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 a
modern-day plague
Prescription drug abuse is a modern-day plague. According to one government
estimate, over six million Americans have abused prescription medication.
The truth is that there is no completely accurate way to measure prescription
drug abuse.
However, it is not the number itself that is important, but the undeniable
fact that a large number of people suffer from addiction to prescription
drugs. As a result of this, families are torn apart, lives are destroyed,
and people die.
perspective
Some people are concerned that by focusing on the problem of prescription
drug abuse, we may scare physicians away from legitimately prescribing
helpful medications (especially pain killers) for patients who truly
need them.
We do not advocate that medicines be witheld from patients who need
them. This site is not advocating the removal of any drugs from the
marketplace. Nor does we attempt to tell doctors or patients which drugs
are "good" or "bad." This is an issue that requires a balanced perspective,
not extremism.
get help
If you are wondering whether you have a problem with prescription drugs,
please complete the do
you have a drug problem questionnaire.
If you decide that you do have a problem, seek help immediately. Do
not delay getting treatment. Your life depends on it!
Many prescription drug abusers and their loved ones do not know how
or where to get the help they need. The good news is that effective
help is available and, in many cases, is free of charge.
treatment options
If you are seeking treatment for prescription drug abuse, you should
first talk to your homeopath or physician.
This can be embarrasing, but it is absolutely necessary that you be
detoxed under close medical supervision.
Trying to go "cold turkey" off some medications can be fatal.
Once you have talked to your physician, contact one of the following
organizations:
treatment centers
Contact a drug treatment facility in your area. Many cities, counties,
and states offer free or subsidized drug counseling services. Check
the "government pages" of your phone book.
When my wife admitted to her problem with painkillers and sleeping pills,
this is where I first went to get educated about the problem. They were
able to get her into a good residential treatment program that cost
very little.
narcotics anonymous
Contact a local chapter of Narcotics Anonymous [and read the Drug
User and Children of Drug Users
Page on this site]. They can definitely help steer you in the right
direction. Narcotics Anonymous has a specific process (the 12 steps)
designed to deal with addiction. I have seen these steps help my wife
and I know that they work.
Treatment does work and recovery is possible.
Copyright 2002
Prescription Drug Abuse
why are prescription drugs sometimes
addictive?
Addictive drugs mimic the action of chemicals your brain produces to
send messages of pleasure to your brain's reward center. They produce
an artificial feeling of pleasure.
Most addictive drugs are able to produce pleasurable effects by chemically
acting like certain normal brain messenger chemicals, which produce
positive feelings in response to signals from the brain.
The result is a dependence on the immediate, fast, predictable drug
which, at the same time, short circuits interests in and the motivation
to make life's normal rewards work. More and more confidence is placed
in the drug while other survival feelings are ignored and bypassed.
The result of this addiction cycle is a lack of concern for, and confidence
in, other areas of life.
Prescription drugs, like other addictive drugs, are able to short-circuit
your survival system by artificially stimulating the reward center,
or pleasure areas in your brain, without anything beneficial happening
to your body. As this happens, it leads to increased confidence in the
drug, and less confidence in the normal rewards of life.
This first happens on a physical level. Then, it affects you psychologically.
The big drug lie results in decreased interest in other aspects of life,
as you increase your reliance and interest in the drug. People, places
and activities involved with using drugs become more important.
People, places and activities or lifestyles that worked through your
normal reward system, before using the drug, become less important to
you. After a while, a heavy drug user will actually resent people, places,
and activities that do not fit in with that drug use.
is this addiction age specific?
No. Prescription drug addiction can affect the young, middle aged, or
elderly. Prescription drug addicted individuals may come from any walk
of life, hold entry level or high positions, be parents or grandparents,
single or married.
Often, the addiction develops without the individual realizing it until
the drug begins to control their life. When an individual exceeds the
dosage prescribed or seeks to obtain the drug after the time prescribed
by their physician, they should be alert to the possibility of drug
dependency.
is there withdrawal?
Yes.The type of symptoms, the severity and length of the withdrawal
depends on the particular drug and the amount of the drug an individual
is taking.
what is drug craving?
