Such addiction to painkillers has produced a nationwide increase in robberies of pharmacies where the pills are being targeted. The New York Times reported that there have been excessively high amounts of prescriptions written in areas of Suffolk County, including the Staten Island area. The proposed legislation would call for a tracking system done on the Internet put in place by the Health Department.

The current system in New York requires pharmacists to report every 45 days about the sales of such controlled substances. At present time, the prescriptions alone are not being tracked and therefore pharmacists are unable to confirm the legality of such prescriptions, unless they call each doctor themselves. The proposed system would allow access to a tracking database operated in real-time that is available to doctors and pharmacists.

A previous report showed that nearly 22.5 million prescriptions were written in NY State last year for narcotic painkillers, which was a 36 percent rise in three years. Currently, there are several bills in the works for proposal in Albany that address this prescription problem and the Obama administration is also pursuing legislation on the Federal level as well.

Schneiderman’s proposal is favored by the Pharmacists Society in the State of New York although there are a few objections, one being pharmacists could face fines for failing to check the validity of prescriptions.

State of New York Sees Rise in Oxycodone Prescriptions is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Detoxifying the body of prescription drugs is core to recovery. Unless a person undergoes detox treatment, toxins may remain in the body causing cravings long after the person has ceased using the drug. Such cravings are the reason that many with prescription drug addictions experience relapse. A detox program will flush the body of all residual painkillers and purify the body from the unwanted effects of the drugs.

Prescription Drug Withdrawal

Physiological and psychological symptoms are common problems during the initial stages of any detox program. Of course the precise nature of the symptoms as well as their severity will depend largely upon the kind of painkiller that was abused, along with its frequency.

The best detox facilities offer medically supervised withdrawal care which can alleviate, or in some cases, even eliminate unpleasant symptoms. Painkillers affect the user’s brain function which is why it is nearly impossible to quit on your own. Doctors may use medications like methadone or naltrexone which work as opioid blockers to eliminate the cravings and minimize the symptoms.

Symptoms of Prescription Painkiller Withdrawal

People addicted to prescription painkillers should not simply stop cold turkey. Stopping misuse of painkillers may lead to difficult withdrawal symptoms such as depression, anxiety and severe psychological pain. The person will begin to feel that they require the painkillers just to keep going. Other symptoms may include: cramping, nausea, vomiting, hot or cold sweats, insomnia or pain in joints or muscles.

Follow Through and Follow Up Treatment

Once the body is clean of the toxins and the worst of the withdrawal symptoms have passed, the person will need to follow through on drug rehab treatment by addressing the psychological elements of their addiction. People turn to prescription painkillers for a reason and that reason needs to be examined and addressed. Group and individual therapy will teach the person more appropriate ways of coping with those underlying addiction causes – ways that do not involve taking drugs.

Even after the full rehab treatment has been completed, the person still has a commitment to make. That commitment is to an aftercare program that will help them get through those first delicate months when sobriety is really tough.

Take the First Step

If you are ready to live sober and want to be free of a painkiller addiction, don’t try to go it alone. You will not recover from your addiction until you take the first step of admitting that you have a problem and you need help. Don’t wait until you are in legal trouble or until your addiction unravels your life and the lives of your loved ones. Take one small positive step today and reach out for help.

Prescription Painkiller Detox is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

This post in the Examiner explored the significant rise in deaths as a result of drug overdoses. Such headlines traditionally referred to the overuse of drugs such as heroin or cocaine. Today, the headlines focus on deaths as a result of prescription opioids. Fatal opioid overdoses are outnumbering deaths from cocaine and heroin combined, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.

A HealthDay News report highlighted a new trend in pain medication – using opioids to treat chronic stomach pain. A new study on opioid painkillers found that this approach to treating chronic stomach pain more than doubled between 1997 and 2008. The increase in prescriptions written was predominately found at outpatient clinics, drawing the concern of those who monitor the industry.

One red flag is the lack of evidence to support opioid use in the treatment of chronic pain not related to cancer. Opioids are one of the most frequently misused and often abused prescription medications, one that can easily cause additional problems in patients, including vomiting, nausea, constipation and increased abdominal pain.

