Everyday Prescriptions That Can Lead to Addiction

Your doctor has only the best intentions when he prescribes medicine for your pain, sleep disorder, or attention deficit disorder. In nearly all cases, no doctor can predict if or when a patient will become dependent on the prescription medication for their particular ailment.

That being said, your doctor does know all the risks associated with those medications and he will explain them to you when he writes the prescription.

What kind of risks are associated with particular prescription drugs? Each drug comes with different risks, but the overall risk for many prescription drugs is their addictive nature. Understanding that certain prescription drugs have addictive properties can help you, and your doctor identifies early warning signs that you might be becoming addicted to the medication.

Keep reading to learn more about commonly prescribed drugs, their addictive properties, and drug alternatives to help with your ailments.

Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines are a class of psychoactive drugs which change your brain function to alter perception, mood, consciousness, or behavior. They are most commonly used to treat anxiety, insomnia, seizures, and alcohol withdrawal, among others. Some of the most frequently prescribed benzodiazepines include Valium (anxiety or seizure), Ativan (insomnia and anxiety), Diastat (seizures), Onfi (epilepsy), and Zetran (alcohol withdrawal). You can find a full list of the most common prescription benzodiazepines here.

As with most medications, the addictive nature of benzodiazepines only becomes apparent when someone has been taking medicine for extended periods of time. Very rarely do patients who take small doses for short periods of time become addicted to them. Benzodiazepines can cause addiction because the dopamine surges they create in the brain's neurons can cause long-lasting alterations in the brain’s reward system. Simply put, this means the neural receptors can become more susceptible to stimulation. To achieve the same level of pleasure, more dopamine needs to be produced. Patients who become addicted to this compound will likely need a benzodiazepine detox through rehab or tapering off usage.

To reduce the risk of becoming addicted to benzodiazepines, it's vital to discuss your dosage and symptoms with your doctor continually. If your disorder is a temporary one like anxiety, alcohol withdrawal, or insomnia, start discussing alternative options with your doctor once you have the problem under control. For example, if you suffer from insomnia, you could try natural techniques to help you relax before bedtime like meditation, yoga, aromatherapy, or drinking sleepy tea.

Opioid Painkillers

If you pay attention to the news, you know it’s difficult to ignore the coverage of the opioid epidemic in the United States. The problem arose from pharmaceutical companies in the 1990s assuring the medical community that opioid painkillers were not addictive. Flash forward to 2015 where the full scale of this lie was realized. In 2015, 2 million people suffered from substance abuse disorders thanks to prescription opioid painkillers and 33,000 people died that same year from opioid overdoses. Without understanding the extent to which opioids were addictive, the medical community prescribed some opioid painkillers for chronic pain and injury.

Opioids work like this - they bind to opioid receptors in the spinal cord, brain, and other areas of the body to reduce the feeling of pain. There are many types of opioid compounds on the market today including codeine (generic only), fentanyl (Fentora, Duragesic), hydrocodone (Vicodin, Norco), morphine (Avinza, Kadian), and oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet). There are many conditions for which opioid painkillers might be prescribed to a patient. They are usually used after other medications and methods are deemed ineffective. Opioid painkillers are most often used for severe injuries, surgical procedures, cancer, chronic back pain, and rheumatoid arthritis.

If you start using opioids for pain management, you will work closely with your doctor to ensure the dosage is correct and that you can manage your pain well. Your doctor will likely ask you how your pain is responding to the medication if you're having any side effects, and whether you're taking the drug correctly. In many cases, people become addicted to and dependent on the medication because they lied to their doctor to get more medication or a higher dosage. These high-risk patients are also more likely to turn to purer versions of opioids like heroin. If at any point you feel that you might be showing addictive symptoms from your medication, you should discuss alternative pain management options with your doctor.

Amphetamines

Amphetamines are a class of drug that stimulates the central nervous system. Amphetamines are often used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obesity, and narcolepsy. When used as a therapy, amphetamines cause cognitive and emotional reactions like euphoria, increased wakefulness, and enhanced cognitive control. With those internal changes come external effects such as slower reaction time, increased muscle strength, and resistance to fatigue. Amphetamines are characterized by a rush for a short period then a more extended period of exhaustion.

The most common type of amphetamine used to treat narcolepsy and ADHD is Adderall. You’ll also find amphetamines in other forms like dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine, ProCentra). Closely related to amphetamines (and also addictive) are methylphenidates like Ritalin and Focalin.

In the case of ADHD patients, the purpose of amphetamines is to provide a long-release stimulant to the central nervous system so the patient can focus on daily tasks and not by hyperactive during the day. To achieve this extended release, the patient will ingest the pill. However, there are some ways to abuse amphetamines including crushing the pill to snort it and dissolving it in water to inject it. Both provide immediate highs. If abuse like this continues, there is a risk of severely altering how the brain responds to pleasure, meaning it will only react to satisfaction with the presence of the drug. There are some signs of amphetamine abuse and addiction including increased heart rate, decreased appetite or weight loss, insomnia, mood swings, paranoia, hallucinations, and aggression.

As with other addictive drugs, if you are prescribed an amphetamine for narcolepsy or ADHD, it is essential to discuss your usage and reaction to the medication. Doing so can provide signals to your doctor that you're possibly becoming addicted to the substance.

Conclusion

With these addictive substances, it is imperative that you have an honest relationship with your doctor. If your pain lessens or seems to be going away, discuss with your doctor about tapering back your opioid painkiller prescription or going off it completely. If your sleep improves or you don’t feel the effects of alcohol withdrawal anymore, consider stopping your benzodiazepine prescription. For those patients who believe they are already addicted, consult with a local counselor or rehab facility about your options for ending your addiction.