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Prescription drug addiction
Prescription drug addiction treatment
If prescription drugs have become a problem for you or someone you care about talk to Delamere today.
Holistic approach to recovery
Personalised programmes
Flexible stays
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Introduction
Prescription drug abuse and addiction has become a major health concern world-wide, with opioid prescription drug deaths overtaking illegal opiates drug deaths.
The CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) released data showing that synthetic opioid related deaths, including Tramadol and Fentanyl (both legitimately prescribed and illicitly manufactured) have caused a staggering number of deaths in recent years.
At Delamere, the UK’s only purpose built behavioural wellness and addiction treatment centre, we provide professional prescription drug help and treatment.
Our multidisciplinary team has years of experience in successfully treating prescription drug addiction and dependency. We are here to help you and your family move beyond addiction and break free from prescription drug addiction, regardless of the substance or the source involved.
Our resources and expertise include a medical team who can help you safely withdraw from any prescription drug. We also offer residential programmes at our first class facility in the beautiful and secluded woodlands of Cheshire. Here, our distinguished counsellors and therapists can help you resolve and overcome the specific issues underpinning your addiction.
What is prescription drug dependency?
At Delamere, we feel it is important to understand the difference between a physical prescription drug dependence and an addiction based prescription drug dependence. The reason being is that if you suffer from addiction and only treat the physical aspect, you are highly likely to relapse. Relapse can not only be devastating but is extremely threatening to human life.
Prescription drug dependence can be a stand alone condition that is not necessarily accompanied by addiction. Whilst addiction often involves drug dependence, the two conditions can occur completely independently of one another, or can occur simultaneously.
A physical dependence to prescription drugs means just that, your body has developed a physical dependence and needs a certain amount of drugs in order to function normally.
Unlike an addiction based dependency, once your body is clear of the prescription drug, even if a medical detox is required, you will have no difficulty in resuming your normal day to day activities and staying clear of prescription drugs. Your quality of life will improve as will your health. No additional support will be required.
Prescription drug dependency, whilst not considered a life threatening condition unlike prescription drug addiction, can still heavily impact on a persons quality of life. It can also carry physical and psychological consequences if not correctly addressed.
If you have a prescription drug dependency (with or without addiction) you will experience withdrawal symptoms on stopping the addictive drug. It is important that you seek medical advice and do not just stop taking the drug, this can cause life threatening complications to occur.
Signs and symptoms of prescription drug addiction
Signs and symptoms of prescription drug addiction tend not to be as obvious as an alcohol or drug addiction. Having possession of a prescribed drug and even abusing it, is somehow viewed as acceptable, even if that prescribed drug does not belong to you.
Ask yourself this – Have you ever self-medicated? Taken medication from a friend or family member? Or, given some of your own supply away without even considering the possible consequences? If we answer this honestly, many of us are guilty of this.
Spotting the signs and symptoms of prescription drug addiction in yourself or someone you care for can lead to accessing life saving treatment. Just because the drug is prescribed does not mean you should turn a blind eye or take the problem any less seriously that you would an addiction to say alcohol, cocaine or heroin.
Behavioural
Regular visits to the doctors for the same medical complaint.
Using more than one doctor in order to get more prescription drugs.
Shopping online for prescription drugs.
Numerous empty bottles or packets of prescribed medication.
Increased anxiety around getting prescriptions fulfilled or on repeat.
Manipulating doctors for more medication or an increase in dosage.
Being dishonest around prescription drug use, i.e hiding the amount being taken, the extent of the addiction problem, lying about medical conditions.
Regularly complaining about a medical condition to justify prescription drug use.
Regularly losing control of the amount of prescription medications taken.
Not adhering to prescription instructions ie, taking more than prescribed, changing the route of administration – crushing and snorting, mixing prescription drugs with alcohol or other substances for more pronounced effects.
Defensiveness if challenged around prescription drug use.
Behavioural changes in the workplace and education – poor performance, unreliability, loss of interest. Or, if abusing a stimulant drug – working very long hours without sufficient rest periods or eating.
Inability to stop or control prescription drug use.
Physical & emotional
Dramatic unexplained weight loss or weight gain.