Drug addiction to prescription medications can easily intensify when the medication is only mildly successful in treating the condition for which it was prescribed. When only small benefits are delivered, patients may seek increases in medication to try and close the gap between relief and pain. Dosage amounts grow until drug addiction sets in and a fatal overdose becomes more likely.

To prevent such an addiction, opioids should be used for pain management only when properly managed and monitored by a physician.

Drug Addiction Likely When Opioids Are Used for Stomach Pain is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The government reports that the sales of prescription painkillers have increased greatly in recent years, and in many cases the drugs are being misused. The CDC reported that in 2010 nearly 12 million Americans had used prescription painkillers for non-medical purposes. Patients have put their trust in their health providers’ hands and don’t think that something prescribed to them could be so dangerously addictive. But these painkillers, which are often used over a long period of time, can cause the body to build a tolerance; leading the patient to crave more of the painkiller until they eventually develop an addiction. Meanwhile, other problems like hepatitis, severe liver damage, and HIV exposure may also occur.

Professionals are seeing more teens use prescription painkillers, which then start using heroin. An anonymous healthcare worker reported they have seen more young people abusing heroin than they did five years ago. They start using them after something like a sports injury, and then when the prescriptions become too expensive, they find heroin on the streets. A Deputy in Southern California reported that he talked with a heroin abuser whose story was the same. The abuser said that he started using the painkiller OxyContin in high school. Eventually, he had a difficult time paying for the prescription and then he started injecting heroin to fight his pain.

Even if people don’t turn to using heroin, the government reports that there are 5.3 million people over the age of twelve who admitted to abusing prescription drugs in the past year. This escalating addiction is leading to drug overdoses at an alarming rate. The CDC reported that over the past 10 years, deaths due to prescription narcotics have tripled. Averaged out, 40 people would die daily from prescription painkillers.

According to the New York Times, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has come under scrutiny for their role in claiming that OxyContin would be less addictive than other narcotics because it was an extended-release drug rather than a short-acting one. However, published reports confirmed that a growing number of people went from using OxyContin to using heroin after their addiction made them crave even more.

The FDA hopes to protect consumers and curb the number of people who fall into the cycle of addiction to prescription painkillers. They plan to better educate doctors on the safe prescription of painkillers and enact stricter policies on the distribution of these prescriptions. As the distribution of prescription painkillers decreases, less people are likely to start an addiction that may take them from a drug that eases pain to one that causes it.

Prescription Painkillers Are Leading Americans into Drug Addiction is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Although the duration of the noticeable effects of Xanax can be as short as a few hours, the drug can remain in the body for some time and influence body functions. These more subtle influences become apparent when a patient attempts to withdraw from taking Xanax. All benzodiazepines enhance the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), which slows or ceases neuron firing, or will actually replace GABA at the neuro receptors. GABA is the body’s own natural tranquilizer and, when enhanced by Xanax, acts to reduce alertness, memory, muscle tone and co-ordination, anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure.

When too much Xanax is taken, however, the body becomes over-sedated and drowsiness and poor concentration can result. Too much of the drug can also impair memory and can actually increase anxiety, insomnia and irritability. Long-term users of Xanax often develop depression, most likely due to a decrease in the amount of serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.

Like all benzodiazepines, tolerance develops with prolonged use – the original dose has less of an effect and a higher dose is required. Withdrawal symptoms can occur even if the patient continues to take the drug. Long-term use may actually exacerbate anxiety disorders, resulting in panic attacks or agoraphobia, due to the development of tolerance to the anti-anxiety effects of the drug.

A patient who is addicted to Xanax cannot stop cold turkey. Rather, he must be gradually weaned off the drug. Unfortunately, primary care physicians are typically not properly trained in addiction medicine; they often add to the problem by prescribing Xanax for anxiety without understanding how addictive it can be.

Because each person will experience different, and potentially life-threatening, withdrawal symptoms, withdrawal from Xanax should be supervised by a trained addiction specialist. Once a person has acknowledged the need for Xanax detox, he must then decide what level of help he needs in order to be successful. The addiction specialist plays an important role in helping to identify the pros and cons of different treatment options. Although many Xanax users will benefit from a residential drug rehab program, not all users will have the time or resources necessary to embark on such a journey. However, other options do exist such as short-term detox in a detox facility or adherence to a Xanax detox tapering plan drafted by an addiction specialist. In addition to Xanax detox, a course of behavioral therapy may help deal with the underlying issues that initially caused the patient’s anxiety.

