subject: Significant Elements Of Prescription Drug Abuse [print this page] People take prescribed medications to cure their ailments and alleviate their pain. These said medicines are proven to cure, but inappropriate intake may bring serious pain and sickness. prescription drug addiction is the deliberate use of a medication without doctors prescription in a manner other than its indication or for the gratifying effects they get when taking it. About 20% of Americans use prescription drugs for reasons other than what their physician prescribed them for. Prescription drugs addiction is one of the most alarming and growing problem in the United States. This is not a new problem but it definitely deserves renewed attention.
The most commonly abused medications. Pain killers are the most abused prescription drugs. Individuals who developed abuse of prescription drugs usually seek the pain killers sedating and euphoric effects. Feelings of worry and despair are taken away by these medications and sets the mood of each and every individual to a high feeling. With continuous use, users may also develop drug tolerance requiring higher doses to achieve exactly the same effect while addicts insist on continuously using these drugs to avoid the very uncomfortable manifestation of withdrawal syndrome. Apart from pain killers other classification of drugs can also cause prescription drugs addiction for example tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives. These drugs can depress the brain functions including regulation of breathing. If this happens, respiratory arrest could occur.
Children are also affected. Prescribed and OTC medication are accounted as the most abused illicit drugs used by senior students in high school. Vicodin and Oxycontin came up as two of the most abused drugs among teenagers. Once they were asked how they were able to acquire narcotics for non-medical use, 70% claimed they acquired it thru a friend or relative although some obtained it from the internet.
The elderly are also into it. Different sorts of sickness hit older people. As part of the over all management, doctors usually include pain medications in the regimen and some of them have a high addictive potential. They tend to overdose themselves by constant dosing of medications even after their limit.
Misconceptions about their safety. Lots of people assume that medications are safe to take anytime they prefer because it was prescribed by a doctor that is not the case. Prescription drugs have the same direct or indirect action on the same part of the brain affected by illicit drugs. Hence, using any prescription drugs outside its indicated use is dangerous since it can lead to many adverse effect including overdose and prescription drugs addiction.
Watch out for signs of addiction. Be watchful with these factors if you have been taking prescribed medications.
You have been increasing the dose of your medication to have the same effect.
You have to have the drug in your system so that you can function normally.
You can't stop using it.
If you find yourself doing the things mentioned above, then you should seek help for addiction to prescription drugs.
Help is available. There are lots of facilities and professionals that specialize on substance addiction. There is a wide selection of treatment available out there that is designed to meet your needs.
Everybody have their own encounter with addiction, either it's you or someone you know. Medicines are invented to treat sickness, however it needs to be taken responsibly. So just before starting a medication, be sure you are well informed not only with the advantages it brings but also the price you need to pay in exchange of the relief.
