Why Do Some Prescription
Drugs Become Addictive Some of the Time?
Addictive drugs produce an artificial feeling of pleasure. If pain
killing prescriptive drug use is ceased when no longer needed for
real pain, there is less chance of the drug becoming addictive to
that user. This is possibly due to the non-abusing patients' pain
levels reducing some of the opioid euphoric effects. Such drugs
short-circuit your survival system by artificially stimulating the
pleasure areas in your brain. As this happens, it leads to increased
confidence in the drug and less confidence in normal body feelings
and the rewards of life. This first happens on a physical level.
Then, like other addictive drugs, it has a psychological effect
where interest in other aspects of life decreases as reliance on
the drug increases. People, places and activities involved with
using these drugs become more important than the lifestyles that
worked through your normal reward system before using the drug.
After a while, a heavy prescriptive drug user, like the illicit
drug user, will actually resent people, places, and activities that
do not fit in with that drug use.
Prescription drug addiction can affect the young, middle-aged or
elderly. Prescription drug addicted individuals may come from any
walk of life, hold entry-level or high positions. They may be parents,
grandparents, single or married. Often, the addiction develops without
the user realizing it until the drug begins to control his or her
life. When an individual exceeds the dosage prescribed or seeks
to obtain the drug after the time prescribed by their physician,
it should be a warning sign to the possibility of drug dependency.
What is Drug Craving?
Drug craving is the result of the drug imprinting in the memory
a pleasant association of euphoria with the drug. The subconscious
memory motivates the individual to seek this drug because of the
false imprint. The brain, in effect, has been trained that using
the drug is the fastest way to feel good. This learning process
produces a new appetite or drive to seek the drug, called craving.
Craving is most often activated by a memory of pleasure, a habit
of using the drug when feeling bad to rapidly feel good, and in
a situation with people, places and activities in where a previous
habit pattern of drug use has been established.
Is There Withdrawal from Prescription Drug Use?
Yes. The symptoms, the severity and length of the withdrawal depend
on the particular drug and the amount of the drug taken. The medical
staff of Schick Shadel Hospital will administer medications to make
the withdrawal as comfortable as possible, based on their many years
of experience in treating addiction withdrawal symptoms.
Treatment for prescription drug "pain pills" addiction includes
working out pain issues with the patient's pain clinic or physician.
Note: Some prescription drugs are so potentially addictive, class
action lawsuits have been filed regarding them. |