If detox will not occur in a supervised setting, the most successful self-detox tapering plans involve asking a trusted friend or family member to maintain control of the medication in order to avoid increasing the dosage again if uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms do occur. However, this unsupervised tapering method has many risks and a very low chance of success due to the intense nature of cravings and the many ways an addict can obtain the drug regardless of how well friends and family can monitor them.

No matter what type of Xanax detox is chosen, the first step is taking an honest inventory of both the amount of Xanax and the rate at which it is being consumed. From this inventory, a schedule of slow dosage tapering must be created, as abrupt withdrawal can lead to convulsions, psychosis, and severe anxiety. The withdrawal could take several months in order to gradually reduce the amount of Xanax in the blood and tissues, allowing the brain to return to its pre-Xanax state. Since Xanax has actually taken the place of GABA to some extent, these receptors must be allowed to regenerate as GABA inactivity can lead to severe withdrawal symptoms. Just how long it will take to withdraw from Xanax depends on dosage, length of use, personality, lifestyle and the body’s rate of healing. Many long-term users can take over a year to successfully stop using Xanax, although initial detox can happen much more quickly.

Withdrawal from Xanax can cause serious injury or death if not done correctly and a consultation with a trained addiction specialist is absolutely essential at the outset of detox. Tapering by very small amounts over a prolonged period of time tends to have the most long-lasting results as patients are less likely to experience uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms that often result in abandonment of the detox and reverting back to larger doses. Only a trained professional can determine the appropriate amount of tapering for a particular patient.

Many addiction specialists recommend switching to a long-acting benzodiazepine (such as Valium) during Xanax withdrawal. This allows the body to experience a smooth and gradual reduction of benzodiazepine in the blood, reducing the occurrence of withdrawal symptoms. The switch to a longer-acting benzo happens in concert with the Xanax tapering schedule so that when Xanax levels decrease Valium levels increase. Once the patient has withdrawn from Xanax, a tapering schedule must be created to help the patient withdraw from the Valium. Again, only an addiction professional familiar with the relative potencies of these drugs is qualified to develop the dosage and tapering schedules.

Xanax Detox: Can I Do It Myself? is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The Department of Health is talking to doctors and drug agencies in order to monitor safety and keep careful watch of how drugs are prescribed. Experts are worried in Britain and the United States, as more and more deaths every year are linked to prescription drug addiction.

Deaths in the US have risen more than three-fold in the previous ten years, and Britain’s deaths have risen six-fold since 1991, to roughly 1.4 billion deaths. There are approximately 500 million prescriptions per year that are given for addictive drugs, such as sleeping pills, sedatives and tranquilizers, as well as benzodiazepines that are prescribed for anxiety.

Doctors in the United Kingdom are worried that the numbers of deaths are actually higher than what has been recorded. Unfortunately data has been lost and not collected over the years, so officials worry they have more of a problem than they are aware of. In order to fix this, the Department of Health has worked with addiction specialists, clinicians, drug agencies and NHS regulators to increase monitoring and make sure the addiction doesn’t go unrecorded.

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the abuse of painkillers and prescribed medication has risen to an epidemic level in the United States. This is believed to be true because the number of deaths is higher and more widespread than deaths of HIV and liver disease that can be caused by alcohol consumption and abuse.

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) of the United Kingdom shared that the time period for prescriptions ought to be restricted to four weeks, but after a review of other prescriptions, it was found that a majority of prescribed medications are for eight weeks or more.

Prescription drug abuse may take unique forms and have different meanings. Some examples include taking in excess of the amount prescribed by a provider, taking the drug with certain narcotics or alcohol, using a friend or family member’s prescribed medication as a relief for pain, or using a medication that is not prescribed to you.

It is not unusual for people to develop an addiction to prescription drugs. These types of drugs focus on the reward center of the brain and make it extremely difficult to let go of the high and rewarding feelings that drugs can provide. Certain behaviors can act as caution signs that you or someone you know is abusing prescription drugs. Some of the signs include telling the doctor that the medication has been lost and usually numerous health providers are visited in order to get more medicine.

