In a recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health, over 2 million Americans admitted to substance abuse related to prescription medicine. While this is an alarming statistic, most of those people admitted they were not getting their medication from their original doctor. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, over half of all prescription drug abuse is the result of individuals obtaining the medicine from friends or family members, not their doctor. One in five bought prescription medications from a stranger.
Addiction is rarely the result of the proper use of prescription pain or anxiety medicine. Doctors are increasingly aware of the need to strictly control how much medicine patients take for everything from anxiety to acute pain. Most physicians prescribe only as much medicine as they feel is necessary to help patients cope with pain, insomnia or anxiety and are usually hesitant to refill prescriptions for potentially addictive medications.
Prescription medications that can lead to substance abuse and addiction include benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Valium and opiates such as Percodan, Tylox, Darvocet and Darvan. Using these for longer than prescribed or taking more than is necessary can lead to addiction.
There are steps that can be taken to minimize the chance of addiction to prescription medicine:
• Take any prescriptions only as directed.
• Use the medication only when needed, using the smallest suggested dose for relief.
• Be careful not to combine prescription medications with other drugs, including over the counter pain relievers or alcohol.
• Don’t increase or decrease the amount of medication you are taken quickly. Slowly tapering off pain relievers is best.
• Never take someone else’s prescription medicine. The prescription is written for a specific person and takes into account their size, weight and medical history.
Despite careful regulation by doctors and pharmacists, some patients will still develop an addiction to prescription drugs. This is more likely to happen if the patient has psychological problems or a past history of drug abuse. For this reason, full disclosure of medical history is always important.
In a recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health, over 2 million Americans admitted to substance abuse related to prescription medicine. While this is an alarming statistic, most of those people admitted they were not getting their medication from their original doctor. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, over half of all prescription drug abuse is the result of individuals obtaining the medicine from friends or family members, not their doctor. One in five bought prescription medications from a stranger.
Addiction is rarely the result of the proper use of prescription pain or anxiety medicine. Doctors are increasingly aware of the need to strictly control how much medicine patients take for everything from anxiety to acute pain. Most physicians prescribe only as much medicine as they feel is necessary to help patients cope with pain, insomnia or anxiety and are usually hesitant to refill prescriptions for potentially addictive medications.
Prescription medications that can lead to substance abuse and addiction include benzodiazepines such as Xanax and Valium and opiates such as Percodan, Tylox, Darvocet and Darvan. Using these for longer than prescribed or taking more than is necessary can lead to addiction.
There are steps that can be taken to minimize the chance of addiction to prescription medicine:
• Take any prescriptions only as directed. • Use the medication only when needed, using the smallest suggested dose for relief.• Be careful not to combine prescription medications with other drugs, including over the counter pain relievers or alcohol.• Don’t increase or decrease the amount of medication you are taken quickly. Slowly tapering off pain relievers is best.• Never take someone else’s prescription medicine. The prescription is written for a specific person and takes into account their size, weight and medical history.
Despite careful regulation by doctors and pharmacists, some patients will still develop an addiction to prescription drugs. This is more likely to happen if the patient has psychological problems or a past history of drug abuse. For this reason, full disclosure of medical history is always important.
