A muscle relaxant is a drug that affects skeletal muscle function and decreases the muscle tone. It may be used to alleviate symptoms such as muscle spasms, pain, and hyperreflexia. The term "muscle relaxant" is used to refer to two major therapeutic groups: neuromuscular blockers and spasmolytics. Neuromuscular blockers act by interfering with transmission at the neuromuscular end plate and have no central nervous system (CNS) activity. They are often used during surgical procedures and in intensive care and emergency medicine to cause temporary paralysis. Spasmolytics, also known as "centrally acting" muscle relaxant, are used to alleviate musculoskeletal pain and spasms and to reduce spasticity in a variety of neurological conditions. While both neuromuscular blockers and spasmolytics are often grouped together as muscle relaxant, the term is commonly used to refer to spasmolytics only.
David Michael Navarro is an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of the rock band Jane's Addiction, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Between 1993 and 1998, Navarro was the guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, recording one studio album, One Hot Minute (1995), before departing. He has also released one solo album, Trust No One (2001). Navarro has also been a member of Jane's Addiction-related bands Deconstruction and the Panic Channel.
Claudia Christian is an American actress, singer, and author, known for her roles as Commander Susan Ivanova on Babylon 5, as Captain Maynard on Fox's 9-1-1, and as the voice of Hera on the Netflix series Blood of Zeus. She is also the voice of Lt. Helga Sinclair in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. She is the founder and CEO of the C Three Foundation, a proponent of the medication-based Sinclair Method for treating alcohol dependence.
Joshua Michael Peck is an American actor, comedian, and YouTuber. Peck began his career as a child actor, appearing in the film Snow Day (2000) and the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series The Amanda Show (2000–2002). He had his breakthrough playing Josh Nichols on the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake & Josh (2004–2007) and in the television films Drake & Josh Go Hollywood (2006) and Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh (2008). He also began voicing Eddie in the Ice Age franchise (2006–2016).
Baclofen, sold under the brand name Lioresal among others, is a medication used to treat muscle spasticity such as from a spinal cord injury or multiple sclerosis. It may also be used for hiccups and muscle spasms near the end of life, and off-label to treat alcohol use disorder or opioid withdrawal symptoms. It is taken orally or by intrathecal pump. It is also sometimes used transdermally in combination with gabapentin and clonidine prepared at a compounding pharmacy.
Physical dependence is a physical condition caused by chronic use of a tolerance-forming drug, in which abrupt or gradual drug withdrawal causes unpleasant physical symptoms. Physical dependence can develop from low-dose therapeutic use of certain medications such as benzodiazepines, opioids, stimulants, antiepileptics and antidepressants, as well as the recreational misuse of drugs such as alcohol, opioids and benzodiazepines. The higher the dose used, the greater the duration of use, and the earlier age use began are predictive of worsened physical dependence and thus more severe withdrawal syndromes. Acute withdrawal syndromes can last days, weeks or months. Protracted withdrawal syndrome, also known as post-acute-withdrawal syndrome or "PAWS", is a low-grade continuation of some of the symptoms of acute withdrawal, typically in a remitting-relapsing pattern, often resulting in relapse and prolonged disability of a degree to preclude the possibility of lawful employment. Protracted withdrawal syndrome can last for months, years, or depending on individual factors, indefinitely. Protracted withdrawal syndrome is noted to be most often caused by benzodiazepines. To dispel the popular misassociation with addiction, physical dependence to medications is sometimes compared to dependence on insulin by persons with diabetes.
Intrathecal administration is a route of administration for drugs via an injection into the spinal canal, or into the subarachnoid space so that it reaches the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and is useful in spinal anesthesia, chemotherapy, or pain management applications. This route is also used to introduce drugs that fight certain infections, particularly post-neurosurgical. The drug needs to be given this way to avoid being stopped by the blood–brain barrier. The same drug given orally must enter the blood stream and may not be able to pass out and into the brain. Drugs given by the intrathecal route often have to be compounded specially by a pharmacist or technician because they cannot contain any preservative or other potentially harmful inactive ingredients that are sometimes found in standard injectable drug preparations.
Kevin Trudeau is an American author, salesman, and television personality known for promotion of his books and resulting legal cases involving the US Federal Trade Commission. His ubiquitous late-night infomercials, which promoted unsubstantiated health, diet, and financial advice, earned him a fortune but resulted in civil and criminal penalties for fraud, larceny, and contempt of court.
Apomorphine, sold under the brand name Apokyn among others, is a type of aporphine having activity as a non-selective dopamine agonist which activates both D2-like and, to a much lesser extent, D1-like receptors. It also acts as an antagonist of 5-HT2 and α-adrenergic receptors with high affinity. The compound is historically a morphine decomposition product made by boiling morphine with concentrated acid, hence the -morphine suffix. Contrary to its name, apomorphine does not actually contain morphine or its skeleton, nor does it bind to opioid receptors. The apo- prefix relates to it being a morphine derivative ("[comes] from morphine").
"The Love Cats" is a song by English rock band the Cure, released as a stand-alone single in October 1983.
Phenibut, sold under the brand names Anvifen, Fenibut, and Noofen among others, is a central nervous system depressant with anxiolytic effects, and is used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and for a variety of other indications. It is usually taken by mouth as a tablet, but may be given intravenously.
Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story is the autobiography of Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch. It chronicles his life from childhood, to his days with Korn, his addiction to drugs, his embrace of a life of living for God, and the beginning of his solo career.
David Sheff is an American author of the books Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction, Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy, Game Over, The Buddhist on Death Row and All We Are Saying: The Last Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. He also writes for magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Wired, Rolling Stone and other publications.
Charles Barnes Towns (1862–1947) conducted experimentation with cures for alcoholism and drug addiction, and helped draft drug control legislation in the United States during the early 20th century.
Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction is a memoir by David Sheff that describes how his family dealt with his son Nic's methamphetamine addiction. It was published by Houghton Mifflin on February 26, 2008. The book grew out of the article "My Addicted Son" that Sheff had written for The New York Times Magazine in 2005. Son Nic Sheff's perspective was told in his own memoir Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines, published concurrently by an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Olivier Ameisen was a French-American cardiologist who wrote a best-selling book about curing alcoholism using the drug baclofen.
Lesogaberan (AZD-3355) was an experimental drug candidate developed by AstraZeneca for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). As a GABAB receptor agonist, it has the same mechanism of action as baclofen, but is anticipated to have fewer of the central nervous system side effects that limit the clinical use of baclofen for the treatment of GERD.
Samidorphan is an opioid antagonist that in the form of olanzapine/samidorphan is used in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Samidorphan reduces the weight gain associated with olanzapine. Samidorphan is taken by mouth.
Arbaclofen placarbil is a prodrug of R-baclofen. Arbaclofen placarbil possesses more favorable pharmacokinetic profile than baclofen, with less fluctuations in plasma drug levels. It was being developed as a potential treatment for patients with GERD and spasticity due to multiple sclerosis; however, in May 2013 XenoPort announced the termination of development because of unsuccessful results in phase III clinical trials.
Opium: Diary of a Cure is a 1930 work by the French artist and writer Jean Cocteau. The book details Cocteau's recovery from addiction to opium.
