Please co-sign this open letter calling on @qmul.bsky.social to reinstate Angel and to change practices to stop any other student from being subjected to this kind of ordeal: c.org/kKdrfyLYy8

they’re always so waffly and dense, and the recognition that it’s not the voice of a human reduces my motivation to read it to 0

anyone who can spend months/years getting a paper published can surely spend a few mins writing a thread that is intriguing and concise?

also I imagine will.i.am can spend all that time working because he can afford to pay people to cook, clean, do laundry etc for him!

Even if you’re the most driven person, you still need rest. Some of my best ideas come when I’m not actively working. Also, people fought for us to have 40 h work weeks!

That said, I do enjoy spending some of my 5–9s volunteering at @brp.org.uk 🥰

Increasing London weighting to better fit the exorbitant cost of living here won’t address wider causes, but it would provide a survivable standard of living for students without additional income, and those with dependents.

A 2019 report from Loughborough’s Centre for Research in Social Policy found the cost of living to be 15–48% higher in London than the rest of the UK.

This seems to be at least partially driven by rents, taking up at least 40% of Londoners’ salaries vs 29% outside London.

if you give a rat cocaine,
she will want jazz
doi.org/10.1037/a002...

TLDR: Pregabalin increases the effects of opioids when combined. Increases in analgesia, euphoria, and possibly also reversal of tolerance, may be desired. However, increased respiratory depression and tolerance reversal can increase risk of overdose and death. Carry naloxone in case of emergency!

I hope no one reading this has to respond to an overdose but, with the UK drug-related deaths emergency only getting worse, its good to be prepared.

Visit your local harm reduction hub (like @releasedrugs.bsky.social in London) or drug support service to get naloxone trained!

Stay safe 🫶

The aim of naloxone is to restore breathing, not necessarily to sober someone up — this can precipitate withdrawal symptoms. Wait with them until the ambulance arrives, and hand over your used naloxone so they know how much you administered.

If someone becomes unresponsive, call 999 (or your country's equivalent). Put them in the recovery position, check their breathing and administer naloxone. The operator will be able to talk you through this.

💊 Test your stuff: WEDINOS has a free anonymous mail-in drug checking service in the UK
💊 Stick with friends: Try not to use alone, and stagger doses between you so someone is able to respond if something goes wrong
💊 Carry naloxone: Naloxone is an opioid reversal drug that can save a life

💊 Start low, go slow: Take a small amount and wait to feel the effects before deciding whether to take more.
💊 Reduce the dose of each: As both increase each others effects, take less of each together than you would on their own
💊 Stagger doses: Wait to feel the effect of one before taking the other

How can people reduce harms relating to pregabalin and opioid co-use?

The simplest way would be to not mix them. But just telling people not to do something doesn't work! (see: the last 50 years of prohibition)

Some key harm reduction tips are below⬇️

With nitazenes emerging in the UK's opioid and benzo supplies, the risk of opioid-related harms is becoming even more pressing. Nitazenes are at least as strong as fentanyl, meaning co-use with pregabalin may further increase the risk of an overdose.

So is there more opioid and pregabalin co-use? Possibly, going by drug-related death statistics, but it's hard to measure prevalence.

Increasing homelessness and poverty, worsening mental health, among other things may lead people to use these drugs to cope in the absense of adequate support.

How does pregabalin do this, when its not an opioid?

The mechanisms underlying pregabalin and opioid-induced respiratory depression are still under investigation, and there are multiple ways this might happen. I might do another thread in the future on what we currently know.

In animal studies, pregabalin has been shown to reverse tolerance to opioids like morphine. Lyndon et al. found that morphine-tolerant mice experienced significantly depressed respiration when treated with morphine + pregabalin.

However, pregabalin also increases adverse effects from opioids. Gomes et al. found that higher doses (300 mg+) of pregabalin significantly increased the risk of opioid-related deaths.

One particular side effect is respiratory depression (slowed breathing) — a hallmark of opioid overdose.