Prescription drug

My Doctor the Addict

Health care professionals see the results of drug abuse every day. Some of them see the overdoses, car wrecks, shootings, and beatings – and they still use illicit drugs themselves. And they are impaired while they are taking care of our families.

Doctors and nurses have easy access to prescription drugs and can divert medications from patients or declare medications as “waste”. Many professionals are never reported to authorities and, indeed, are protected by other staff members.

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It is bad enough when a salesperson or office worker is under the influence, but something else when a surgeon is addicted. How does someone justify operating on a patient while taking drugs? Most believe they can handle the drugs and still perform normally.

Their co-workers enable some drug-abusing professionals. They are given lighter work schedules or absences are excused. Co-workers can fear retribution, particularly from powerful professionals, or they may fear they will ruin a co-worker’s life by reporting drug abuse.

Some states have responded to health care professional addiction by making reporting suspect behavior mandatory. Authorities then intervene and require the addicted person to enter treatment. Failure to report an addicted person is subject to discipline. The addicted physician is required to follow a specific treatment plan and report to the state licensing board. If the addicted person refuses to follow the plan, he or she can lose their medical license.

There are several residential rehab centers specializing in the treatment of health care professionals. All the programs focus on returning the addicted person to his or her professional life free from the temptation of relapse.

Filed Under: Drugs, General Tagged With: Health care provider, Prescription drug, Substance Abuse

Doctor Shopping

Picture a drug abuser and you may think of a bum in ragged clothes. There is a new kind of abuser in town. Middle to upper class women and men addicted to prescription painkillers.

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These abusers do not purchase their drugs from pushers in an alley– they doctor shop. They go from one doctor to another, describing their symptoms, asking for prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, viocodin, and percocet.

These individuals my not know that law enforcement does not consider doctor shopping harmless or a victimless crime. It is a felony and can lead to five years in prison.

Abuse of prescription drugs can start with a real need. Patients can become dependent on painkillers prescribed after surgery or serious injury. Their own physicians can keep prescribing the medications by accident or inattention. When that doctor finally refuses to continue the medication, the patient shifts to another — or several other – doctors, asking for pain relief medication.

Several states have instituted PDMPs (Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs). These programs allow pharmacies and physicians to cross check patients and prescriptions and identify – called red flagging – individuals who are filling multiple prescriptions for the same medications. Red-flagged individuals are monitored carefully and allowed to use only one pharmacy and one doctor.

Hospital emergency departments are also involved in doctor shopping because patients go in, apparently in acute pain, demanding relief. The emergency physician has no relationship or history with the patient and is very likely to prescribe at least a small amount of painkillers.

As more medical records are computerized, doctor shopping should become increasingly difficult.

Filed Under: General, Health Tips Tagged With: Medical prescription, Physician, Prescription drug

Legal Drugs can be Harmful

It is easy to justify staying away from illegal drugs, like marijuana, cocaine and heroin. Many people understand that the addictive nature and damaging effects of these narcotics. So, legal and prescription drugs, like painkillers, are often viewed as being a safe and acceptable alternative. This is wrong. Just because something is legal does not mean that it can’t be just as harmful, if abused.

Many prescription drugs, like painkillers, can be highly addictive if taken in excessive and over a long period of time. Pills, like Vicodin, Percocet or Oxycontin are often prescribed when someone suffers an injury or has surgery. These pills are not designed to be taken for extended periods of time, but patients will often become immune to their effects at lower doses and will increase their intake. This can quickly lead to addiction, due to their euphoric effects, even after the pain begins to subside.

Since these types of drugs are legal and not too difficult to get, many people do not see themselves as addicts. It is almost impossible to measure the amount of pain that someone is feeling, so doctors will often over-prescribe painkillers and patients will exhaust their supply before they are allowed to get a refill. This is an early sign of addiction. Patients are so used to the numb feeling associated with the pills that any amount of pain will cause them to take a pill. Most painkillers are supposed to be taken at lower doses as time goes on, but often time patients will do the opposite and increase their dosage.

The legal status of a drug does not determine how dangerous it can be. It is just as easy to harm yourself or become addicted to a legal drug, like painkillers, as it is with illegal drugs. Doctors prescribe painkillers for limited use for most patients, but the addictive nature of the pills can quickly become a problem if someone is not careful.

Filed Under: Addiction, Drugs Tagged With: Addiction, Prescription drug, Vicodin

Addictive Substances

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To what can you become addicted? Many substances are addictive, although they do may not affect you in the same way. In fact, various categories will react with the brain in diverse ways.

For instance, stimulants will make an individual more energized, while depressants will have the opposite effect. Depressants will help a person relax, rather then want to run a million errands. Hallucinogens, the drugs of choice in the 1960s, will actually make reality appear different to a user. Drugs can belong to more than one category and not all drugs are illegal. Even if they are illegal, the drugs may be easy to find and purchase. Other drugs are legal, such as alcohol, or are available only with a prescription.

Some common stimulants, or amphetamines, include crystal meth and speed, which are taken by individuals to increase their concentration levels and ability to stay alert. College students and teens are often attracted to stimulants because they want to pull an all-nighter to study.

Some stimulants, such as Adderall and dexedrene, are prescription drugs. Usually, individuals diagnosed with attention deficit disorder take these stimulants, which are effective in treating the condition. The drugs can be abused if taken by someone else or if the directions for proper usage are not followed by the patient.

