Prescription Drug Addiction

 Prescription drug addiction and abuse is a fast spreading epidemic.  Most of us have a false stereotype of drug addicts as being low income people that do drugs to cope with their lives.  The truth of the matter is that prescription drug addiction has a very widespread demographic which covers both ends of the spectrum.  Poor and rich successful people are becoming casualties of prescription drug abuse.

Prescription drug abuse is the most under reported type of drub abuse problem in the nation.  It is also one of the most least understood types of drug addiction.  In fact being addicted to prescription drugs can often times be even more dangerous than other substances because of the nature of these prescription drugs.

 The difference between these types of drugs and alcohol or other dangerous drugs, is that prescription drugs are prescribed for medical reasons where as cocaine, alcohol, and heroine are not.  People that suffer from sever pain are in a hard spot because painkillers to not relieve pain.  They simply have narcotics in them to allow people with chronic pain to handle it to a degree and live as normally as possible.  People become dependant on these drugs to function, go to work, take care of their family, and in so doing can easily move from dependency to full blown addiction.

Not everyone who takes pain medication becomes addicted as we know, but those who take strong painkillers are at a higher risk of becoming addicted.  The actual numbers of people who get addicted to prescription drugs are pretty low according to the Chronic Pain Advocacy League.  This number is based off of the 45 million Americans that clinically suffer from Chronic Pain.

 The biggest justification for people when they take strong prescription drugs is "My doctor prescribed it to help me and i trust my doctor."  Some people even accidentally get addicted to medications.  How is this possible?  For example, a person who suffers from anxiety may be prescribed Xanax which helps with anxiety.  Well if in between doses the anxiety is extreme, the doctor may prescribe the patient to take more and more Xanax until the patient is on Xanax all the time.  Sometimes doctors who are trying to help you, enable people to become addicted to the very drug they are prescribing. 

This is why prescription drug abuse is so serious.  Most people take prescriptions thinking it will make them better, when in fact some people become even worse because of the addictive nature of the drugs.  People take the drugs to make them feel better, but soon addiction takes over and they work out ways to get the drugs that are not prescribed by the doctor and end up taking up to 5 times the amount they should be taking of the drug.

 One of the tell tale signs of an addict that may be addicted to prescription drugs is their behavior.  Some of the typical behavior to watch out for is lying, keeping secrets, hiding pill and obsessively counting them, emergency room visits, and doctor shopping. 

These types of behaviors will come from a desperate person who is addicted to drugs.  People that grew up with values and morals, will act completely different based on the addiction and the amount of the addiction.  People who normally would never act a certain way can do the absolute opposite of what they used to believe in when addicted to hard drugs. 

Alot of times these behaviors are used to manipulate family members and friends into getting more drugs.  For example,  a young woman was addicted to the drug percocet which she is prescribed by her doctor for her migraine headaches.  This young woman's mother is also prescribed percocet for her chronic leg pain.  The young woman uses up all her pills very quickly and manipulates her mother into giving her pills to help her make it through the day.  The mother feels bad that her daughter is in pain and succumbs to the manipulation and essentially enables her daughter to continue her addictive behaviors. 

Another common behavior of addicts is sadness and depression.  The truth is that most addicts are ashamed and feel remorse for their actions, but they cannot stop themselves from believing that they are dependant on the drugs, when they are in fact addicted.

 How does one help those that they love that are addicted to prescription drugs?  There are a number of treatment facilities that specialize in helping people change these addictive behaviors.  Most insurance companies cover detox which can be achieved at a hospital or some detox centers.  Finding a drug addiction rehab center that can help you is the first step.

Withdrawal symptoms can be severe and very difficult for the person addicted.  Getting the prescription drugs out of your blood stream can take a lot of time and those who are in chronic pain may be in more pain then they were when they started taking the medication.  Because of these issues, finding a treatment facility is of the up most importance.