Prescription Drug Addiction Blog

Methadone is generally prescribed for two reasons: heroin withdrawal symptom management and pain relief. Methadone is actually quite widely prescribed, not only because of the relatively low cost (thus making it appealing for insurance companies to promote its use) but because it remains in the body an extraordinarily long time. Unfortunately, methadone has moved from treating medical conditions to an actual addictive drug. A growing number of people are addicted to this prescription drug.

Building a Tolerance, Building Addiction
Methadone, like most opiates, is quite easy for the body to build a tolerance for. This means that most people addicted to methadone need to take more and more of the drug to nourish their addiction. That is one of the major dangers of methadone addiction. Increased dosage leads to a much higher risk of developing methadone dependence. Most people that take methadone are going to need to take it for an extended period (either waiting for their body to heal or to kick a heroin addiction). This combination of building up tolerance and time can lead to methadone dependence, and eventually to methadone addiction.

It's Easy to Overdose on Methadone
Another one of the dangers of methadone addiction is the fact that it is easy to overdose on. Not only because methadone amplifies other prescription medications, but also because the drug is taken orally. If a drug is taken orally, it becomes much harder to control the amount of methadone taken. Between 1999 and 2004, the number of people that died from methadone more than quadrupled.

Methadone is Difficult to Withdraw From
It is intriguing to note that heroin has a much shorter period of withdrawal than methadone. So the drug that people prescribe to get rid of heroin has a much longer period of withdrawal. People that are trying to kick methadone may still show symptoms of withdrawal five or six weeks after they tried to stop using. Yet another one of the dangers of methadone addiction is it's also much more painful to withdraw from than heroin.

The Side Effects are Brutal
Like most opiates, patients that are trying to stop using methadone should be ready for a varied range of side effects. Some of the reported issues include changes in weight, headaches, vomiting, arrhythmia, changes in blood pressure, hallucinations and nausea.

The Aforementioned Long Half-Life
As previously mentioned, methadone has a long half-life. Approximately 22 hours after consumption, half of the dosage of methadone is still in the body. It can take about five days for a single tablet of methadone (10 mg) to be completely gone from the patient's system. People often do not realize how long methadone resides in the body and end up taking more, eventually leading to an overdose or serious addiction.

Many patients that have been on both sides of the withdrawal of methadone and heroin will tell you that they can stop taking heroin at anytime – but methadone is a completely different type of addiction. There are reports of people having stopped taking heroin 'cold turkey' three times during a 15-year addiction period, but during a 10-year methadone addiction period, they have never been able to stop taking methadone. Ultimately, the dangers of methadone addiction are real and should not be underestimated.

The road to pain killer addiction can be easy to find oneself on. A simple injury, pain related to surgery, and pain associated with diseases such as cancer could have your doctor prescribing highly addictive medications. Prescription meds are the most abused class of drugs in the USA today. If you or someone you know needs pain relief, the decision to take pills should not be a light one.

The Ins and Outs of Pain Killer Chemical Dependency
People don't swallow a pill and expect to become addicted to it, but that is exactly what happens. This form of pain management is an easy and effective one, but has many pitfalls for individuals to fall into.

In addition to relieving pain, other side effects manifests that are not entirely unpleasant for certain people. One can become distanced from emotional pain. If an individual has recently had an accident or illness this is particularly appealing, however, it is not the right way to cope. Life has ups and downs and swallowing a pill to make all the bad feelings go away only makes it harder in the long run.

Opioids in particular offer a sense of euphoria; this is similar to how people feel after heavy physical exertion, something like 'the runner's high'. Pain relief medication can also loosen the body up, especially Demerol. This can be quite a welcome relief to the tension the body is experiencing. None of these sensations are particularly bad or harmful in a well-managed pain relief regimen, but all too frequently people become addicted.

Ending the Chemical Romance
Due to their highly addictive nature, pain killer addiction creeps up on people. Reaching for the pill doesn't seem like a problem at first, but then it is being used too frequently or long after the physical pain has passed. Individuals who abuse them develop a tolerance and more and more are needed; the misuse begins to affect other parts of their lives. At this time it is necessary to attend prescription drug rehabilitation for painkiller addiction.
Addiction is not an incurable disease; a person will have their life back on track after successfully completing alternative prescription drug rehab treatment. The life skills that are needed to cope with whatever comes their way will be firmly in place.

The era of the baby boomers has brought with it many transitions and along with this is a whole new breed of drug addicts, that don't know where to turn for the solution.

