March 8, 2014

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE-SERIOUS PROBLEM

Prescription drug abuse is becoming a major scourge to the society today

Much as recreational use of prescription drugs is a serious problem with virtually everyone, teens and young adults are most affected. Resent studies shows that teens are more likely to have abused a prescription drug than an illegal street drug. Many teens think prescription drugs are safe because they were prescribed by a doctor. But taking them for nonmedical use to get high or “self-medicate” can be just as dangerous and addictive as taking illegal street drugs. There are very serious health risks in taking prescription drugs. This is why they are taken only under the care of a doctor. And even then, they have to be closely monitored to avoid addiction or other problems. Many pills look the same. It is extremely dangerous to take any pill that you are uncertain about or was not prescribed for you. People can also have different reactions to drugs due to the differences in each person’s body chemistry. A drug that was okay for one person could be very risky, even fatal, for someone else.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ABUSE-WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW

Due to their potential for abuse and addiction, many prescription drugs have been categorized by the US Drug Enforcement Administration in the same category as opium or cocaine. These include Ritalin and Dexedrine (stimulants), and the painkillers OxyContin, Demerol and Roxanol. Many illegal street drugs were at one time used or prescribed by doctors or psychiatrists but were later banned when the evidence of their harmful effects could no longer be ignored. Examples are heroin, cocaine, LSD, methamphetamine and Ecstasy. Abuse of prescription drugs can be even riskier than the abuse of illegally manufactured drugs. The high potency of some of the synthetic (man-made) drugs available as prescription drugs creates a high overdose risk. This is particularly true of OxyContin and similar painkillers, where overdose deaths more than doubled over a five-year period.

Prescription drugs abuse-Types of abused prescription drugs

Prescription drugs that are taken for recreational use include the following major categories: 1. Depressants: Often referred to as central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) depressants, these drugs slow brain function. They include sedatives (used to make a person calm and drowsy) and tranquilizers (intended to reduce tension or anxiety). 2. Opioids and morphine derivatives: Generally referred to as painkillers, these drugs contain opium or opium-like substances and are used to relieve pain. 3. Stimulants: A class of drugs intended to increase energy and alertness but which also increase blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. 4. Antidepressants: Psychiatric drugs that are supposed to handle depression.

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE-DEPRESSANTS

Sometimes called “downers,” these drugs come in multicolored tablets and capsules or in liquid form. Some drugs in this category, such as Zyprexa, Seroquel and Haldol, are known as “major tranquilizers” or “antipsychotics,” as they are supposed to reduce the symptoms of mental illness. Depressants such as Xanax, Klonopin, Halcion and Librium are often referred to as “benzos” (short for benzodiazepines). Other depressants, such as Amytal, Numbutal and Seconal, are classed as barbiturates—drugs that are used as sedatives and sleeping pills. Effects of Depressants Higher doses can cause impairment of memory, judgment and coordination, irritability, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts. Some people experience the opposite of the intended effect, such as agitation or aggression. Using sedatives (drugs used to calm or soothe) and tranquilizers with other substances, particularly alcohol, can slow breathing and the heart rate and even lead to death. Tolerance of too many depressants can develop rapidly, with larger doses needed to achieve the same effect. The user, trying to reach the same high, may raise the dose to a level that results in coma or death by overdose. Long-term use of depressants can produce depression, chronic fatigue, breathing difficulties, sexual problems and sleep problems. As a dependency on the drug increases, cravings, anxiety or panic are common if the user is unable to get more. Withdrawal symptoms include insomnia, weakness and nausea. For continual and high-dose users, agitation, high body temperature, delirium, hallucinations and convulsions can occur. Unlike withdrawal from most drugs, withdrawal from depressants can be life-threatening. These drugs can also increase the risk of high blood sugar, diabetes, and weight gain (instances of up to 100 pounds have been reported). In a study conducted by USA today, based on Food and Drug Administration data over a four-year period, antipsychotics (a type of depressant) were the prime suspects in forty-five deaths caused by heart problems, choking, liver failure and suicide. ROHYPNOL Rohypnol is a tranquilizer about ten times more potent than Valium. The drug is available as a white or olive-green pill and is usually sold in the manufacturer’s bubble packaging. Users crush the pills and snort the powder, sprinkle it on marijuana and smoke it, dissolve it in a drink or inject it.

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE-ROHYPNOL EFFECTS

Rohypnol has been used to commit sexual assaults because it renders the victim incapable of resisting, giving it the reputation of a “date-rape” drug. Rohypnol users often describe its effects as “paralyzing.” The effects start twenty to thirty minutes after taking the drug, peak within two hours and may persist for eight or even twelve hours. A person can be so incapacitated (made unable to act) they collapse. They lie on the floor, eyes open, able to observe events but completely unable to move. Afterwards, memory is impaired and they cannot recall any of what happened. The person experiences loss of muscle control, confusion, drowsiness and amnesia. Looking at the seriousness of these elements we certainly need help and we need it now. The good news is that we have AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center under Doctor Akoury’s. In this facility the primary objective is to care for you and your health the natural way. No chemical no side effects it’s all about what is right and good for you. Doctor Akoury focuses on Neuroendocrine Restoration (NER) to reinstate normality through realization of the oneness of Spirit, Mind, and Body, Unifying the threesome into ONE. Where-else can you get help? Certainly none, this is the place to be.

PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE-SERIOUS PROBLEM

Young Women and Prescription Drug Overdoses

March 6, 2014

Young Women and Prescription Drug Overdoses- Analgesics (Pain killers)

Young women are the major victims of prescribe painkillers

In medical terms, analgesics are drugs that alleviate pain. Analgesic drugs fall into broad classifications, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs), COX-2 inhibitors, and opiates. Any type of painkiller is associated with specific risks, and it is the responsibility of drug manufacturers and prescribing healthcare providers to make patients aware of what those risks are so that patients can make informed choices. Prescribing physicians and dispensing pharmacists have a responsibility to ensure that patients receive maximum benefit of these drugs without suffering detrimental side effects.

Painkiller use is prescribed for either acute or chronic conditions. In cases of trauma, injury, or surgery, opiates or opiate derivatives are often the drugs of choice, as well as NSAIDs. In chronic conditions, such as arthritis, either COX-2 inhibitors or over the counter NSAIDs may be prescribed. For chronically painful conditions such as fibromyalgia, low back injury, or compound spinal fracture, opiate-derived analgesics are often the drug of choice when other medications fail to provide reliably effective relief.

Young Women and Prescription Drug Overdoses- Narcotic and non-narcotic painkiller

Both narcotic and non-narcotic painkiller use are associated with dangerous drug complications for the health of the people for whom they are prescribed of whom the majority are young women. It is estimated that prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Hydrocodone, and Vicodin are responsible for five times as many deaths as illegal street narcotics. Prescription painkiller abuse is on the rise, and access to prescription narcotics has created a black market of addiction that was not anticipated by the drugs’ manufacturers who continue to produce these pharmaceuticals for legitimate medical use.

Physical quality of life can be damaged by painkiller use. The drugs may alleviate chronic pain due to injury, but the physical complications associated with painkiller use, such as hypertension, appetite and weight loss, associated neurological deficiencies, hypersomnia, and digestive disorders, may objectively outweigh the benefits accrued. Financial ruin due to acquiring a ready supply of the required drug on hand while tolerance limits increases after repeated use, and associated loss of self-esteem and social reputation, are other considerations that are not documented in a person’s medical record, buy still negatively impact a victim’s quality of life.

Intangible losses that cannot be tallied in monetary terms are the specialty of medical liability attorneys. Their role is to measure a client’s state of life before being subjected to a medication regimen and then compare it to their current state after they have followed a doctor’s orders. Dangerous drug lawyers are familiar with all the issues that are involved in pharmaceutical product liability law. They review the relevant records, literature and case law to ensure their clients receive due representation and compensation for damages incurred.

The physical effects of prescribed painkillers are amply documented. Selective and non-selective NSAIDs have been linked to increased incidence of liver damage, and to upper gastrointestinal bleeding that leads to metabolic disorders, anemia, and digestive dysfunction. In all this the biggest victims are the middle aged women

Young Women and Prescription Drug Overdoses- Investigations

Our young mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are dying at rates that we have never seen before according to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This problem is one of the few health issues CDC is working. Actually for many decades now, the overwhelming majority of U.S. overdose deaths were men killed by heroin or cocaine. But by 2010, about 40 percent of deaths reported were women most of them are middle-aged women who took prescription painkillers.

These alarming revelations of female overdose death rates are closely tied to a boom in the overall use of prescribed painkillers. The new report is the CDC’s first to spotlight how the death trend has been more dramatic among women.

Women may be more prone to overdoses because they’re more likely to have chronic pain, the prescribed painkillers, have higher doses, and use them longer than men, as reported by the director of CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. But doctors may not recognize these facts about women, said John Eadie, director of a Brandeis University program that tracks prescription-drug monitoring in the USA.

Overdose deaths from prescription painkillers skyrocketed over the past decade despite no major increases in the need for prescription painkillers over the last 20 years, said Chris Jones, a health scientist at CDC. Doctors are prescribing medications more frequently for patients who may not need them, a trend in the medical profession that needs to be reversed immediately according to experts.

Women between 45 and 54 had the greatest increases in drug overdose deaths, likely because of dependence on prescription drugs to ease chronic pain, experts said.

Young Women and Prescription Drug Overdoses- Solutions

A jump was also seen in visits to hospital emergency rooms. Painkiller-related ER visits by women more than doubled between 2004 and 2010, the CDC found. These numbers alone, however, may not tell the whole tale. “If one looks carefully at the data it can be quickly seen that the vast majority of prescription overdose deaths occur as a consequence of individuals combining these drugs with another sedative,” according to experts who studies drugs and behavior. The solution to this prescription problem therefore lies in maximizing prescription monitoring programs.

Health care providers should responsibly prescribe prescription painkillers by monitoring patients for substance abuse and mental health problems, discussing patient treatment options that don’t involve prescription drugs, and discussing the risks and benefits of taking painkillers for chronic conditions.

Patients should use prescription drugs only as directed by doctors, discuss all medications they’re taking with their doctors, and dispose of medication after they’ve completed the prescribed treatment.

Women should also discuss pregnancy plans with their doctors to ensure infants do not develop heart malformations and become addicted to opiates.

Young Women and Prescription Drug Overdoses- Analgesics (Pain killers)

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