The Vicious Cycle of Oxycontin Abuse

oxycontin is a strong prescription pain killer that can easily be abused if a patient is not careful.

The morphine that oxycontin metabolizes to, gives the brain the message that a state of pain free euphoria has developed.  The brain therefore demands oxycontin, giving the patient the impression that the original need for the prescription is still around; usually a need to end pain.  This soon gets mixed up with the need for the euphoric feeling.

Welcome to the vicious cycle of oxycontin abuse.

Over half of the oxycontin abuse cases seen are people who were never addicted to drugs or alcohol before getting hooked on oxycontin.

As the body and the brain become accustomed to the feeling of pleasure oxycontin gives, the need to increase the dosage comes about.  This can cause major problems in several ways; the patient is overdosing by increasing on his own; the prescription is running out sooner than it is suppose to which causes a red flag to the physician or the pharmacist; behavior and mood swings become apparent and financial difficulty can arise.

These are warning signs and family members and friends can usually see the mood swings first while the pharmacist or physician is more likely to catch the dosage increase.  No matter who notices first, it is important to bring it to the attention of other loved ones who can help with an intervention and get the patient the help he or she needs to get off of oxycontin before an even greater problem comes about.

If your loved one seems to become depressed or is dozing off and sleeping more than usual and oxycontin is part of his medicinal regime, seek help immediately.  By itself, oxycontin can become extremely addictive and lead to depression and other medical problems but if taken with other prescriptions or alcohol, it is literally a time bomb waiting to go off.

Oxycontin abuse happens because the brain completely misleads the body.

After being in pain, the body feels within minutes like it can do anything; work, take a walk, follow a routine.  However, the feeling passes more and more quickly as the body gets used to the medicine and the brain requires more of it.  This begins a spiraling catch-22 effect that quickly has the patient falling into a pattern of drug abuse and addiction.

The use of the pain killer oxycontin has become a major problem in drug addiction in the U.S., Canada and abroad, with emergency rooms seeing a high increase in overdoses coming in that originated with a simple remedy for physical pain.  Over half of the oxycontin abuse cases seen are people who were never addicted to drugs or alcohol before getting hooked on oxycontin.

This cycle needs to be broken and can be with awareness and drug rehab.

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