Prescription Drug Abuse

In recent years, prescription drug abuse has escalated with easier access to these medicinal drugs, and prescription drug abuse affects thousands of people each year. Prescription drug abuse has become one of many common forms of addiction because of two main reasons. First, pills are very accessible both through physician recommendations as well as through the black market and Internet. Second, prescription drug abuse is not only easy to hide, but the use of prescription drugs for innumerable different ailments and conditions is readily acceptable within society. Prescription drug abuse often leads people into the deadly cycle of addiction and throughout its course ruins lives and injures all people who come into contact with the addict.

With the rise of prescription drug abuse, medical facilities and practitioners have cracked down on the number of prescriptions they fill for each of their patients, however there are many different ways to access more pills than prescribed. Many prescription drug abusers begin to steal from other peoples' medicine cabinets in order to get the excess pills they need or they ask other people to fill the prescription for them, making up excuses like they lost their pills. Other people see multiple doctors complaining of chronic pain or other medical conditions in order to get a surplus of prescriptions. The Internet has also become a popular way for prescription drug abusers to find the pills they are looking for. Countries, other than the U.S., host websites that sell prescription drugs without a prescription, and this has become a popular, yet costly way for addicts to continue in their disease.

People who are prescription drug abusers often had no intention of becoming hooked on the pills they are taking. The potential abuser might have been injured or undergone an operation that requires the use of pain medication or a muscle relaxer. This prescription, even when taken correctly, may give the user a 'high' or euphoric effect that he/she finds desirable. When the prescription runs out or the pain has gone away, the user remembers the euphoric feeling and begins to have a craving for more of the drug. Often times the supervising physician will warn the patient of the drug's addictive properties, however for prescription drug abusers, they have already been caught in the cycle of addiction.

Prescription drug abuse can also start when a person is experiencing mental or emotional problems and have sought treatment through the use of medicine. These types of prescription drugs when mixed with other drugs, produces different and sometimes enjoyable effects that they disturbed person is looking for. Alcohol is most commonly used in combination with prescription drugs because alcohol enhances the effects of the pills and makes the user feel better than he/she would have if alcohol or pills were used alone. The combination of alcohol and pills is very popular, but it can also produce very harmful and even fatal effects in a person's body. The body has a difficult time processes all of the chemicals and toxins simultaneously and always has the possibility of rejecting the drug mixture and shutting down completely. Prescription drug abusers that have developed a high tolerance and mix these drugs with alcohol may overdose or die.

Some pills commonly used in prescription drug abuse include vicodin, codeine, percocet, xanax, lorcet, aderhol and many others. Each prescription drug has certain side effects that can negatively affect the user, but they have one thing in common - they can lead to addiction.

The cycle of prescription drug abuse can be broken and at Spencer Recovery Centers there is hope. If you or someone you love suffers from prescription drug abuse or any other addiction, please contact us to find out how to get treatment today.

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