What You Should Know About Alcohol and Recreational Drugs and Their Effects on Fertility By Maria Antonopoulos

Before you actually get pregnant, it's a good idea to evaluate what your lifestyle habits are. While doing things in moderation is a good motto to have, there are actually some things that you want to totally eliminate if you are trying to get pregnant. Drinking alcohol or using recreational drugs are two things you definitely want to eliminate if you are trying to get pregnant. The following are some things that you need to know about alcohol and recreational drug use and their effects on your fertility and chances of getting pregnant.

• Most people are now aware that drinking during pregnancy can increase the risk of birth defects. There's also lots of evidence that women who consume a significant amount of alcohol (more than ten drinks per week) prior to conception have a more difficult time conceiving.
• A Danish study of 430 couples between the ages of 20 and 35 trying to conceive for the first time, revealed that women who continued to drink one to five alcoholic beverages per week were 39% less likely to get pregnant within six months compared to women who consumed no alcohol. Those women who consumed six to ten drinks per week were 45% less likely to get pregnant and women who drank more than ten drinks per week were 66% less likely to conceive. This is almost certainly because alcohol alters estrogen and progesterone levels which in turn can cause problems with ovulation.
• Men should also be aware of their alcohol consumption because it can affect the quality of sperm as well as lower testosterone which is necessary for sperm production.
• Recreational drugs, besides having a negative impact on your ability to conceive, can also have some serious effects on your fetus's development once you are pregnant. It is highly recommended that drug use be stopped at least two to three months prior to conception for women and three to six months prior to conception for men.
• How can marijuana and cocaine affect your fertility? Well, both marijuana and cocaine use can lower sperm count in men. Marijuana can also lower the amount of testosterone which is necessary for normal sperm production. Cocaine use can result in an increase in the amount of abnormal sperm.
• In women, marijuana smoking can result in an increase in the number of abnormal eggs. Additionally, studies have found that the presence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in the woman's reproductive fluids made it more difficult for the partner's sperm to reach the egg. It is believed that THC harms the sperm's biological pathway to the woman's eggs. Cocaine can cause menstrual irregularities which could make it more difficult to conceive.
• Men should also stay away from anabolic steroids (drugs that build muscle mass), because these steroids suppress the body's ability to make testosterone. This damage can actually be permanent.

Alcohol or recreational drugs are not the only unhealthy habits that can affect your ability to conceive. There are many other factors that should be taken into consideration especially if trying to conceive has been a challenge. If getting pregnant naturally is important to you, but you have been confused about what is the best way to go about it, then all you may need is some easy to follow, step by step guidance to make sure that you haven't overlooked anything. This guide to getting pregnant naturally can be found at the website http://naturalfertilitysolutions.info/

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Avoiding Drug and Food Interactions By Brenda Williams

Medicines are powerful substances and when you ingest them they can interact with the food you eat. This can make them work slower, faster or even prevent them from working. Some food and medicine combinations can even have toxic results. So you should be sure to ask both your doctor and your pharmacist if there are any foods or beverages you need to avoid while you are on the medication. You should also be sure to inform your doctor of all the medications you take when getting a prescription. This includes a complete list of vitamins and supplements.

Drink a full eight-ounce glass of water when taking pills and capsules. This will prevent irritation of your esophagus and stomach lining and increases the absorption of the medication by your body. This should be done with both prescription and over-the-counter medications. But don't drink a hot beverage with the medication as heat interferes with the effectiveness of some medications. If a medication is taken on a daily basis, try to take it at the same time every day. Always adhere to the recommended dose. Taking more can be dangerous. Taking less may interfere with its effectiveness.

Since some medications are not compatible with certain foods it is important to ask your doctor and pharmacist about this when you receive any prescription. For example, tetracycline is a commonly prescribed antibiotic however consuming dairy products while taking the antibiotic can completely destroy its effectiveness. It has also been found that certain antidepressants known as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) may cause a dangerous rise in blood pressure if taken with any food that contains a substance known as tyramine. Aged cheeses, preserved meats such as salami, certain kinds of beans, sauerkraut and alcoholic beverages all contain tyramine. Since this blood pressure rise can even be fatal, if you are prescribed MAOIs, you need to be very certain of all the foods and beverages you should avoid.

