Smoke signals., February 01, 1990, Page Page 7, Image 7

Smoke Signals February 1990 Page 7
DRUGS AND ALC0HOL(Con, ) .Tv
ALCOHOL HITS WOMEN
DIFFERENTLY
FAS include lows birth weight, small head size, birth
defects, withdrawal symptoms, behavioral problems and
mental retardation.
HEROIN & OTHER NARCOTICS: Problems in
the pregnant woman include hepatitis, endocarditis, mis
carriage, stillbirth and premature labor. An increased
risk of contact with the AIDS virus is possible when the
substance is used intravenously. Problems in the infant
include low birth weight and length, small head size,
difficulty responding to human voice and touch, with
drawal symptoms and an increased risk of crib death.
MARIJUANA: Problems in the newborn include low
birth weight, withdrawal symptoms and an increased risk
of crib death. There is also evidence of behavioral
problems as the child grows.
OTHER FACTS: Drug-affected infants are often
very difficult to care for in the first few months of life; a
family with no addiction problems would find it a major
stressor. These infants develop neurologic difficulties,
medical problems and learning disabilities. Treatment
requires extra effort, time and resource commitment
from their families. Illicit drugs are excreted in breast
milk, and exposure through breast milk has caused
seizures and apnea in infants.
- Courtesy of the Klamath Newsletter
Women are much more susceptible to the effects of
alcohol, and the difference isn't due just to smaller body
size, but to the way women's bodies break down alcohol,
researchers have concluded in a new study.
Alcohol gets into the bloodstream in a less-metabolized
state in women, explaining why women are more
susceptible than men to alcoholism and to the liver '
damage that results from chronic alcohol abuse.
The difference appears to be related to the breakdown
of alcohol in the stomach before it gets into the blood
stream. That "first-pass metabolism" of alcohol was
"PACKWOOD SEEKS
DOCTOR"
SENATOR SAYS WILLAMINA IN
DESPERATE NEED FOR PHYSICIAN
Sen. Bob Packwood, R-Ore., is joining the battle to
place another doctor in Willamina.
The senator has written a letter to Dr. Donald Weaver,
director of the National Health Service Corps, asking
him to place a doctor in the community as soon as
possible.
"It's unfair for the NHSC to move physicians around
the country without giving adequate consideration to the
effect on medically undeserved communities," Pack
wood said in a press release.
Willamina recently lost Dr. Dawn Gertson, an NHSC
physician who was told to move to Mobile, Ala., to meet
her commitment to the federal agency for paying her
way through medical school.
"This rural community is in desperate need of a
physician," Packwood said in his letter to Dr. Weaver.
"A physician must be assigned to this medically deprived
community," he added.
Gene Taylor, a Willamina resident who worked to
attract Dr. Gertson to the community and has been
trying to find a replacement for her, greeted Packwood's
announcement with both surprise and elation.
"Bless my soul," Taylor said when he learned from The
Sun that Packwood is entering the fight.
Taylor said it's clear that the West Valley area, with
four times more efficient in men than in women, even
after allowing for differences in body size and composi
tion, the researchers found.
And in women who are alcoholics, virtually none of the
alcohol ingested was broken down in the stomach before
entering the bloodstream.
In addition to increasing the risk of alcoholism and
liver damage in women, "These differences should be
considered in the definition of safe levels of drinking for
men and women driving motor vehicles or engaging in
other activities requiring a high degree of attention or
coordination," the study's authors said.
The findings reported in the New England Journal of
Medicine, were based on a study of 20 men and 23
women at the University of Trieste, Italy, and the
Veterans Administration Hospital and Mount Sinai
School of Medicine in New York. Included in that
group were 12 alcoholics.
All were given doses of alcohol proportional to their
body weights, sometimes in the form of a drink, other
times intravenously. In men, the blood levels of alcohol
were much greater when the alcohol was consumed
intravenously, suggesting that the stomach had broken
down significant amounts of alcohol that was ingested.
In women, the difference between oral and intrave
nously alcohol consumption were only one-quarter of
that in men, suggesting that breakdown in the stomach
was much less.
The difference was probably due to less activity of the
stomach enzyme, gastric alcohol dehydrogenase, that
breaks down alcohol, the researchers said.
And at least three factors appear to lessen further the
ability of the stomach to break down alcohol - chronic
alcohol abuse, binge drinking and drinking on any empty
stomach, according to the study.
Two University of Texas doctors suggested in an
accompanying editorial yet another area of potential risk
for women in the use of alcohol: "Women may also be
more prone than men to have neuropsychiatric illnesses
related to alcohol consumption."
- Courtesy of the Oregonian
about 10,000 people, must be served by more than Dr.
Jim Molloy who has a practice in Sheridan.
Taylor also criticized the federal agency for insisting
that Dr. Gertson move to Mobile. "They have one
doctor for every 750 people in Mobile," he said.
Packwood, in his letter to Dr. Weaver, noted that Dr.
Gertson "ran into procedural problems" because she
wasn't asked to serve in Willamina to meet her obliga
tion to the NHSC.
"I certainly understand that Dr. Gertson must fulfill
her responsibility. Clearly, the community surrounding
Willamina will be adversely affected by the departure of
this physician," Packwood wrote.
"Willamina has been designated a shortage area since
June 28, 1988, and I firmly believe that action needs to
be taken as quickly as possible to fill this vacancy,"
Packwood added.
The NHSC pays for medical training for medical
students who commit to practicing in a rural area
decided on by the federal agency for two years.
The doctor shortage in the West Valley developed
rapidly late last year when Dr. Maurice Butler retired
from his Sheridan practice and Dr. Gertson reluctantly
agreed to comply with the NHSC order to move to
Alabama.
Dr. Molloy has been trying to attract another doctor to
his Sheridan practice. A physician spent two weeks
working in Money's office a month ago and is consider
ing joining the practice later this year.
- Courtesy of The Sheridan Sun