A person abuses prescription medicines when he uses medicines that were prescribed for other people or uses his own prescription beyond what his physician recommended. Abuse can also happen when a person uses a prescription medication to enjoy the high feeling, to stay awake or deal with pain. Those who abuse the drug may crush, sniff or turn it into liquid and inject it.
Every prescription medicine has some unwanted effects that can be severe. Before a physician prescribes prescription medicines, he considers both their risks and benefits. The experts know that these drugs can affect the body in certain ways and consider things like the dose, drug forms, addiction to prescription drugs and negative effects. He also knows when he needs to change a dose of a certain medicine to prevent withdrawal. Those who abuse drugs may not understand the way these factors may impact their health.
Prescription Drug and Form
Medical experts are aware of the length of time a medication can dissolve in a person’s stomach, released in the bloodstream and gets to the brain. They consider the weight of the individual, the duration of their prescription and other medicines that the patient is ingesting. When prescription drugs are abused, they can be used in incorrect doses or be administered in such a way that alters the effect of the drugs in the body increasing the risk of overdose.
Side Effects
Prescription medicines are introduced in the market to deal with various disorders; however, they often come with side effects. For instance, stimulants like Adderrall can increase attention but it can also increase heart rate and blood pressure. Oxycotin relieves pain but it causes drowsiness and constipation and slows breathing.
Addiction
When people use drugs in dosages and forms that are recommended by their doctor, they will not develop a dependency. However, drugs that impact the brain can change the organ’s performance especially when a patient takes them continuously and in large doses. These drugs alter the reward system which makes it challenging to feel better in the absence of the medicine causing cravings for it. Eventually, this will lead to a difficulty in quitting the use of the drug.
Treatments for Drug Addiction
Those who have a prescription medication addiction like addiction to clonazepam should be dealt with through detoxification first in order to remove the traces of the substance from their body. A drug addict can be recommended by a medical professional to enter into a treatment program in a reliable facility.
Prescription drugs can be habit forming so it is necessary for patients to be educated about the risk and benefits of the medications that they are taking to prevent possible side effects.