The dangers of certain prescription medications

 

There are lots of over-the-counter pain medications that have suddenly become scheduled medications. There’s a very good reason for this is because these medications are highly addictive because of certain ingredients in them. Ingredients like codeine, for instance. Oxycontin is another one of those kinds of medications that you need Doctor’s prescription for before you can lay your hands on them. The reason for this is because Oxycontin or oxycodone, is in fact a steroid-based medication, and therefore highly addictive.

Now while the steroid content of Oxycontin might seem fairly low, they are not and they do have some other unpleasant surprises, other than addiction, like water retention and sometimes severe bloating. And of course naturally to combat these side effects, one would need more prescription medication to get rid of that. That’s creating a vicious cycle of prescription medications.

The fact is, pain medication has become a lot of people’s drug of choice. Some feel that by taking something that is prescribed by a doctor, it cannot be as bad as taking cocaine or using heroin. And this is why tragedies happen, because people are uneducated about the medications they are taking, is that they at best, become completely addicted to the medication they are taking, or worse, become so lax with this drug that they leave it lying around where small hands can reach them, which often resulting in tragedy.

Let’s look at Oxycontin little bit more in depth. First of all, it is an opioid drug that is generally used for management of mild to serious pain. This medication is generally prescribed for use over a prolonged period of time. Some of the more “normal” side-effects of Oxycontin includes nausea, vomiting, sometimes some dizziness, dry mouth and sweating, just to name a few. Some of the more serious reactions are things sleep apnea, low blood pressure and even death. Some of the more infrequent and rare side effects of Oxycontin are excessive sweating, indigestion, fever, depression, itching and hives, migraines, UTIs, water retention, loss of appetite, difficulty in swallowing and stomach cramps. These are but a few of the long list of rare, but dangerous side-effects of this humble little pill.

Prescription Drugs and Addictive Personalities?

Addicts are normally described as someone who is hooked on a dangerous drug such as heroine, marijuana or cocaine. But, there are people in this world, who are addicted to various things other than the aforesaid. It could be a simple thing as a game on a mobile phone or a more serious type of addiction to alcohol and tobacco. There are people who are also addicted to prescribed drugs: mostly psychiatric drugs and painkillers. People who get addicted to these prescribed drugs will usually have a hard time controlling or getting over their addiction.

Psychiatric drugs are usually said to cause addiction in patients more than any other drug category. These drugs will usually lead to a tolerance level in the body, where addiction would be the next eventual step. When it comes to the tolerance level, the patient will have to take more quantities of the drug, in order to get relief from the illness or disorder. That means the effects of the drug are weakened and the dosage would have to be increased to gain the initial effect. Unless the dosage level is increased, withdrawal symptoms are bound to develop in patients. Most common withdrawal symptoms include anxiety, agitation and muscle aches.

Opioid pain pills are prescribed more frequently for pain related issues and it has helped teenagers to easily get addicted to this drug. Opioid addiction in teenagers, is only second to Marijuana and this was revealed recently by a medical team, who conducted a research on the subject. 

Experts are not aware of the figures around prescribed drug addiction, but surely they confirm that it is on the rise. It is partly due to the availability of these drugs more freely. Most of the drugs could be obtained over the counter. It was not so, about 10-20 years ago. All this helps in prescriptions drugs causing addictive personalities.