Once taken by the disease of addiction, an individual will fight daily for their independence from the substance. Waking daily with a twinge of need for that high they'd known for so long before leads to use daily. However, there is hope. Help is available to combat the disease of addiction.
These addictive substances plaguing millions of lives have many things in common. One commonality between these substances is that they all have side effects. The most severe side effect is death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one person dies every 19 minutes due to a prescription drug overdose and that number is rising rapidly. Without interdiction, that number will continue to rise every day.
With an ever increasing mortality rate, the number of needless deaths will continue to rise from overdose.
Deaths are not the only side effect. There are several other side effects from these medications. One short-term side effect is a depressed respiratory system. This causes shortness of breath in individuals or in some cases, an inability to breathe at all. This is common of overdose deaths among opioid or prescription drug addicts. Another side effect leading to possible death is arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats.
Arrhythmias are classified depending on the status of the heart rate as either Bradycardia, which is a slowing of the heart rate or Tachycardia, which is an increase in heart rate. Generally, with prescription or opioid overdoses individuals encounter Bradycardia, as most of the medications will slow the heart rate causing a lack of blood and oxygen to get to other internal organs. Without treatment, this can lead to death.
Additionally, the abuse of some medications may lead to Tachycardia. The increase of the heart rate beyond safe levels can prevent the heart from filling with blood during diastole or the relaxation phase of the heart beat causing the heart to pump less blood to other internal organs. In either case the primary organ affected is the brain. Humans are unable to sustain life without enough blood going to the brain. In most cases the individual will experience dizziness, confusion, loss of consciousness, permanent brain damage, and in extreme cases death.
One sign that an individual is under the influence is the involuntary constriction of the pupils. Other signs include modified speech, drowsiness, nausea/vomiting, and even a constant itchiness when under the influence. Contrary to popular belief, users addicted to heroin do not always inject the drug via needles.
Some will eat the drug, snort the drug in a liquid form, or even smoke it. But wait, heroin is just a drug on the streets, right? No, heroin is actually a pharmaceutical developed from opium in the late 1800's for medical practices. In this way, it is similar to morphine, cocaine and other drugs. Once people began to develop an addiction to the altering effects of the drugs, they found themselves wanting it more and more every day. How can we help those addicted to prescription medications?
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