Posts Tagged prescription
Examining the Damage of Prescription Drugs
Posted on October 17, 2011 | Drug Abuse.
Each town in America has seen its share of drug problems, like any other part of the country, but while many people consider drugs like meth, cocaine or heroin to be the biggest problem, the silent epidemic of prescription drugs has settled in. Many people are under the assumption that if it comes from a doctor that it automatically must be safer than street drugs. However, the drug-related emergency room visits and fatalities are now favoring the prescription side throughout the United States.
One of the reasons is of course the belief that pills in a bottle are less dangerous, but also the pharmaceutical marketing campaigns and prescription-happy medical community have as much shared responsibility as do the perceptions of consumers. Just one indicator is the fact that state and federal budgets for public assistance programs, such as Medicaid, have been heavily burdened by the cost of prescription drugs.
The pharmaceutical industry has spent over $200 million each of the last four years in lobbying efforts, which is more than any other industry, and it’s hard to watch television or read a magazine without being exposed to ads for the latest drugs. The top revenue-producing drugs in America have become antipsychotics, due to these marketing and lobbying efforts, the number of prescriptions given and the high prices of these medications. With total prescription drug sales topping $300 billion in 2010, it seems their formula for profit seems to be working for them.
Not to paint them all as bad, that’s not the intention here. There are many wonderful life-saving products and sometimes drugs are necessary in situations. The difference is that they are being heavily over-prescribed and we’re all feeling the effects from them, whether we know it or not.
The most abused prescription drugs today are narcotic painkillers that contain some variations of hydrocodone or oxycodone. Drugs in this category can include Percocet, OxyContin, Vicodin, and many others. Not surprisingly, they are also the most commonly prescribed drugs in America. The direct connection is not a coincidence. Other highly-abused prescription drugs include anti-anxiety medications (Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Ativan, etc.), stimulants (Adderall, Ritalin, Dexedrine) and sleeping pills (Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata, etc.).
Adderall is a great example of a drug that is causing a lot of damage. People often mistake it as being something closer to a “stronger caffeine”-type pill, but it is an amphetamine. College campuses are prime targets for students abusing this drug to stay up and study (or party, or as an appetite suppressant, or…), and then its misuse often leads to more substance abuse.
In fact, one recent national survey found that close to 90 percent of full-time college students who had abused Adderall in the past year were also considered to be binge drinkers, with about 50 percent of them considered to be heavy drinkers. In addition, those students were three times more likely to use marijuana, five times more likely to abuse narcotic painkillers and also eight times more likely to use cocaine and tranquilizers.
I think most people rely on their doctors’ advice, and of course the doctors mean well and most genuinely want the best for their patients, but western medicine appears to have become more synonymous with “prescription” than with overall health. As patients and consumers, we should be afforded all of the information before making a decision, including what healthier, non-prescription treatments might be available for addressing our symptoms and those of our children.
Being more conscious about our food intake, exercise and other habits in life is one step in the direction to better physical and mental health. Looking for more natural remedies that enhance our bodies rather than damage them can go a long way to improving our society, reducing substance abuse and related healthcare costs. For those people who become dependent on prescription drugs, there is a growing trend of addiction recovery programs that are using holistic therapies as well.
The toll on our society has been too great to keep going in the direction we have been where the first thought is to take a pill if we have a problem. It is possible to shift our thinking patterns in this direction and have drugs become the alternative treatments rather than the primary ones.
The Effects Of Drug Addiction and Substance Abuse
Posted on August 17, 2011 | Drug Abuse.
One thing that you would acknowledge is that the drug addiction crosscuts the prescription and non-prescription medicines. In fact, abuse or addiction to prescription medicines makes for the most prevalent these days. This may actually be as a result of their ease of availability as well as the low costs in which they come at. Irrespective of the fact that most of these substances fall under the ‘controlled’ category, they are not only available from medical practitioners but also from pharmacies as well as illegal outlets and streets.
Whether one is addicted to non-prescription or prescription drugs, the abuse is always characterized by the defiance of a qualified medical practitioner’s prescriptions. One would actually be taking the items for reasons other than those for which the medicine was prescribed or against the prescriptions of a qualified medical practitioner.
Substance abuse starts with development of psychic or even physical dependency to a particular drug. Now it would be important to understand that every drug whether non-prescription or prescription will always produce physical dependency. This is a situation where the individual starts craving for it and would not feel normal if he or she does not take it or stays off it for too long. It would be important to acknowledge that physical dependency would not necessarily imply that the individual has become dependent or is abusing it. All that it implies is that the normal functioning of the body systems and especially the brain and the central nervous system have become dependent on the presence of the substance.
If the individual continues taking the drug, there is the possibility of development of tolerance (chemical tolerance). This results from the deposits of residue building up in the body. With these, the individual would realize that the drug becomes ineffective especially as far as bringing about the initial effects is concerned. These could be the euphoric feelings, pain relieving, suppression of coughs, relieving fever or any other reason for which it was consumed. To bring about these effects, the individual would need to take more of whatever substance they had already consumed. One thing that you need to acknowledge is that as much as chemical tolerance and physical dependency do not indicate that the individual has become addicted or is abusing the drug, it definitely could lead to addiction if the individual continues increasing the amounts consumed. This is because chemical tolerance progressively builds up meaning the individual would need to continually increase the amounts. Eventually, the individual may end up overdosing because of this.
In most cases, it is quite difficult to determine the cause and effect of addiction. Actually, you may never determine what caused the other; for example, did depression result in substance abuse or did the addiction cause the depression initially? However, one thing that you would acknowledge is that, the effects of substance abuse crosscuts every aspect of an individual’s life be it behavior, psychology, mental capacity, family life and even health. Actually, health and mental aspects happen to be the most affected.
There are varied effects of the addiction mainly depending on the amounts taken, the type taken, time over which the drug is taken as well as the health of the individual. You will acknowledge that the effects are worse or more severe when an individual has been abusing several substances together.
Looking at the physiological effects, the drug may induce severe effects to the individual’s entire body system. Initially, addiction would induce such physiological effects like blood pressure, irregular breathing, sudden loss of weight or gain and increased heart rate. In the long term, the effects actually happen to be more serious. The most common long term effects of addiction include heart disease, brain damage, lung diseases and arthritis. In cases where individuals share syringes used for injecting, there are possibilities of contracting HIV/AIDS.
On social and psychological effects of drug addiction, you will acknowledge that the individual has no control over the substance. In such scenarios, if an individual does not consume the amount needed, he or she would be restless, anxious and depressed therefore increasing the craving for it. Given the high cost of some of these drugs, the individual may find it hard to keep up with the price and therefore resort to stealing and other unethical behaviors like prostitution. Actually, this addition has been touted as one of the prime causes of high crime rates. Having in mind that the individual will be focusing all efforts on attaining the substance, he or she would be hard pressed fulfilling their obligations either at work or in the family. In most cases, the addicts prefer keeping to themselves and may have behavioral changes such as extreme irritability, mood swings and irritability. Given the adherence of these drugs to the normal functioning of the brain and the central nervous system, the individual may have reduced mental as well as physical capacity.