Prescription drug addiction

There is so much of information available about drug addiction and alcoholism.Very little information available about addiction and abuse of prescription drugs.Addiction to prescription drugs and withdrawal from them can be equally or even more dangerous than alcoholism and normal drug abuse.

There are mainly two types of prescription drugs to which people can get addicted.Pain killers or Opiods and tranquilizers or Benzodiazepine which are prescribed for anxiety management.These drugs can be prescribed for short term or long term depending upon the acute or chronic nature of the problem.

How person get addicted to prescription drugs?


For people suffering from chronic pain doctors may prescribe pain killers to relieve pain over a period of time the normal dose of the drug may loose its effectiveness.The patient may start to increase the dosage of the drug to get relief.Over a period of time the patient may not get relief unless he uses several times the normal prescription.This person gets addicted to the prescription possibilities for drugs.This kind of addiction are several times more in countries like India and Pakistan where such prescription drugs are easily available with over the counter in medical shops.

Tolerance:

Tolerance is the ability of the body to adopt to the presence of drugs when painkillers and tranquilizers are taken for a long time,body does not respond to these drugs effectively.So,tolerance is a state of progressively decreased response to drugs.As a result larger than the normal doses may be revived for controlling the pain or anxiety.

Dependence or Addiction:

Dependence gradually increases when the drug tolerance builds up.Withdrawal symptoms develop if the drug is stopped.Unless the person uses the drug he cannot feel physically,psychologically and emotionally satisfied.

Over a period of time the drug becomes more important in their lives than anything else.People from all walks of life get addicted to prescription drugs.Intelligence or medical knowledge of the drugs does not deter people from becoming addicts to prescription drugs.In fact there is no difference between addiction to Alcoholism or any other narcotic substance.

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