Prescription medications, when properly used, usually provide no threat to a person. However, it does not mean that these medications can be used in a harmful manner. Opoids (pain killers), depressants, and stimulants are three types of prescription medications that can be wrongly used for other reasons. Each of these drugs comes in the of a pill.
Potentially hazardous prescription medications.
Opoids, or pain killers, alleviate severe pain effectively when properly used. They also relieve a person of extreme diarrhea and coughs. It does this by effecting regions of the brain that control pleasure, and therefore, a person can reach a state of euphoria. Pain killers are used to experience this high. Constipation, drowsiness, and depressed breathing are all results of normal use of the drug, however, a coma or death can occur after an overdose.
Depressants, or anesthetics slow down normal brain function, causing drowsiness and relaxation. Barbiturates, a type of depressant, can treat anxiety, tension, and sleep disorders. Benzodiazepines, another form of depressant, decreases anxiety, acute stress reactions, and panic attacks. Depressants are often sought after when a feeling of calmness is needed in a person. Like opoids, an overdose of depressant can result in a coma or death.
Stimulants enhance brain activity. Increased alertness, attention, energy, and a rise in blood pressure, heart rate, and breath rate are effects of stimulants. Long term usage can result in cardiovascular failure and lethal seizures. Hostility and paranoia are results of short term usage. Abusers of this drug usually need to perform an action that requires heightened skills.
The 1999 Monitoring the Future Survey of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders nationwide, showed that for barbiturates, tranquilizers, and other prescription medications is a roller coaster, decreasing in the early nineties and rising one again in the mid-ninties.
One of the most effective treatments for all three of the drugs is detoxification. Because withdrawal from abusive prescription drug usage is harmful, detoxification is performed to take away withdrawal symptoms. Detoxification is often a long term treatment that either requires absolute abstinence from drugs and/or integrates a medication into the treatment plan. Detoxification is often followed by behavioral intervention programs.
