Opiate painkillers are opioid-based medications prescribed to treat moderate to severe pain. When taken as directed with a monitored exit plan that allows you to stop taking the medication when you no longer need it, they are safe. However, some who begin a legitimate prescription will end up with an addiction that can ruin their life – and in some cases, end it.

Some of the most common opiate painkiller medication that end up causing an addiction include OxyContin, hydrocodone, morphine, codeine, hydromorphone, and others.

How Opiate Painkillers are Abused

Most who abuse opiate painkillers do so by using their prescription in a non-medical fashion. This can mean taking more than the prescribed dose or increasing the number of doses per day. It can also mean taking the pills not as prescribed (e.g., crushing them first, snorting the crushed pills, or dissolving in water and injecting the pills after they’ve been crushed). In some cases, patients abuse their prescription by mixing them with alcohol and other illicit substances. The more rapid release of the medication through alternate forms of ingestion and/ or the combination of prescription painkillers with other drugs of abuse can mean a more intense high and an increased risk of overdose and addiction.

How Opiates Affect the Brain

Opiates attach to the opioid receptors in the brain, kicking your pleasure response into high gear and blocking your experience of pain. The high that results can be addictive and, if chronic pain is an issue, it can decrease your ability to fight pain naturally thus increasing your experience of pain when not under the influence. When chronic opiate painkiller abuse becomes an issue, it’s easy for both a psychological and physical dependence to develop – an addiction that is difficult to break away from without chronic relapse.

Opiate Addiction Treatment

Opiate detox is the first step in opiate addiction treatment and focuses on the physical dependence part of opiate addiction. Medical treatment – even medication – may be a part of this process that will last as long as dictated by the patient’s experience of withdrawal symptoms. When those symptoms are under control, work on the psychological part of addiction can begin. For some, this can mean a focus on traumatic events or underlying mental health issues that were a problem prior to the use of prescription painkillers. For others, the focus is on learning how to cope with life and upsets without turning to drugs and alcohol.

If you or someone you love is looking for a drug rehab for women, contact us at The Orchid today. Learn how you can begin the healing process after prescription drug addiction.

Painkiller addiction is a problem that swept the nation over the past decade and continues to rise in significance every year. For men and women, teenagers and the elderly, prescription drug addiction is a huge problem, resulting in thousands of deaths due to overdose or related accident every year. Women, however, are one of the groups at highest risk to develop prescription painkiller addiction. Why is this the case and how can we treat this issue?

Why Women are at High Risk for Prescription Drug Addiction

Statistically, women are twice as likely to develop an addiction to prescription drugs like sedatives and painkillers because they are two to three times more likely to be prescribed these drugs than are men. Why are women prescribed highly addictive drugs like Valium, Xanax and Klonopin more often than men? Because they are more likely to seek medical help for emotional issues than are men.

Acute emotional issues related to a specific, traumatic event (i.e., death of a family member, loss of a relationship, loss of a job, sexual abuse) commonly result in an addictive prescription and women are more likely than men to seek that out. Chronic emotional issues that result in depression are another problem that results in addictive prescriptions and an issue that women seek help for more often than do men.

Prescription Drug Addiction is Deadly

For women and men, prescription drug addiction is a deadly disease. If you or someone you love is physically and psychologically dependent upon a prescription painkiller or sedative, it is imperative that you seek a doctor’s assistance. Attempting to quit “cold turkey” without stepping down slowly over time without medical supervision can be just as deadly as continuing to take the drug.

Overdose is a constant concern for those taking prescription medications, even if they have been addicted for years. Accidents related to overuse and abuse of prescription sedatives and painkillers is one of the most common reasons for emergency room visits. More deadly than any other single addictive drug, addiction to prescription painkillers and sedatives requires immediate and full service treatment at a prescription drug rehab.

Women and Prescription Drug Rehab

Even though women are more likely to go to the doctor when they are struggling with emotional issues, they are less likely than men to seek drug rehab or treatment once they realize that they are dangerously dependent on a drug of addiction. This means that though the numbers of men and women seeking medical treatment at a drug rehab facility for prescription drug addiction are about the same, there are a large number of women out in the world trying desperately to function with a painkiller or sedative addiction unnecessarily.

If you or a someone you love is living with OxyContin addiction, Percocet addiction, hydrocodone addiction, oxycodone addiction or addiction to sedatives or a combination of drugs, get help today. Call The Orchid to find a prescription drug rehab designed specifically to assist women living with addiction.