It is important to be aware of these symptoms and signs. If you are worried that someone you know might have an addiction to prescription drugs, it is important you talk with them and find help immediately.

The Fear of Addiction Leads to a Call for Tighter Monitoring of Prescriptions is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Unlike other addictions that involve street drugs like cocaine or heroin which have no accepted medical use, the prescription drug abuse epidemic-specifically the Medicare fraud uncovered in the report-is being financed by the federal government via taxpayer dollars, as described by the report’s author, investigator Gregory Kutz.

The report, conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) as an audit of Medicare’s Part D program, found that the 170,000 identified Medicare beneficiaries were receiving prescriptions from five or more doctors each, for any of the twelve most frequently abused controlled substances including oxycodone; amphetamine/dextroamphetamine (Adderall); benzodiazepines such as diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax); acetaminophen with codeine; and the two most commonly abused uncontrolled prescription drugs, the non-narcotic painkiller tramadol (Ultram and Ultracet) and the muscle relaxer carisoprodol (Soma). The amount of doctor shopping that took place from May 2010 to October 2011 resulted in a cost of $148 million to the Medicare program.

Due to the rise in prescription drug abuse spreading across the nation-now the second leading cause of death from unintentional injuries, preceded only by motor vehicle fatalities-the GAO conducted a thorough investigation on prescription drug abuse and fraud taking place within the Medicare Part D program. Like many insurance companies and public programs, Medicare is inadvertently funding the illegal prescription drug activity and contributing to the nation’s leading addiction as doctor shoppers continue to be able to cheat the Medicare program.

In its investigation, the GAO sought to determine the extent of doctor shopping occurring within the Medicare program, highlight some prototypical cases of doctor shopping, and to use the information to help create a new method of monitoring and regulating the illegal activity within the government program.

Although they make up a small percentage of Medicare beneficiaries receiving prescriptions for any of the 14 classes of commonly abused drugs, the majority of the 170,000 Medicare beneficiaries identified as doctor shoppers were not on Medicare because of their age, but rather 71% had coverage for a disability and 72% were enrolled in the Medicare Low-Income Cost-Sharing subsidy. In one example, a beneficiary successfully obtained a 944-day supply of hydrocodone pills from 25 different prescribers. Another beneficiary successfully obtained 1,397 fentanyl pills and patches from 21 different doctors. A third beneficiary obtained 3,655 oxycodone pills from 58 different doctors, filling the prescriptions at 45 separate pharmacies. The report also uncovered 600 Medicare cases in which beneficiaries received prescriptions from as many as 87 different doctors in a one-year time frame, the majority of which were for oxycodone and hydrocodone. Not only are these beneficiaries able to shop around providers within the system to obtain as many prescriptions as possible, but their excessive activity can go virtually undetected, as beneficiaries with low incomes have the ability to switch their Medicare plans monthly, practically covering their tracks. Regular Medicare beneficiaries, on the other hand, are only able to change plans annually.

In the GAO’s analysis, the doctors providing the prescriptions to the doctor-shopping individuals were unaware that their patients were also receiving prescriptions from other physicians, and would not have prescribed the drugs had they known their patients had access to the same drug from other prescribers. Although the current Medicare system monitors unnecessary or inappropriate prescription drug activity performed by patients, no penalty exists for doctor shopping in the Medicare program, allowing beneficiaries to continue to seek out multiple prescriptions from several doctors without losing their enrollment.

As a solution, the GAO report recommends restricting known doctor shoppers in the Medicare program to just one doctor and one pharmacy, as well as circulating the name and information of the doctor shoppers to all insurance providers connected to Medicare’s Part D program. In the meantime, the report encourages the 3,400 various Medicare Part D plan providers to implement additional steps in detecting doctor shopping activity, and to report the incidents to the federal government.

Investigation Finds Medicare Patients Abusing and Dealing Prescriptions Drugs is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

While many believe that prescription drug abuse only affects the addict, it is important to realize friends and families are affected – and unfortunately, they aren’t the only ones. Newborn babies are suffering from their mother’s addiction. In 2010, Florida reported that 635 of the births that year were to newborns that were already addicted to prescription pills.

