Taken from the opium alkaloid, oxycontin is a white, odorless, crystalline powder. It is the brand name for a powerful painkiller called oxycodone hydrochloride. This drug is used as a mild to severe pain reliever for patients with chronic pain. Cancer patients are commonly prescribed with this drug and it has been acknowledged for its long lasting pain relieving quality.
Oxycontin does not just lessens pain but it also gives the body a relaxing and euphoric feeling. This substance has a time-release structure that will last for 12 hours. This drug is safe and nondestructive provided that it is taken properly. However, the drug becomes abused and people are more likely developing an addiction to the drug. Abusing it is through chewing, crushing, or dissolving the pill into liquid form, and then eating the solution. When the drug is released, the effect is similar to heroin. Oxycontin addiction shows through chronic use and increasing tolerance so that more of the drug is needed to feel the same effects day by day. This will start making a person’s life to go on complications.
Addiction to this drug forces the person to take in more dosage otherwise they would experience physical pain. Side effects of the addiction include insomnia, muscle and bone pain, sweats, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach cramping, and muscle twitching. Severe side effects could be detrimental.
Oxycontin is a prescription drug and is use to lessen pain. However, when it is abused and used for the purposes it also elicits dangerous effects maybe not sooner, but later on as the euphoric effect subsides. Once an individual experiences the “high” brought on by oxycontin, the person is reinforced to take in more to achieve the same “high” feeling. This condition is now called addiction. One former oxycontin dependent testified that within a few minutes of consuming the tablet, he felt like superman, he could work all day, go home, and play with his kids. He has the notion that he could do everything he wanted. Common sense would tell us that the immediate effects of the drug are very inviting. As time would pass, nonstop use of the drug would lead to dependence. Thus, you couldn’t get away with the drug. That’s when the problem starts.
Dependents on oxycontin admits that they have become dependent on the drug, however, it’s the physical will to stop using the drug that is too complicated to deal with. Why is this so? One, they have become very dependent on the drug and two, stopping would mean painful side effects. Yes, the drug may be man’s best friend but once you turn your back on it, it becomes a snake that poisonously bites it could kill you. Once the usage of the substance is ended by an addict, he/she is more likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal syndrome is characterized by dysphoria, the opposite of euphoriathat entails sadness, depression, anxiety, and craving. So as they say nothing lasts forever.
Treatment for oxycontin addiction is done with a medical professional. There are many ways to treat oxycontin addiction. Treatments include medication and behavioral and counseling approaches. The substance methadone is helpful in eliminating drug craving and symptoms of withdrawal. Another way of treating opioid addiction is through rapid detox. Furthermore, medication is accompanied with counseling and behavioral therapy because addiction is not only biological but psychological.
Oxycontin is a drug prescribed by doctors to eliminate mild to severe pain and it is used among cancer patients who experience extreme pain. Nevertheless, when addiction sets in, one should be prepared to go rehab for a treatment.
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