A look at the mental and psychological welfare sector, and you can see a rise in the number of prescription opioid addiction. People have been taking recourse to alcohol and drugs for long. Some may have accidentally become a victim of these drugs and later found themselves craving for the same. In the case of certain painkillers, people could not help but give in to the lure of these prescription drugs. In many cases, people do not even realize until it is very late. Prescription opioid misuse is prevalent in the US and, to some extent, in the UK too. One look at Rehab Healthcare records, and you realize the extent of this abuse in the UK. Let us now look at the way this addiction has taken deep root in our ecosystem.
The Prescription Opioids and their Influence
In a bid to treat chronic pains, patients have to take prescription drugs laced with opioids. They need to take these analgesic painkillers for the long term to ensure they remain safe from the pains resurfacing again. These medicines leave behind a strong influence of the drugs on the patients, too, in a much serious way. Now, the question arises whether all the painkillers have these opioids.
We have to break down the term ‘analgesic’ to get an answer to this question.
There are three main types of drugs – Opioid analgesic, compound analgesic, and non-opioid analgesic. The opioid analgesics available as morphine, fentanyl, or codeine, are strong painkillers. They are available on prescription to help people come out of moderate to severe pain. They work on the lines of endorphins by blocking any painful signals to the brain. You come across compound analgesics like co-codamol, also available on prescription for the moderate pain relief. The non-opioid drugs like paracetamols are available over the counter.
How Prescription Opioids Work on the Brain
As you are now aware of the opioids, understand that they attach to the nerves and receptors in our brain. They block the signals for pain and release a large amount of dopamine. This allows the entire body to experience bliss in such a pleasing way urging the user to take more of the opioids. You slowly feel like taking more of it in a bid to feel the same. So, pleasing is the feeling you do not want to experience anything else, too, making you pick the pills once more. Addiction begins and settles in this way in your system.
Problems Caused by Prescription Opioids
Prescription opioids are wreaking havoc, and this is nothing new. They relieve pain for sure and help in making people drowsy after repeated use. Many also bring along other side effects like constipation, a feeling of confusion, slow breathing patterns, or even slow metabolism. These are just the results of excessive dependence on opioid drugs. However, the bigger picture lies in people finding them suffering from withdrawal symptoms. This is where things go out of hand, and consulting a reliable Rehab Healthcare becomes essential. No one likes pain or suffering, but in this case, drugs replace the suffering you had due to that pain.
How serious is the effect of prescription opioids? Let us assume you to be pregnant when taking these prescription drugs. In that case, you may not get any dependence related issues. But your unborn child may develop dependence and suffer from withdrawal symptoms. There are even chances of these medicines causing miscarriage. Nevertheless, it is never too late to begin creating or seeking treatment from this problem once you realize it. If you are planning to start a family, go for therapies or consult the experts at drug de-addiction centers like Rehab Healthcare.
Treatments for Serious Issues
Doctors can treat this and prevent any future complications from developing if you seek advice at the earliest. Methadone is one of the medicines in common use to help pregnant women come out of the drug abuse at the earliest.
However, medicines like these are in combination with other treatments or therapies. They have positive effects on the prenatal state of a child and help the mother to come out of her habit too.
Among other ways, doctors at Rehab Healthcare take care of you and your prescription opioid dependence problems. They firstly understand through a series of analyses if you have become dependent or addict to this. Based on their findings, they recommend the necessary treatment methods. From offering you detox processes to ensure you get psychological treatments and counseling, they give you the most appropriate solutions.
People have to accept the situation and agree to come to terms with their condition. They also need to comprehend their condition needs, and the sooner they have this realization, the better it is for them and the ones they love!