Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is all too common and affects every age and every walk of life. There is no social or econmic status that isn't affected by it.

As a nurse I have seen first hand the different circumstances that drug abuse leads to. Whether you're dealing with a patient going through withdrawal symptoms, or working on an accident victim that is in critical condition due to someone being "Too High" to control their vehicle, the outcome is always the same, someone is getting hurt in the situation.

Below is some information that will give you some heads up on the wide spread epidemic of drug abuse.

Narcotic Abuse Overview

Pain is one of the most common reasons people seek medical treatment. Doctors can prescribe several different drugs to relieve pain. The most potent pain-relieving drugs are narcotics.
In the United States, narcotics are widely prescribed. When prescribed for medical conditions, narcotics are often prescribed to treat pain. They are often given after or offered along with less-potent or less-effective pain relievers.

However, narcotic use is considered abuse when people use narcotics to seek feelings of well-being apart from the narcotic's pain-relief applications.

Morphine and other natural derivatives of the opium poppy (such as codeine and heroin) are called opiates. Drugs such as heroin and methadone are called semisynthetic drugs. Some drugs, including endorphins, occur naturally in the body, producing a morphinelike effect. Opiates, synthetic drugs, semisynthetic drugs, and drugs created naturally by the body comprise the class of drugs known as opioids or narcotics.

The most commonly abused narcotic is heroin. Other narcotics include methadone, meperidine (Demerol), morphine, codeine, hydromorphone (Dilaudid), fentanyl, hydrocodone, and oxycodone (Percocet, Percodan).

Narcotics have many useful pain-relieving applications in medicine. They are used not only to relieve pain for people with chronic diseases such as cancer, but also to relieve pain after operations. Doctors may also prescribe narcotics for painful acute conditions, such as corneal abrasions, kidney stones, and broken bones.

When people use narcotics exclusively to control pain, it is unlikely that they become addicted or dependent on them. A patient is given a dosage of opioids strong enough to reduce their awareness of pain but not normally potent enough to produce a euphoric state. The difference between dependence and addiction

Adequate pain control is the goal for the medical use of narcotics. Thus, patients or health care professionals should not allow fear of addiction to interfere with using narcotics for effective pain relief. Differentiating dependence from addiction is important.

People receiving maintenance opioid therapy for extended periods of time may require increased doses to alleviate their pain. They may develop tolerance to the drug and experience withdrawal symptoms if the medication is abruptly stopped (this is dependence).

Addiction is elevated narcotic abuse that becomes compulsive and self-destructive, especially concerning an opioid user's need to obtain the drug for non –pain-relief purposes.

If circumstances allow, the dose for people using narcotics over an extended period of time for medical purposes is slowly lowered over a few weeks to prevent withdrawal symptoms. People who are weaned off narcotics and are pain free rarely return to or become abusers of narcotics. Narcotics used for short-term medical conditions rarely require weaning since stopping the medication after a brief period rarely produces adverse effects.


Narcotic Abuse Symptoms

Narcotics users can develop tolerance and psychological and physical dependence to them when
they take them over an extended period.

Tolerance refers to a decreased response to a drug, with increasing doses required to achieve comparable effects.

Psychological dependence refers to compulsive drug use in which a person uses the drug for personal satisfaction, often in spite of knowing the health risks.

Physical dependence occurs when a person stops using the narcotic but experiences a withdrawal syndrome (or set of symptoms).


Signs and symptoms of narcotic abuse

Analgesia (feeling no pain)
Sedation
Euphoria
Respiratory depression (shallow breathing)
Small pupils, bloodshot eyes
Nausea, vomiting
Itching skin, flushed skin
Constipation
Slurred speech
Confusion, poor judgment
Needle marks on the skin

Signs and symptoms of narcotic withdrawal:

The withdrawal syndrome from narcotics generally includes signs and symptoms opposite of the drug's intended medical effects. The severity of the withdrawal syndrome increases as the drug dose increases. The longer the duration of the physical dependence to the narcotic increases, the more severe the withdrawal syndrome. Symptoms of heroin withdrawal generally appear 12-14 hours after the last dose. Symptoms of methadone withdrawal appear 24-36 hours after the last dose. Heroin withdrawal peaks within 36-72 hours and may last 7-14 days. Methadone withdrawal peaks at 3-5 days and may last 3-4 weeks. Although uncomfortable, acute narcotic withdrawal for adults is not life threatening unless the person has a medical condition that compromises health (for example, if someone has severe heart disease). Withdrawal from shorter-acting narcotics is briefer but more intense.
Anxiety
Irritability
Craving for the drug
Increased respiratory rate (rapid breathing)
Yawning
Runny nose
Salivation
Gooseflesh
Nasal stuffiness
Muscle aches
Vomiting
Abdominal cramping
Diarrhea
Sweating
Confusion
Enlarged pupils
Tremors
Lack of appetite

Complications of narcotic abuse:

Many complications can result from narcotic abuse, the most common being infectious conditions.
Infections of the skin and deeper layers
Abscesses in skin, lungs, and brain
Infection of the heart valves
Pneumonia
Fluid in the lungs
Liver dysfunction
Intestinal slowdown
Seizures
Other neurological complications
Infectious arthritis
Loss of menstrual cycle
Premature and growth-retarded infants

Neonatal withdrawal:

Up to 70% of babies delivered from pregnant women who use narcotics experience neonatal withdrawal, a potentially fatal condition.



I hope this gives you some insight into drug abuse. I hope that if you or someone you love is having problems with drugs, you will seek help for them, however, if an addict isn't ready to get help, they won't. Nothing in this world you try to force on them will change the fact that they have a problem. They have to see they have a problem, they have to see the effects their problem is creating on their family and life and they have to want to change it.