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Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Prescription Drug Abuse: Who Gets Addicted?

Jason first became addicted to prescription pills when he was a teen, after a doctor prescribed a powerful drug to treat his migraine headaches.

"It took care of the migraine, but I found myself taking [the painkillers] even when I didn't have the migraine, because I just enjoyed that euphoric numbness," he says. He’s asked us not to use his last name.

Before too long, he says he was popping 45 prescription pills a day, mostly hydrocodone, a strong painkiller. But he also abused tranquilizers like alprazolam and diazepam.

He says his addiction became so overwhelming that he hit rock bottom: He stole pain medication from his mother, who was dying of bone cancer. "She would cry at me because she was in so much pain, but I had taken her medication,” he says.

That’s what it took for Jason to get help. He’s been in recovery for 11 years.

His path to addiction isn’t unusual. It often starts with a medication prescribed for a medical reason.

"The person had an injury or operation, they got a prescription,” says Peter R. Martin, MD, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. “They basically liked it and kept on doing it.”

That leads them to become dependent on the drug, needing more and more to get the same effect. “The next step is to go from doctor to doctor to try to get medicine when the original doctor says no,” Martin says.

Jason recalls visiting several doctors in one day to get enough pills to fuel his habit -- a practice called "doctor shopping."

Who Could Be at Risk?

5 comments:

  1. I was prescribed hydrocodone after surgery. It was then that I understood the attraction of prescription drugs. It's a shame that people with chronic pain have to struggle to obtain prescriptions because of the addicts.

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  2. So true. Honestly I am one who gets very sick if prescribed them. But in regards to my elderly mother who cannot leave her home, has to depend on me to get her prescriptions. It was such a process to be able to pick up her medicine. I had to have proof of Power of Medical Attorney. Then you have those who doctor hop all around and abuse the drug and the system.

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  3. 9:20 You could always turn down narcotic pain killers, you do have that choice. Anyone who says 800mg of Ibuprofen can't give them relief is already an addict.

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  4. 1:47
    I have to disagree with you. Last year I had a tooth ache after getting it filled. I took 4 Advil every 4 hours. Two hours later I would take Tylenol. Neither would take away the pain. I hate pain killers but was forced to take them for pain this time. The bottle said take 1 or 2. I took a half of one pill and it did deaden the pain. Not everyone abuses pain killers.

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  5. I am waiting for the SFD employees to make a comment..... Come on... we know you are experienced!

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