This epidemic is affecting more and more young mothers as they get hooked on prescription pills. One out of every three women that are seeking help with unplanned pregnancies have tested positive for prescription drugs. Many believe one way to address this problem is to require pregnancy testing of childbearing women before a doctor prescribes opiates or any other prescription pill.

When a child is born to an addicted mother, the baby goes through withdrawal. They sweat, have rapid breathing, are underweight, don’t want to eat and sometimes suffer from seizures. These symptoms are similar to the withdrawal symptoms of an adult.

Marsha Current, who runs the Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center in Fort Lauderdale, shared in a statement that pregnant women who are addicted to prescription drugs are usually hesitant to get help because they are worried their child will be taken away. Rather than completely cutting the pregnant woman from the drugs, Current believes they should be weaned from the drugs, under medical supervision, in order to be sure the unborn baby does not go through the withdrawal period.

Prescription drug misuse can assume different forms, and the drugs can be abused in a variety of ways. Some examples include taking more than a specific amount ordered from your health care provider, taking your medicine with certain narcotics or alcohol, using a family member or friend’s prescribed medication as a means to relieve pain, or using a medication that is not prescribed to you.

Addiction to prescription drugs is increasing at a rapid pace and is hard to overcome. These drugs change the reward center of the brain and make it extremely difficult to let go of the feelings that the drugs can provide. When a pregnant woman is abusing prescription drugs their unborn child receives these drugs as well and can suffer from addiction just like their mother.

Certain behaviors can act as a warning sign that you or someone you know is abusing prescription drugs. Some of the signs include telling the provider that the medication has been “lost,” visiting several providers in order to obtain more medicine or prescriptions being stolen.

Prescription Drug Abuse in Newborns is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Researchers from the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital have attempted to answer these questions. They studied more than 26,300 adults who reported using prescription opioids within the past month of a survey conducted November 2005 through December 2009. The adults in this study were ages 18 to 70, whose drug use was being tracked through a national monitoring system called the National Addictions Vigilance Intervention and Prevention Program.

The research team found that many abused opiates in conjunction with other prescription and/or illicit drugs, and that many of these adults were suffering from psychiatric conditions along with their substance abuse. Only 19% were using the drugs as prescribed.

Dr. Traci Green and her colleagues classified the adults using opiate drugs into four groups: those who use them as prescribed (19%); those who had prescriptions but were misusing the drugs (27%); medically healthy abusers (36%); and illicit users (18%). Over 80% were determined to be at risk for death by overdose, and an additional 18% were at risk for blood-borne infections such as HIV.

The research team also studied these adults in terms of age, race, ethnicity, concurrent drug use, onset and duration of drug abuse, route of administration, and comorbid psychiatric and medical problems. They reported that patient education and expanding prescription monitoring programs would have little effect in stopping or helping opioid abusers, many of whom do not receive regular care from the medical profession. Many of the opioid abusers have psychiatric and medical problems that are not being addressed in formal treatment programs.

“Our results add to a growing body of research indicating that prescription opiate products are being abused and misused in ways that call for more nuanced and public health-oriented post-marketing surveillance and risk management responses that have been proposed heretofore,” said Dr. Green, lead author of the study.

The study appears in the journal PLoS ONE.

Majority of Opioid Painkiller Abusers Do Not Receive Medical Treatment is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The Drug Enforcement Administration says that when they survey law enforcement and ask them about the biggest drug problem in their area, prescription drug abuse tops the list. The numbers are high especially among adolescents, as one in five teenagers reports abuse of prescription drugs to gain a quick high, and one in seven reports using prescription drugs in the past year.

Acting U.S. Attorney, Ann Scheel, says teenagers begin by using prescriptions but then realize they can’t afford them so they delve into illicit drugs once they are hooked. The Obama administration is focusing on targeting the seller and not the consumer and says for the government the problem is the transfer and distribution of the drugs, not the possession of them. The Administration points out that there isn’t a difference between the heroin dealer and the doctor from a legal perspective, if they are both violating the law. Both would be charged with the same crime as if they were a street dealer pushing heroin.

Last year the DEA arrested a doctor in California who was accused of running a prescription mill in his office. The government seized over $3 million and a 1999 Bentley, all allegedly due to proceeds from trafficking pain medications.

DEA Says Prescription Drug Abuse Hit Epidemic Proportions is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment