Opioid addiction is an addiction to any substance that contains opiates whether legal or illegal. Prescription drug addiction is a disease that affects your brain and causes changes in your moods and behavior. Often times, people who are prescribed pain medicine become addicted to the pleasurable effect that it produces. This makes some people want to keep using these drugs—despite the absence of pain. For those addicted, use turns into “abuse” and over time, an addict’s brain actually changes in such a defined way, that a powerful urge to use the drug overtakes any reasoning or rationale the addict may have with regards to the effect the prescription medication is having on their life. In other words addicts may truly want to stop using the medication but they cannot tolerate the physical effects associated with withdrawal. This is due to the chemistry changes in the brain caused by the opioids.
Prescription drugs that contain opioids or (opiates) are found in commonly prescribed pain medications. Many of us have used pain medication at one time or another but continuing to take a prescribed medication improperly or illegally is considered to be a non medical use of a prescription drug. Nearly 20% of all American’s are addicted to pain medications which leads to the destruction of their personal well-being and often the affects the well being of those closest to them.
There is no age, gender or race barrier against prescription drug abuse and addiction.
In fact, every day, more than 2,000 teenagers try a painkiller to get high for the first time.
According to recent ad campaigns to raise awareness of teen prescription drug use, teens are often times obtaining these drugs from their own parents’ medicine cabinets and are both being abused and sold on the street.
If you’re addicted to pain medications containing opioids, you may know them either by their prescribed or their street names; Codeine, Fentanyl, Hydrocodone, Morphine, Oxycodone (OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet) Paregoric, and Sufentanil are the brand or generic names. The National Institute for Drug Abuse provides the public with a list of common street names used for prescription drugs containing opioids on their website, and they are as follows: Tylox, OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet; Oxy 80s, Oxycotton, Oxycet, Hillbilly Heroin, Percs, Demerol, Meperidine Hydrochloride; Demmies, Pain Killer Dilaudid; Juice, Dillies, Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet; Darvon and Darvocet. Fentanyl is often referred to as Actiq, Duragesic, Sublimaze; Apache, China Girl, China White, Dance Fever, Friend, Goodfella, Jackpot, Murder 8, TNT, Tango and Cash. Morphine is commonly referred to on the street as M, Miss Emma, Monkey or White Stuff.
As you can see, there is a sophisticated language that has emerged and associated with these drugs. If you are a spouse, parent, friend or family member of a prescription drug addict, you may have already figured out that deceit and desperation is associated with drug abuse— It is common for the addict to be extremely successful in hiding their prescription drug abuse for some time and problems may not surface until that person no longer can obtain the drug legally.
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