understanding prescription drug abuse and treatment
Addiction to prescription drugs is a major health problem because it leads to a primary brain disease which is characterized by addiction to a mood-altering chemical. A drug addict is unable to stop taking a particular mood-altering chemical despite serious health, social, and legal consequences. It is progressive and chronic and, if left untreated, can be fatal. Many people think they are always safe when they overdose on their prescribed medication, but the truth is that when one becomes addicted to a prescribed medication, the addictive potential is the same as that of street drugs.
Below are lists of top common drugs prescribed and abused by schedule:
OPIOID PAINKILLERS such as Oxycodone (OxyContin), Vicodin, Percocet. Also known as analgesics, opioids are drugs that are prescribed for moderate to severe physical pain. They are abused because of their euphoric, sedating, and numbing effects. Narcotic abuse causes tolerance and dependence and the withdrawal symptoms are severe.
STIMULANTS (Ritalin, Dexedrine, Meridia) are prescribed to treat ADD/ADHD and other conditions such as asthma. They are abused because of their energizing and euphoric effects. Stimulants do not generally cause tolerance or dependence but abuse is associated with hostility and paranoia. There is also great risk for cardiovascular failure and seizures.
DEPRESSANTS, SEDATIVES and TRANQUILIZERS, such as diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), Xanax, and Librium are drugs that are prescribed to treat anxiety and sleep disorders. They are abused because of their sedating properties. With abuse, depressants cause tolerance and dependence and the withdrawal symptoms can be severe.
There is no cure for drug addiction, but it is a treatable disease. Drug addicts can and do recover, but they must always be aware of their addiction and work to never fall into addiction again, which is a lifelong process. In order to maintain abstinence, one must take great steps in making personal lifestyle changes. These take time and, in fact, most professionals and recovering addicts believe that recovery from the disease of chemical dependency is a lifelong process.
Drug addiction therapy uses behavior change or modification and sometimes includes medications that assist the user in refraining from drugs. Some of these medications include:
OPIOID WITHDRAWAL: Buprenorphine and methadone may be used to ease the symptoms of withdrawal from opioid painkillers. However, the use of these agents to ease withdrawal from opioid addiction in the absence of pain problems is tightly regulated and subject to very strict guidelines and at times special licensure. Other drugs—including clonidine (Catapres), a medicine primarily used for high blood pressure—can be used to help manage opioid withdrawal. symptoms.
SEDATIVE WITHDRAWAL: In general, tapering sedatives can be medically complicated and should be done only after a consultation with a doctor comfortable with assessing and managing these issues. If you've used prescription sedatives for a long time, it may take weeks or even months to slowly taper off them. Mood-stabilizing drugs at critical points in the withdrawal process may help. Symptoms of withdrawal can mimic rebound anxiety, so your choice of doctor is critical in withdrawal from this class of drugs.
STIMULANT WITHDRAWAL: There are no approved drugs used for the management of stimulant withdrawal. Treatment typically focuses on relieving withdrawal symptoms—such as sleep, appetite and mood disturbances.
Be it individual, group, or family, counseling is often useful and can also help people learn the skills needed to help prevent drug addictive recurrence. Physicians know that prolonged abstinence from certain drugs allows some of the drug-induced brain changes to reverse. But addicts have to change their lifestyles and learn how to cope with the world, and they may always have to combat the urge to use drugs.
Egendorf, Laura K. "Chemical Dependency, Opposing Viewpoints." Greenhaven Press: 2003.
Rooney, Fran. “Substance Abuse.” Homestead Schools, Inc: 2002.
Schaler, Jeffrey A. “Addiction is a Choice.” Open Court Publishing: 2000.
introduction
According to a recent Gallup poll, the use and temptation of drugs is the leading problem that American teenagers and young adults face. One in twelve Americans over the age of 12 admits that they currently use illicit drugs. According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one in five teenagers admits to using prescription drugs to get high, and one in ten teenagers admits to using over the counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines to get high. Nearly two-thirds of teens report that prescription pain relievers are easy to find at home, in the medicine cabinet. Healthy People 2010 shows that 30% of all deaths in the United States are premature because of psychoactive substances. The leading causes of death in Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 are accidents, suicides, and homicides…in many cases directly because of drug use. Almost all drug use begins in the teenage years where conflict, pressure, temptation, curiosity, and drug availability are all increasingly present. However, regardless of age, class, gender, or religion, all groups are susceptible to fall victim to the appeal and effects of psychoactive drugs.
Source
Image
how does prescription drug addiction occur?
