Download the Free E-Book "What to Expect from Treatment"

Prescription Drug Addiction

New Treatment Blocks the Addictive Effects of Opioid Drugs

Posted on May 21, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

New Treatment Blocks the Addictive Effects of Opioid DrugsOpioids (also known as narcotics or opiates) are a group of natural and synthetic drugs that produce euphoria and block the sensation of pain by altering normal function in parts of the body that include the brain and spinal cord. Unfortunately, because of specific changes they make in the brain, both legal and illegal opioids are frequent subjects of drug abuse and drug addiction. In 2012, researchers from Australia’s University of Adelaide discovered that a medication—called (+)-naloxone or plus-naloxone—can potentially block the addictive effects of opioid drugs while still permitting the beneficial pain-relieving effects of morphine and other narcotic medications.

Read more about New Treatment Blocks the Addictive Effects of Opioid Drugs

Methadone Overdose

Posted on May 19, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

Methadone OverdoseMethadone is an opioid (narcotic) medication largely known for its use in withdrawal from heroin and other opioid drugs of abuse. In people without opioid addictions, doctors increasingly use the medication as a treatment for moderate to severe pain that doesn’t respond to more basic, non-opioid options. While methadone prescriptions make up only 2 percent of all opioid painkiller prescriptions written in the US, roughly one-third of all people who die from an opioid painkiller overdose are methadone users. Underlying reasons for this fact include methadone’s effects on the central nervous system and the way in which the medication accumulates in the body over time.

Read more about Methadone Overdose

Wellbutrin Addiction

Posted on April 29, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

In 2000, sales representatives from the big pharma company GlaxoSmithKline gathered in Las Vegas to party and to learn how to promote “the sexy, horny, happy drug” called Wellbutrin. Unlike competing antidepressants, Wellbutrin does not cause a decrease in libido. In fact, patients were providing anecdotal evidence that they were having better sex than ever on the drug — one middle-aged woman reported having an orgasm that lasted on and off for two hours.  Not only were people happier and sexier on Wellbutrin, the drug could also help some patients lose weight. The sales reps went home to promote “the sexy, horny, happy drug,” with a little help from TV’s “Dr. Drew.”

Read more about Wellbutrin Addiction

Phentermine Addiction

Posted on April 28, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

For some 50 years the American medical community has been on a quest for the Holy Grail of Medicines: a safe effective pill for weight loss. In the 1990s, doctors and scientists thought they had found it in Fen-Phen, a combination of two drugs – fenfluramine and phentermine. Neither drug could produce significant weight loss on its own, but when used together, the effect was golden. Weight loss clinics sprung up all over the United States, where you could undergo a cursory physical examination from a physician who would hand you a diet and prescribe Fen-Phen. Some clinics were treating people who were only slightly overweight and selling them to try at ten times its retail price.

Read more about Phentermine Addiction

Lexapro Addiction

Posted on April 24, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

One in ten Americans are now taking antidepressant drugs like Lexapro. Antidepressants are an $11 billion annual business, and Lexapro’s sales alone have been over $2.5 billion a year. Lexapro is the fifth most popular Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs), a family of drugs that alters brain chemicals and includes Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa and Paxil.

Read more about Lexapro Addiction

Tramadol Addiction Knows No Boundaries

Posted on April 19, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

Tramadol Addiction Knows No BoundariesPrescription drug abuse has been called an epidemic by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means it’s not a problem just for the inner city, the upper class or the chronically ill. This is a problem that is sweeping the nation and cutting across all socio-economic and age boundaries. Tramadol is the latest prescription drug to come under scrutiny, largely because at one time it was considered at relatively low risk for addiction.

Read more about Tramadol Addiction Knows No Boundaries

Congress Seeks Tighter Controls on Vicodin

Posted on April 12, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

Congress Seeks Tighter Controls on VicodinFive members of Congress have introduced a bill called the “Safe Prescribing Act of 2013” that aims to restrict the prescription painkiller hydrocodone by reclassifying it as a Schedule II controlled substance.

Sold under the brand names Vicodin, Norco and Lortab, hydrocodone-based medications “are some of the most potent and addictive narcotics on the market,” U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) said in a statement.

Read more about Congress Seeks Tighter Controls on Vicodin

Drug Kills Pain Without Addiction

Posted on March 26, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

Drug Kills Pain Without AddictionOpioid painkillers are a group of medications derived from the opium poppy. Because of their high level of effectiveness in pain relief, these medications are frequently used when other, less powerful pain-relieving medications fail to produce results. Unfortunately, because of their chemical composition and actions within the central nervous system, opioid painkillers present significant risks for abuse and addiction.

Now, there’s a potential alternative to opioids called URB937—a compound that produces pain relief without presenting serious abuse- or addiction-related concerns.

Read more about Drug Kills Pain Without Addiction

A Prescription for Trouble: Levorphanol Addiction

Posted on March 19, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

About 10 years ago, pain specialists were engaged in a controversy about the use of narcotic painkillers such as levorphanol that are typically prescribed only to the terminally ill. These drugs in the morphine family are similar chemically to heroin and just as addictive, but the new thinking was why should people with arthritis, back pain and other chronic pain have to limit their lives when these remedies are available? As Seattle pain specialist Dr. Jane Ballantyne told the New York Times: “We were on a mission to help people in pain.”

Read more about A Prescription for Trouble: Levorphanol Addiction

Librium Addiction

Posted on March 18, 2013 in Prescription Drug Addiction

Librium AddictionWhen Librium came out in the early 1960s, it started a revolution in the way drugs are marketed and prescribed in the United States. For the first time drug companies were in the business of keeping everyone tranquil. For the first time you were told that a pill could help you adjust to your world. One typical advertisement for Librium referred to the angst of a college coed arriving on campus, who in her “newly stimulated intellectual curiosity” became “overly sensitive” to news events and other aspects of a “whole new world of anxiety.” The answer for her and everyone else was Librium. Within three months of its introduction and several millions of dollars in advertising later, Librium was the top selling tranquilizer in the United States.

Read more about Librium Addiction

For a confidential assessment call
877-378-6407
Drug Addiction is a Progressive & Deadly disease. Get Help Now!