Appearing frequently intoxicated – very drowsy and lethargic or unusually energetic.
Severe and rapid mood swings.
Pronounced anxiety and depression.
Loss of interest in hygiene and/or appearance.
Anxiety / panic attacks.
Emotional unavailability and withdrawal.
Unusual hostility, agitation or aggression.
Changes in appetite.
Feelings of shame and guilt relating to prescription drug use.
New physical health problems emerging from abusing prescription drugs.
Social withdrawal.
Substantial changes in sleep pattern i.e sleeping too much or going very long periods of time with little or no sleep.
Prescription drugs are addictive
Many individuals make the mistake of thinking that because a drug is legitimately prescribed that it is safe and non-addictive.
Whilst with many medications (such as antibiotics) this is the case, it does not extend to addictive prescription drugs.
Prescription drugs that have powerful painkilling effects, psychoactive effects, sedative effects or stimulant effects, can and often do lead to prescription drug dependence and addiction.
Students and teenagers are particularly at risk of prescription drug abuse and addiction. Many turn to prescription drugs as an easy answer to stress, academic pressures, sleep problems or simply just to get high. Teenagers are generally less aware of the risks involved and are more vulnerable to addiction due to their brain still developing.
Prescription drug dependence and abuse has become such a large scale problem in the UK, that Public Health England called for a landmark review and stricter protocols for the prescribing of the following types of addictive prescriptions drugs:
Antidepressants – including mirtazapine and trazodone
Opioids (for chronic pain) – including codeine, morphine, oxycodone, tramadol etc
Gabapentinoids – including gabapentin and pregabalin
Benzodiazepines – including valium (diazepam), temazepam, librium etc
Z List drugs – including zopiclone and zolpidem
In addition to the above drugs that have moderate to high abuse potential and can create drug dependence within a relatively short space of time (weeks as oppose to months), stimulant medications also have a moderate to high potential for abuse.
Stimulant drugs that are commonly prescribed for weight loss and for the treatment of ADHD and ADD are commonly abused and can lead to addiction. These drugs can not only be obtained through prescription but can also be obtained from the dark web and internet.
If you are taking a prescribed drug it is vital that you read the accompanying leaflet with the medication. There is a world of difference between an addictive prescription drug and other medications that do not create drug dependence or addiction.
Addictive prescribed drugs will always state tolerance, dependence and withdrawal are a complication and risk on the accompanying leaflet. If you are at all unsure, please check with your doctor or pharmacist.
Which ‘prescribed’ substances become a problem?
As you might expect, those drugs which tend to be the most abused and have the potential to become a serious problem are pain killers. Opiate based prescription painkillers are extremely addictive and can create a drug tolerance and dependence within as little as 5-7 days of continuous use.
When we consider that at the route of all addiction is often some sort of physical or psychological pain, it is not surprising that painkillers, literally become a problem for some.
Opiate based drugs cause extremely unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. These withdrawal symptoms can be so difficult to tolerate that an individual can continue to use a prescribed drug even when the original problem has been resolved – rather than go through the withdrawal process.
Synthetic opioids can be particularly troublesome to stop as their chemical compounds are more complex than natural opiates. A prime example of this would be the opioid analgesic Tramadol. Tramadol withdrawal symptoms produce intense drug cravings as well as a whole host of unpleasant physical and psychological symptoms.
Sleeping pills, weight loss pills and medications for depression and anxiety are also commonly abused. Popular names for these include Xanax, Diazepam and Valium.
If you or a loved one have developed a prescription drug addiction or dependence, Delamere rehab Cheshire specialises in delivering full medical detoxes to control the symptoms of tramadol withdrawal, benzodiazepine withdrawal, xanax withdrawal, zopiclone withdrawal and codeine withdrawal (to name just a few).
We can help you to withdrawal comfortably and most importantly safely within our purpose built detox facility that uniquely provides 24/7 specialist detox care from our qualified nursing team.
Often, counterfeit cheaper alternatives are also available online and on the streets. Counterfeit prescription drugs are particularly high risk, not only for addiction but also for life-threatening reactions and overdose. Their potency and questionable chemical formulas are unpredictable in their effects to say the very least.
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