Prescriptions Opiate Drug Addiction - Recognizing Drug Abuse

Prescriptions Drugs - Recognizing Drug Abuse

Heroin is the drug that most people think of in terms of addictions. The truth is that heroin is just one of the narcotic drugs called opiates.

Unlike heroin, most opiates are not 'street drugs'. They are usually prescribed by health care professionals to relieve pain. Opiates are effective analgesics, pain relievers, and with proper supervision and strict adherence to the prescription addiction is not common.

For patients with chronic pain, opiate addiction is a serious concern, but anyone who takes opiates runs the risk of dependence. Not everyone who uses opiate pain relievers will abuse the drugs and become dependent on them, but inappropriate or extended use of prescription drugs can lead to addiction.

Opiates are central nervous system depressants. Besides the intended effect of pain relief, most patients report euphoria, a feeling of pleasure, after taking these medications.

When the effects of the drug wear off pain returns. The euphoric feeling disappears and is often replaced by a mildly depressed state in much the same way that the euphoria felt with alcohol results in a mild depression during the hangover period.

Opiates are broken into three groups. Opium and its natural derivative, morphine make up the first group. The second group includes heroin, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone, and oxymorphone. These are all partially synthetic derivatives of morphine. The synthetic compounds fentanyl, alfentanil, levorphanol, meperidine (Demerol), methadone, codeine, and propoxyphene (Darvon) are in the third group.

Paregoric contains opium and is very addictive. Two other highly abused opiates, codeine based cough suppressant syrups and meperidine, are often used by people who are not aware of the addictive nature of the medicines.

OxyContin, hydrocodone and other oxycodone preparations, methadone, morphine, hydromorphone, fentanyl and buprenorphine, all drugs that are prescribed, need to be carefully monitored for dependence and abuse.

Physical dependence should be expected in anyone taking an opiate based drug. The minimum period it takes to develop is only two days. After ten days of continuous almost anyone will become dependent on the drug. When the drug is stopped, the patient will experience withdrawal symptoms.

The amount of time it takes the nervous system to recover depends on which drug is involved. Typical withdrawal symptoms may include runny nose, watery-teary eyes, sweating, nausea, vomiting, shivering, goose bumps, body aches, irregular heart rhythms, racing heart, diarrhea, sleeplessness, and restlessness.

Withdrawal symptoms will normally build to a peak and then subside over the next few days. The longer the drug has been used and the higher the dosage, the stronger the reaction will be to withdrawing it from the body. With Meperidine the withdrawal symptoms will usually peak in eight to twelve hours and last for four to five days while with heroin they usually peak within two to three days and may last for up to two weeks.

While the physical dependence on the opiate drugs can be removed through withdrawal, the emotional dependence may be more difficult to cure. In severe cases methadone, buprenorphine, subutex and suboxone are sometimes used to treat opiate addiction. These drugs produce a milder "high" and may provide an easier withdrawal period.

Prescription opiate addiction is a real addiction that can happen to anyone who has the need to use pain medication. If your doctor prescribes an opiate based drug, make sure you understand exactly how much to take and how long to continue the prescription. If you discover that you have developed a dependence on a drug, it may require professionalhelp to recover from the addiction. There are good programs available, many of which will allow you to continue to work and function normally while you recover.

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