نسخه فارسی
نسخه فارسی

Communications of Hossein and Bill (Reply to Hossein - Dec 27, 2018)

Communications of Hossein and Bill (Reply to Hossein - Dec 27, 2018)

Dec 27,2018

Dear Hossein,

 

Thank you for your detailed response to my question about the youngest members of Congress 60. Are there special organizations that address addiction problems in youth under the age of 18 in Iran? In the U.S., we have had to create such organizations, as substance use problems here are occurring at ever-younger ages.

In the U.S., we have only recently begun creating separate treatment tracks for women that address the special recovery support needs that women often experience. We are finding, as you have found, specific advantages in separating women and men during their treatment and recovery support activities.

I found your description of treating infants very interesting.  The only know use of Opium Tincture I am aware of in the U.S. as an addiction treatment is for infants born dependent on opioids due to maternal heroin or prescription opioid addiction. In my early days in the field, I would refer such women to physicians who would treat their newborn infants with OT (what here is called paregoric) until the infants were weaned off their dependence on opioids. I think the treatment today is similar with mothers maintained on methadone during the pregnancy and the infants weaned off opioids after delivery. It is interesting with the DST method that this can be done simultaneously for mother and infant. Do you see continued developmental challenges for babies who have been exposed as embryos to opioids and then weaned with the DST method?

Another area of great interest to me is how we might break intergenerational cycles of addiction and related problems. We commonly see such problems running in families and it is not unusual to see the children of parents in recovery experiencing problems similar to those there parents have finally overcome. Do you see such trends in Iran? Do you have thoughts about how such cycles may be broken?  It would seem to me that this could be possible if family health and improved parenting by mothers and fathers in recovery could be improved early enough in the development of their children. It would seem that family involvement and parenting training and support might lower the risk of these children. I would like to know your thoughts on this.

We are between our Christmas and New Year’s holidays here in the U.S. so we have been quite busy with family gatherings and exchanges of gifts and well wishes.  We eagerly await the new year and all that it will bring. Rita and I extend our very best wishes to our Congress 60 family for 2019.

 

Friends and Brothers Forever,

Bill

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