The baby boomers certainly have been in the spotlight a great deal lately and this is because many of them are reaching retirement age by 2011. The true baby boomers are those that were born between 1946 and 1964. Many of these individuals are currently under the routine care of their family physician for the treatment of many ailments that have raised the need for pain control. Unfortunately the most often relied upon means of pain control are prescription drugs that have a proven record of being addictive. These are those common household family name drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone.

Nobody wants to live in pain and society justifies the use of these highly addictive painkillers as being a necessity, yet the addict that may have started to use heroine as a means to relieve emotional pain is considered a burden to society. What is the difference between the baby boomer that is addicted to oxycodone (also known as hillbilly heroin) or the addict who uses the standard forms of heroin? The only difference is that one gets it by prescription and the other has to obtain it illegally.

The argument could be made that the prescriptive addict didn’t realize that they could become addicted, besides they had no other choice. The heroin addict could argue they didn't think they would become addicted either, and there was nothing available for their emotional pain. Bottom line is no matter how these drugs are obtained they are addictive and they are deadly; and rehabilitation has to become the priority.

The heroin addict needs a long term rehab program that is going to allow them to deal with both their physical and emotional addiction, then long term support to integrate them back into society with confidence. The prescriptive addict needs the exact same rehabilitative program then an alternative non-addictive pain control method.

Most individuals put their trust in the medical professionals when there is a need. Unfortunately in their desire to meet the patient's needs for pain control, medical personnel under pressure to do so, look for the quick fix when it comes to pain. With limited resources to choose from they rely on the narcotics that they have available to do this.

It would seem that money would be far better spent by government powers to find alternative methods of pain control rather than support large drug manufacturers in their research to control pain through narcotics, while at the same time researching replacement drugs to offset the addiction.

The argument is often raised that there are plenty of drug rehab programs to assist the addict. According to these thinkers, they must be affordable because these short term treatment centers are always full. Well of course they are, when a good many of the addicts that are there are prescriptive addicts who have a decent income and can afford the treatments. The same can't be said for the street addict.

The best step any addict can take is to seek out the help of professional organizations that are in the know about what is available to the addict of today, and not what was available to the addict five, ten or over twenty years ago.

New reports are coming in from all over the US that more and more doctors are asking patients to sign contracts in order to maintain their relationship with the doctor and to continue prescriptions.

There are opposing views on both sides of this development. Doctors, of course, are suggesting that this helps to establish parameters and to educate as to dangers/risks and put in writing firm agreements regarding the use of the medications. For example many of these contracts detail how not to mix with other meds and others include promises not to sell or provide meds to others. To violate such a contract would mean being cut off from that doctor and prescriptions.

The question is whether such contracts are really going to deter someone who is abusing their medications. The reality is that those who already doctor shop and do whatever else needed to get scripts (legally and illegally) already know that they are at risk legally and physically. It may be that these contracts become nothing more than boilerplate templates that are signed off quickly but never really read and after a few strokes of ink, all else is same as before.

But what this could be is an amazing legal paper trail to show that the doctor is doing what he can to prevent abuse. It would be quite a document to show if a physical was accused of something improper and can also protect a doctor if / when they opt to cut off patient. That has legal risks, too. But with such a document I can see how they might use to cut off someone when they have finally become so addicted and dangerous that it's best to just push them away to find another doctor.

Consumer advocates are suggesting that contracts violate personal information and are intrusive and have little if anything to do with treating pain and easing suffering of patients.

On the surface this seems like something to get enthused about. At least it's SOMETHING in the right direction right? But the more I look at it the more it smells of a pretense to do good and to help. Very likely it will not impact a drug addict one bit. And worse, these contracts could allow already irresponsible doctors to do more overprescribing due to the feeling of protection they may get from it.

Another state has begun to publicly question and examine the rising enormous costs regarding the prescription drug Suboxone (buprenorphine) given to opiate addicts.

The Tennessean reported on the 100x increase in the number of bruprenorphine prescriptions from 2002 to 2009, going from about 50,000 to more than 5 million. The article also states that Tennessee specifically has more buprenorphine users per capita than 43 other states in the country. State Medicaid prescriptions for buprenorphine have more than doubled in the last year and half, according to a cited source from TennCare.

Despite the article claiming the drugs is a "breakthrough," it clearly shows that the abuse of doctors and the drug company manipulation of patients and the system have money as their primary goal. Otherwise, there wouldn't be the street value for those needed buprenorphine or the growing number of people now dealing with Suboxone addiction and dependency.

If Suboxone were only used for its original stated purpose - for short-term tapering to curb the withdrawal symptoms - then it could have been viewed as more useful instead of this growing travesty that has been created through new maintenance programs involving buprenorphine sucking up financial resources.