Vicodin Abuse

Vicodin is a prescription drug that was originally invented as medication for severe pain. Now, however, it is used to treat moderate pain as well. As a result, it is frequently available in most medicine cabinets. Being a painkiller, it also leaves the user feeling euphoric for some time. Due to its easy availability and the feel-good effects, this has become a choice drug of abuse among teens.

Vicodin Statistics

According to narconon.org, one in five high schoolers has used this drug. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has stated that one in twelve teenagers has admitted to using it for non-medical purposes.

In recent years, it is believed that the drug is over-prescribed—while its distribution isn’t strongly regulated—unlike many other prescription drugs.

To add to this, it has a strong potential for addiction, creating the perfect scenario for Vicodin abuse. One can develop an addiction in as little as a week.

Medical Effects of Vicodin Abuse

While Vicodin comes with a range of short term effects, including drowsiness, anxiety, mood swings, constipation, and many more, it also comes with a whole range of long term effects. This primarily includes addiction. The euphoria caused by the drug often gets the users hooked.

Abuse leads to a whole host of new medical problems including a slow heartbeat, lightheadedness, seizures, nausea, convulsions, vomiting, constricted pupils, blurry vision, headache, ringing ears, and even constipation. It may also lead to confusion and fear from time to time.

But while the medical symptoms are among the least desirable, the drug is also known to change people. Addiction, after all, can cause a person to become desperate. It can therefore cause someone to take extreme actions in order to fulfill their addiction.

This can and often includes breaking the law as well as hurting those they love.

As a result, it transforms a person completely, making them unrecognizable to their loved ones. It is through the abuse of such a drug that their previous position in society crumbles to dust. However, the addicted may continue along this path for fear of suffering from withdrawal symptoms but this isn’t the only way out.

How to Get Help for Vicodin Addiction

Help is available for those suffering from Vicodin abuse. A drug addiction rehab center will attack your addiction in phases.

The first steps normally include a medically supervised process of detoxification. A non-addictive Vicodin substitute is used during this time to alleviate withdrawal symptoms while releasing the user from the shackles of addiction.

Following this, intensive therapy will be employed for several weeks. Patients will be made to face the issues that led to the addiction in the first place. Alternatives will be searched for so as to prevent a relapse if similar situations arise. Any emotional and psychological issues that may have contributed to the addiction will also be addressed during this period, thereby tacking the problem from its very roots.

After care will be extended to ensure the prevention of a relapse in the future.