As their name suggests, depressants depress the activity occurring in the brain. Often, barbiturates, such as Valium or Xanax, are prescribed as antidotes to anxiety, sleeplessness and even for patients diagnosed as bipolar. Using too much of these drugs can cause a person to go into a coma, or even death.

Drugs derived from opiates, such as codeine and morphine, relieve pain and are very effective in helping patients recover from surgery, for instance, by changing the way the brain receives messages of pain. Heroin, one of the most highly addictive drugs, belongs to this category.

Filed Under: Addiction Tagged With: Adderall, Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Depressant, Health, Methamphetamine, Prescription drug, Stimulant, Substance dependence

Taking Prescription Medicines Without Addiction

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.

There are steps that can be taken to minimize the chance of addiction to prescription medicine:

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.

Filed Under: Drugs, Medication Tagged With: Pharmaceutical drug, Prescription drug

Abused Over-the-Counter Drugs

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When people think of drug abuse, many think of illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, or heroin, or maybe cigarettes and alcohol. But have you ever thought of the possibility of abusing drugs that can be purchased at the corner drug store or from health and beauty department at the neighborhood grocery store?

Sleep Medications

One common drug that is abused that can be purchased in many stores is sleep medication. These can really help people sleep who are having problems falling asleep or staying asleep at night, but at the same time, many use them too often. Soon the body is not able to sleep without a drug helping it to, which can cause a lot of problems for the person taking the medication, especially if it becomes less effective over time causing the person to take more than the recommended dosage. For this reason, avoid taking sleeping pills unless there is a good reason. If you’re problem is serious, go to your doctor and talk to him or her about a prescription medication such as Ambien or Lunesta which have been found to be less habit forming than other sleep aids.

Cough and Cold Medication

When these medications, which can be found in any pharmacy, are taken within the recommended guidelines, they are not harmful and can help relieve cold symptoms. However, when they’re taken in large doses, they can cause a sense of euphoria, or a “high,” which can be addicting. Unwanted side effects include nausea and vomiting, increased blood pressure, and brain damage (which are caused by the decongestants found in this type of medication).

Pseudoephedrine

This is the ingredient found in some decongestants including Sudafed. Recently regulations have been put on this over-the-counter medication because it’s been used as an ingredient for producing methamphetamine (called “meth” for short). The regulations were put into place in the hopes of reducing the amount of this drug purchased to create meth.

Because there are many products, such as these, that can be abused, be sure to keep an eye out for abuse within your family including too many empty medication bottles.

Filed Under: Drugs Tagged With: Drug abuse, Over-the-counter drug, Prescription drug

Looking at Prescription Medicines

Prescription medicines incorporate a great number of medications for an entire spectrum of diseases and ailments. They have a requirement different than many medications that are available “over the counter.” They have to be prescribed by a physician. The reason for this is that they are a licensed medicine regulated by legislation and rules. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act is one piece of legislation that defines the particulars of a prescription. A professional has to have special licensing in order to write a script for a prescription medicine. The professionals are veterinarians, dentists, optometrists, and medical practitioners.

The Food and Drug Administration has the responsibility to implement the laws and legislation that is passed regarding medicines prescribed by physicians. The federal Prescription Drug Marketing Act of 1987 protects the safety and effectiveness of the medicines. FDA mandates the use of a legend so that random sales do not happen and something is not sold without a prescription. The legend can be simple and usually only says, “Rx only.”

Rx-only drugs or legend drugs are also names used to distinguish between prescription and non-prescription medicines. Today, there are alternative methods of getting prescription medicines such as ordering them from some other country than the United States. The individual who chooses to order via the Internet will encounter companies that are not regulated by the FDA or do not come from U.S. licensed pharmacies. So this presents a new set of issues which one must be mindful of.

Prescription medicines are generally used to treat problematic systems which an individual has. They alleviate symptoms first and then it may eliminate the disease or sickness. Today with the easy access of information on the Internet, laypeople have the responsibility to question the doctor and make sure he or she is making the best decision for the physical ailment.

Filed Under: Drugs, Medication Tagged With: Medical prescription, Pharmaceutical drug, Pharmacy, Prescription drug

Is Your Teen Doing Drugs?

The thought of your teen using drugs is a scary one. No parent wants to face that, but if it’s true that your child is into something he or she should not be into, it’s better to go in with your eyes wide open than to ignore it hoping it will go away. Here are some signs that your child is using drugs:

- Your teen has a new set of friends.
- His grades begin to decline and he is missing classes and is not turning in homework.
- She has become secretive about where she’s going or what her plans are.
- Suddenly he is using incense or spray deoderizers in his room.
- Her friends talk in code whenever you’re around so you don’t know what they’re talking about.
- He has started asking for more money than before or you frequently find money missing from your purse or wallet.
- You find drug paraphernalia in her room.
- He uses breath mints or mouthwash to cover up the small of alcohol.
- You find prescription drugs such as narcotics or mood stabilizers missing from your medicine cabinet.
- She is acting withdrawn or isolated and does not want to participate in family activities or other activities that she used to enjoy such as sports, music, or other extra curricular activities.

If you are seeing some of these signs, it could indicate that your child has a drug problem. You can help your teen. One thing that you have to remember is that although your teen might not like you for awhile because he feels like you’re invading his privacy or being too hard on him, it’s essential that you do what is needed so your child doesn’t fall down a dangerous road. He’ll thank you for it later in life. One thing you can do is set rules with consequences. Talk to your teen about the rules and be clear about what will happen if she breaks them. Give praise and rewards when the rules are followed and enforce consequences when they’re broken.

Filed Under: Drugs Tagged With: Prescription drug