Prescription Drug Addiction in San Diego County
Men and women of all ages, from San Diego County, including Coronado, La Jolla, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach and Carmel Valley contact us for information on what to do when they are afraid of stopping the use of these prescription drugs, including opiates and tranquillizer medications. Some attempts to stop use of the drugs, fail because of the severity of the withdrawal symptom. They report being extremely sick from opiates or experiencing severe anxiety from the tranquillizer or sedative medications including Xanax and Ambian. We often see people taking the opiates and tranquillizers or sedatives in a dangerous combination.
What is considered prescription drug abuse? Although most people take prescription medications responsibly, Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse stated recently that the nonmedical use or abuse of prescription drugs is a serious and growing public health problem in the country.
OPIATE ABUSE/DEPENDENCE
Research by the National Institute on Drug Abuse monitoring survey of grades 8 through 12, found that 9.3 percent of 12 graders reported using Vicodin without a prescription in the past year and 5.0 percent reported using OxyContin - making these medications among the most commonly abused prescription drugs by adolescents.
We have seen young adults who were introduced to opiates by being prescribed Vicodin or even OxyContin for sports injuries in high school, then abusing the drugs for recreation. They like the high they get and want increased doses as they gradually become addicted to the opiates and begin to buy them from local drug dealers. We see many young people from 18-26 whose lives have never gotten started on a solid drug free foundation and others whose work and academic careers are failing because of the physical, emotional, social and financial problems crated by addiction.
OxyContin is classified as a synthetic opiate and will give these young abusers a feeling similar to high grade heroin, but the physical withdrawal symptoms last longer. Symptoms of withdrawal include: perpetually being tired, hot/cold sweats, vomiting, nausea, heart palpitations, joints and muscles in constant pain, uncontrollable coughing, diarrhea, insomnia, restlessness, involuntary leg movements, watery eyes, excessive yawning, depression and cold flashes with goose bumps, hence the name cold turkey.
Symptoms can be reduced by using buprenorphine, sold as Suboxone. This medication is prescribed by certified physicians and through some treatment centers on a short term basis to help those with opioid addiction to recover from their dependence. At Lasting Recovery, the Director of Medical Services, Michael Markopoulos, MD is able to help those suffering from opioid addiction to detox with Suboxone.
If you or a family member is abusing these highly addicting opioid medications, reach out and get help. No one thinks it will happen to them. There is no shame in being addicted. The switch from pharmaceutical grade drugs to smoking, snorting or injecting heroin is the next step and sometimes a fatal one.
Lasting Recovery Outpatient Alcohol and Drug Addiction, located in San Diego, just north of Miramar Marine base, and University Town Center, in the Sorrento Mesa area, offers outpatient detoxification services for freedom from opioid, tranquillizer, sedative or alcohol dependence.
Don't put your life on hold any longer.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS
What is considered prescription drug abuse? Although most people take prescription medications responsibly, Nora Volkow, MD, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse stated recently that the nonmedical use or abuse of prescription drugs is a serious and growing public health problem in the country.
OPIATE ABUSE/DEPENDENCE
Research by the National Institute on Drug Abuse monitoring survey of grades 8 through 12, found that 9.3 percent of 12 graders reported using Vicodin without a prescription in the past year and 5.0 percent reported using OxyContin - making these medications among the most commonly abused prescription drugs by adolescents.
We have seen young adults who were introduced to opiates by being prescribed Vicodin or even OxyContin for sports injuries in high school, then abusing the drugs for recreation. They like the high they get and want increased doses as they gradually become addicted to the opiates and begin to buy them from local drug dealers. We see many young people from 18-26 whose lives have never gotten started on a solid drug free foundation and others whose work and academic careers are failing because of the physical, emotional, social and financial problems crated by addiction.
OxyContin is classified as a synthetic opiate and will give these young abusers a feeling similar to high grade heroin, but the physical withdrawal symptoms last longer. Symptoms of withdrawal include: perpetually being tired, hot/cold sweats, vomiting, nausea, heart palpitations, joints and muscles in constant pain, uncontrollable coughing, diarrhea, insomnia, restlessness, involuntary leg movements, watery eyes, excessive yawning, depression and cold flashes with goose bumps, hence the name cold turkey.
Symptoms can be reduced by using buprenorphine, sold as Suboxone. This medication is prescribed by certified physicians and through some treatment centers on a short term basis to help those with opioid addiction to recover from their dependence. At Lasting Recovery, the Director of Medical Services, Michael Markopoulos, MD is able to help those suffering from opioid addiction to detox with Suboxone.
If you or a family member is abusing these highly addicting opioid medications, reach out and get help. No one thinks it will happen to them. There is no shame in being addicted. The switch from pharmaceutical grade drugs to smoking, snorting or injecting heroin is the next step and sometimes a fatal one.
Lasting Recovery Outpatient Alcohol and Drug Addiction, located in San Diego, just north of Miramar Marine base, and University Town Center, in the Sorrento Mesa area, offers outpatient detoxification services for freedom from opioid, tranquillizer, sedative or alcohol dependence.
Don't put your life on hold any longer.
Judy Saalinger, Ph.D., MFT, CAS
Labels: Detox, Drug-Abuse, Drug-Addiction, drug-use, Prescription-Drug-Addiction, young-opiate-addicts
posted by Lasting Recovery | 5:57 PM
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