.S.  Ithaca currently has its own exchange, the Tompkins Country Prevention Point.

The students of SSDP agree.

“I think pockets of these are going to pop up in the U.S. in like, the next 20 years,” Duerr said.  “I could see one in Ithaca.”

“I think it’s pretty likely,” Nison concurred.

However, the future of Insite is hanging in the balance.

When Insite began in 2003, it was given a legal exemption from the Canadian government in order for studies to be conducted and its impact on the city to be analyzed.  Seven years and dozens of published studies later, Insite is still only legally operating through its exemption.  The current Canadian administration, one far removed from the administration that allowed the facility’s creation, has been actively working to close Insite’s doors for good since the Conservative Party took office in 2006.

They’ve taken the issue to several federal courts, all of which upheld Insite’s legality to operate.  In retaliation, the Harper administration just announced in January that they are attempting to get the issue heard by the Supreme Court of Canada.

If Insite closes, the Vancouver’s downtown East Side stands to lose a vital institution and harm-reduction advocates will lose a major battle in the fight for drug policy reform. Right now, Insite’s proven success and massive local support are a beacon of hope for reform advocates.

“The scientific evidence has shown that safe injection facilities have helped overdose resistance, and has been associated to reducing transmitted diseases among illegal drug users and to improving lives immediately,” Nadelmann said.

If Insite stays open and Nadelmann proves to be right, safe injection facilities could be seen across the United States relatively soon.  If their results are as positive as the findings being published about Insite, the United States as well could see a reduced number of overdoses, public drug use and transmitted diseases.  More addicts would enroll in treatment programs and get rehabilitated freely.  It would be a new age for drug policy, and a giant step in addressing drug use and reducing the negative effects.

But if Insite closes, that will probably never happen.

Since 2003, the Insite safe injection facility has not only worked to protect its citizens from public drug use, but has also protected drug users from themselves.  It has treated the downtrodden and drug addicted with respect, and in many cases, helped them on the path to a drug-free life.   It fulfills its mission and more. It is a voice for change and an alternative to advocate for, perhaps eventually, within our own borders.

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Andrea Bichan is a junior journalism major who thinks Insite is out-of-sight.  E-mail her at abichan1@ithaca.edu

Image by Clara Goldman

How Ithaca’s cloudy weather can increase the amount of SADness

By Lyndsey Lyman

Ithaca is famous for its position as a liberal, relaxed college town. Sadly, it’s also relatively well known for its horrific winter weather: cold, dark and dreary. For many students, this means a little bit of a dip in productivity and energy in the winter.

Many may be unaware that they could be suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a form of depression.

Barbara Myers, Psy.D., said some of her patients are conscious of it and others are not.

“Some people know right away. They’ll say, ‘Every mid-October, I slip into this funk, and about April, when the weather starts to get nice, I’m fine,’” Myers said. “Other people don’t really have a clue, and I think it’s because it’s milder. They might just eat more carbs or sleep more, not really want to go out, that kind of stuff.”

SAD is believed to be caused by a shortage of sunlight and can begin as early as September or late August, said social worker Patricia Kissick.

Catherine Wedge, a community educator from the Mental Health Association in Tompkins County, said it is her understanding that Ithaca is one of the worst cities in the U.S. for lack of sunlight.

In fact, according to the Ithaca Times, Ithaca is the 18th cloudiest city in the nation.

People with SAD are advised to use light boxes, a device with fluorescent lights mounted on a metal reflector, though they can vary. Unfortunately, they are very expensive, generally costing at least $100 and sometimes up to $500, depending on size.

Ithaca College’s Center for Health Prommotion offers a light box in their Health Promotion Resource Room, located in the lower level of the Hammond Health Center available daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for anyone without an appointment, said Nancy Reynolds, program director of the center.

“The theory is that the light box mimics outdoor light,” Reynolds said. “By sitting next to the light box, it supposedly creates biochemical changes in the brain similar to what the brain would experience in sunlight.”