Narcotics, or painkillers, are drugs commonly prescribed to patients to alleviate intense pain and suffering. Morphine, an opiate, is one of the most commonly prescribed narcotics. However, opium is also present in the street drug heroin and creates hallucinogenic changes in mood and feeling. Natural pain remedies such as the coca leaf has a modern derivative in the street drug cocaine, which has become increasingly abused in the past 20 years. Cocaine acts as a central nervous system stimulant (creating “highs” because of nervous system overactivity) and as an appetite suppressant. It becomes easier to understand the addictive effects of prescription drugs when their relationship to illicit drugs is explained. Patients who take prescription drugs for pain and post-operative management sometimes find themselves addicted to the pleasant effects of the drug (mood change, increased sensation, alleviation of depression) and continue administration of the drug long after the intended result of the drug is achieved.
(Sanberg, Paul, Ph.D. and Michael Bunsey. "Prescription Narcotics: The Addictive Painkillers." Chelsea House Publishers: 1986.)
The goals of this blog are to:
.educate readers about the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse
.explain the appeal, availability, and dangers of abuse, specifically among teens, and discuss treatment
.supply parents with prescription and OTC drug abuse warning signs and stress the importance of communicating with teens
.provide a variety of sources and information so readers can further their knowledge of this increasingly-present and often-overlooked form of substance abuse
According to a recent Gallup poll, the use and temptation of drugs is the leading problem that American teenagers and young adults face. One in twelve Americans over the age of 12 admits that they currently use illicit drugs. According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one in five teenagers admits to using prescription drugs to get high, and one in ten teenagers admits to using over the counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines to get high. Nearly two-thirds of teens report that prescription pain relievers are easy to find at home, in the medicine cabinet. Healthy People 2010 shows that 30% of all deaths in the United States are premature because of psychoactive substances. The leading causes of death in Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 are accidents, suicides, and homicides…in many cases directly because of drug use. Almost all drug use begins in the teenage years where conflict, pressure, temptation, curiosity, and drug availability are all increasingly present. However, regardless of age, class, gender, or religion, all groups are susceptible to fall victim to the appeal and effects of psychoactive drugs.
Source
Image
how does prescription drug addiction occur?
Narcotics, or painkillers, are drugs commonly prescribed to patients to alleviate intense pain and suffering. Morphine, an opiate, is one of the most commonly prescribed narcotics. However, opium is also present in the street drug heroin and creates hallucinogenic changes in mood and feeling. Natural pain remedies such as the coca leaf has a modern derivative in the street drug cocaine, which has become increasingly abused in the past 20 years. Cocaine acts as a central nervous system stimulant (creating “highs” because of nervous system overactivity) and as an appetite suppressant. It becomes easier to understand the addictive effects of prescription drugs when their relationship to illicit drugs is explained. Patients who take prescription drugs for pain and post-operative management sometimes find themselves addicted to the pleasant effects of the drug (mood change, increased sensation, alleviation of depression) and continue administration of the drug long after the intended result of the drug is achieved.
(Sanberg, Paul, Ph.D. and Michael Bunsey. "Prescription Narcotics: The Addictive Painkillers." Chelsea House Publishers: 1986.)
The goals of this blog are to:
.educate readers about the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse
.explain the appeal, availability, and dangers of abuse, specifically among teens, and discuss treatment
.supply parents with prescription and OTC drug abuse warning signs and stress the importance of communicating with teens
.provide a variety of sources and information so readers can further their knowledge of this increasingly-present and often-overlooked form of substance abuse
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This was very informative.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware how easily a person can become dependent on painkillers; let alone take them for a drug addiction. Now I understand why stores are beginning to put away over the counter medicines from easy access.
One thing though, it was a bit lengthy...lot of wording...but I guess that's how it is wen it comes to medicine :)
I have always guessed that getting used to medications even when prescribed by a pharmacist or physician always have an adverse effect, that is why i always try to limit the rate at which i take medications. A piece of advice for everyone, only take when necessary and as prescribed. GOOD job.
ReplyDeleteVery informative post. Really puts into perspective the problem of prescription drug abuse.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea prescription drug abuse was so prevalent! Or that addiction was such an easy state to create with prescription drugs.
ReplyDelete'You learn something new every day'. This is what I learned today.
yes its very prevalent I've had family members who get addicted and do not realize or intend to do so... suddenly they're taking the drug when they have no pain at all. I think it needs to be very closely monitored.
ReplyDelete-Johnny
Young people have no idea just how addicting these pills are... They don't think about the dangers out there.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to work with the unbearable pain that gives you a migraine, but even more with low back pain, it is unfortunate that you have to do demanding physical disabilities, but at the moment is when we ask for government help to understand our problems and disadvantages in health care.
ReplyDeleteThe analgesics for the pain must be very carefully consumed, although many take them of form mistaken only to hallucinate and not for need of pain, these medicines are commercialized frequently on the black market be already, hydrocodone, vicodin, lortab that they are most asked and they even sell them as delight, for it elegant that this is very dangerous for the youth.
ReplyDeletePrescription drugs as Vicodin, Lortab, hydrocodone, should be prescribed in an appropriate and urgency of chronic pain because they are medicines that indicates findrxonline are controlled by what they say ...
ReplyDelete