Drug craving is the result of the drug's imprinting in the memory of
a pleasant association of euphoria with the drug. The subconscious memory
then motivates the individual to seek this drug because of the false
imprint.
The brain, in effect, has been trained that using the drug is the fastest
way to feel good. This learning process then produces a new appetite
or drive to seek the drug which we call craving. This craving is most
often activated by:
- memory of pleasure;
- when we feel bad and have a habit of using the drug to rapidly feel
good;
- when we are in a situation with people, places and activities in
which a previous habit pattern of drug use has been established.
treatment involves:
- Counter-conditioning against old positive brainwashing with the
drug;
- Refocusing on true friends;
- Developing habits of reacting through people support when we feel
bad;
- Avoiding habits of people, places and activities that were strongly
associated with drug use;
- Using the tools of honesty, open mindedness and support from others
to meet our needs and maintain peace of mind;
- Pain issues for those who are treating for "pain pills" worked out
between the treating medical staff and your pain clinic or physician.
Note: Some prescription drugs are so potentially addictive, Class Action
Lawsuits have been filed regarding them.
Copyright
2002 Schick-Shadel
Aldo's work was not affected. Normal responses had never been his bag.
Pink-ribboned briefs and countless millions were that which engaged
him. He was charging unheard-of sums for unheard-of victories. Justice
has always been secondary to force, and thus force cannot be abolished;
it can only be understood and then, if possible, harnessed or countered.
He was rarely at home.
Mother began seriously abusing prescription drugs, a sport which cancelled
certain social arrangements. No matter. The big man was also a brave
man, and undertook such crucial networking on the arms of smiling socialites
and their daughters.
In circles such as
theirs, marriage is understood to be a socioeconomic grouping ratified
by ministers and priests; it has little to do with soul-shaping love.
Compartmentalization is all such people comprehend. And Aldo's mistresses
were never vulgar, always of a catwalk height, buoyant with private
incomes and decorous enough to shade their faces when the paparazzi
loomed. Mother knew that what she pretended to ignore inspired groundswells
of pity in others.
Her life was no more than Platonic shadow-play.
- from
The Pure Weight of the Heart, by Antonella Gambotto-Burke
10 helpful rules
- Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself
as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously. Never permit it to fade.
Your mind will seek to develop this picture. Never think of yourself
as failing; never doubt the reality of the mental image. That is most
dangerous, for the mind always tries to complete what it pictures.
So always picture "success" no matter how badly things seem to be
going at the moment;
- Whenever a negative thought concerning your personal powers come
to mind, deliberately voice a positive thought to cancel it out;
- Do not build up obstacles in your imagination. Depreciate every
so-called obstacle. Minimize them. Difficulties must be studied and
efficiently dealt with to be eliminated, but they must be seen for
only what they are. They must not be inflated by fear thoughts;
- Do not be awestruck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody
can be you as efficiently as YOU can. Remember also that most people,
despite their confident appearance and demeanour, are often as scared
as you are and as doubtful of themselves;
- Ten times a day repeat these dynamic words, "If [the Highest Power]
be for us who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) Whenever you think
of these words stop AT ONCE and repeat them slowly and confidently!
It most definitely will "improve your conscious contact with [the
Highest Power]";
- Get a competent counsellor to help you understand why you do what
you do. Learn the origin of your inferiority and self-doubt feelings
which often begin in childhood. Self-knowledge leads to a cure;
- Ten times each day practise the following affirmation, repeating
it out loud if possible. "I can do all things through [the Highest
Power] which strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) Repeat those words
AT ONCE whenever you think of them (in addition to the 10 chosen times
mentioned above). That magic statement is the most powerful antidote
on earth to inferiority thoughts;
- Make a true estimate of your own abiltiy, then raise it 10%. Do
not become egotistical. but develop a wholesome self-respect. Believe
in your own your Higher Power;
- Put yourself in your Higher Power's hands. To do that simply state,
"I am in my Higher Power's hands." Then believe you are NOW receiving
all the power you need. "Feel" it flowing into you. Affirm that "[the
Highest Power] is within you" (Luke 17:21) in the form of adequate
power to meet life's demands;
- Remind yourself that the Highest Good is with you and nothing can
defeat you. Believe that you now RECEIVE power from your Highest Power
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