Reynolds said a light box is suggested for an average use of 20 to 30 minutes daily. SAD sufferers should start with a maximum of 15 minutes and build their way up to longer periods of time. Light boxes can be used for up to 30 to 45 minutes a day.

Prolonged use will increase the potential for side effects, Reynolds said, which “may include headaches, irritability and eye strain.”

Those purchasing a light box are also advised to look for one that offers the full spectrum of light, which is what will aid with SAD symptoms, Wedge said.

Wedge said another useful tool is the dawn simulator. This device is an alarm clock that simulates a dawn by gradually increasing sunlight starting early in the morning when the sun would be rising in the summer.

For college students who can’t find time to make it into the Resource Room or don’t have money to buy a light box or dawn simulator of their own, Myers suggests getting as much time in the sun as possible.

“Getting outside—even though it looks cloudy and gloomy—you’re going to get some sun out there,” Myers said. “But if you stay inside all of the time, you’re not going to get anything.”

Wedge agrees that getting outside as much as possible is helpful and students should take advantage of breaks from class for travel.

“When you can, on your school vacations, find yourself a way to get to a place where you get more light,” Wedge said.

Even sitting by a window while doing homework can help, Myers said.

Wedge also said sticking to springtime sleep patterns as much as possible in the winter months, despite a desire to oversleep, will help students stay regulated when feeling the effects of SAD, as well as eating a balanced diet. Drinking milk to get enough calcium will help, especially if it is enriched with vitamin D.

“The body manufactures vitamin D in the presence of calcium,” said Wedge. “That’s why, if you drink a lot of milk, you need to make sure you have enough vitamin D so you can absorb the calcium. They’re mutually symbiotic.”

Anyone who believes they may be suffering from SAD is advised to talk to their doctors as opposed to self-diagnosing, Wedge said, because mistaking clinical depression for seasonal depression could severely damage a person’s health.

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Lyndsey Lyman is a freshman journalism major who raised her staff to spread the clouds and give us all sun. Thank her at llyman1@ithaca.edu.

Image by Marc Phillips

By Briana Kerensky

Men and women in the United States spend more than $23 billion dollars per year on vitamin supplements. And in 2009, the Nutrition Business Journal released a report stating that the recession actually brought about an 8 percent, or $9.2 billion increase in sales. As the economy tanked but the high price of medical services stayed steady, people tried to take their health into their own hands. An apple a day to keep the doctor away? How about some Zinc and vitamin D tablets instead?

But recent studies show that supplements really can’t do for a person what decent food and exercise can. American foods and beverages are always being fortified with vitamins. Orange juice with extra calcium.  Fruit gummies with vitamin C. Are vitamins really necessary to ward off illnesses?

In February 2009, researchers from the Women’s Health Initiative published a report showing their results after tracking eight years of multivitamin use in more than 161,000 older women. While multivitamins are often advertised as having the ability to lower the risk for heart disease and some cancers, the Women’s Health Initiative found no such benefit. And while many men thought that daily doses of vitamin E and selenium could lower the risk of prostate cancer, another study proved that wrong as well.

“We call them essential nutrients because they are,” said Marian L. Neuhouser, an associate member in cancer prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in a 2009 New York Times article. “But there has been a leap into thinking that vitamins and minerals can prevent anything from fatigue to cancer to Alzheimer’s. That’s where the science didn’t pan out.”

It seems like people continue to ignore the science and treat vitamins as the ultimate preventative drug. Meanwhile, things as simple as a balanced diet and a decent night’s sleep actually do a lot more for a person’s health. They’re also much less expensive than anything GNC or Whole Foods has to offer.

That’s not to say that all vitamins are worthless. Obviously people lacking certain vitamin-rich foods in their meals, such as vegetarians, people with fruit allergies and picky eaters, should probably take a supplement to keep their diets balanced. In addition, some vitamins have been shown to provide healthful benefits to everyone, like B12.

And pregnant women should always take their pre-natal vitamins. As Terri told Quinn in the Glee episode “Preggers,” “Three times a day or your baby will be ugly.”

-Briana Kerensky