Just recently, it has been discovered that grapefruit juice and grapefruit can increase the levels of some medications in the blood. The medical profession does not yet know all of the drugs that may be involved. They do know that it is true for most calcium channel blockers and for triazolam, a common sleeping pill. Because of the current uncertainty about this interaction, it is recommended that people wait at least an hour after taking any medication before eating citrus fruits or drinking citrus juices. Also, many medications are not compatible with alcoholic beverages as alcohol interacts with many different drugs both prescription and non-prescription so you need to check this on the label of any over the counter medications that you are purchasing.

Often prescriptions will specify whether a medication should be taken on an empty stomach or with food. If it is to be taken on an empty stomach, you should wait two to three hours after eating or take it an hour before eating. One bit of information that you also need but may not be included with the prescription, is what to do if you miss a dose. Since it is easy to forget, especially if you are not accustomed to taking medication, you should be sure to ask either the doctor or pharmacist about this.

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Combination of Nicotine, Alcohol and Drugs Increases of Health Damage By Sasha Maoory

Nicotine and Alcohol

Individuals who smoke and drink heavily are 38 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal (mouth-throat) cancer. By comparison, those who just drink have 6 times the risk, those who just smoke, 7 times. The risk of combined use is closer to being multiplicative than merely additive.

One clue lies in studies showing that long-term alcohol consumption increases levels of cytochrome P450, a metabolic enzyme responsible for converting the tar in cigarettes to cancer-causing chemicals.

Nicotine can also mitigate alcohol-related motor and coordination difficulties-hence the drinker who lights up to "steady his nerves."

By normalizing levels of vasopressin, a neurochemical messenger, nicotine can help counteract alcohol-induced memory impairment.

Nicotine and drugs

While the combined use of tobacco and other drugs can increase their pleasurable effects, it can also have grave health consequences.

Smokers who regularly use tobacco in combination with marijuana or crack cocaine likewise run an increased risk of cancer when compared to single-substance users. Many of the carcinogenic chemicals present in tobacco are found in marijuana, some at substantially higher levels. Individuals who smoke both drugs receive double doses of carcinogens.

On balance, though, the use of tobacco with other drugs is have a harmful effect on health, both because of the tendency to consume more of the combined substances and because of specific interactive effects like multiplied cancer risk.

Smoking is an acquired skill. By learning to inhale smoke into their lungs, individuals acquire the behaviour necessary for consuming marijuana and crack cocaine. Because underage smoking is illegal, adolescent tobacco users also learn to develop a set of masking behaviours that can serve to hide later illicit drug use.

Nicotine and caffeine

The relationship between nicotine and caffeine is complex, but researchers have shown that rats chronically exposed to caffeine self-administer nicotine at higher-than-control levels.

Compared to non-smokers, heavy smokers also prefer more heavily caffeinated beverages, such as coffee rather than tea. In addition to caffeine, other drugs shown to increase nicotine consumption in animals include pentobarbital, amphetamines, methadone, and heroin.

Finally, there is the effect of tobacco itself. Smokers have significantly lower levels of monoamine oxidase-B, the enzyme responsible for breaking down dopamine in the brain.

As a result, they are able to sustain higher levels of dopamine for longer periods of time, particularly if they continue smoking. Elevated dopamine means elevated pleasure; tobacco works synergistically with alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, and narcotics to provide a sustained high.

Hence alcohol and other drug users tend to smoke more heavily. The reverse is also true. Alcohol, a depressant, mitigates some of the adverse effects smokers' experience, such as an increased heart rate.

And alcohol activates nicotine metabolizing enzymes, which makes it necessary to consume more tobacco to achieve the accustomed effect.

Sasha Maoory - doctor and Internet writerVisit my personal blogs http://saysmokingno.blogspot.com and http://waysquitsmoking.blogsome.com

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