Repeat: RX and OTC drug abuse is increasing because kids believe they are safer than street drugs. So let’s take a look – right now -- at all the myths floating around about RX or OTC drugs.
Myth: If prescription or over-the-counter drugs can be used as medicine, they must be safer than street drugs.
Fact: Not true. Nearly all poison deaths in this country over a five-year period (1999-2004) were from drugs; most drug poisonings resulted from the abuse of prescription drugs and illegal drugs. These poisoning deaths went from 12,186 in 199to 20,950 in 2004 – a 62.5 percent change over five years.
Myth: Prescription drugs are not addictive.
Fact: Not true. Pain relievers like Vycodin, OxyContin, Percocet, Darvin and Codeine are highly addictive and life-threatening. What’s horrific about them is that they cause the user to have such painful and frightening withdrawal symptoms that the user sees no other way out but to keep using what they may know by then is destroying their health and their lives.
Myth: OTC drugs are not addictive. My mom uses flu medicine; my dad uses a popular night time sleep medicine.
Fact: Not true. When OTC drugs are used for the purposes for which they are intended with careful attention to the instructions for legitimate use, and knowledge of the user’s health history, they may not be dangerous, although some individuals may have unexpected, possibly dangerous sensitivity or allergy results. However, when they are NOT used properly for their intended medicinal purposes, they can be injurious or life-threatening. Even mothers and fathers can – and have – become dependant on these drugs.
Myth: If you only use prescription or OTC drugs once in a while, that’s okay.
Fact: Not true. Since all our body’s systems are a bit different, even one use of a strange drug can and has caused death and serious health problems. Teens who abuse RX drugs can suffer consequences including addiction, strokes, seizures, comas and even death. And one use can make you dependant on the drug.
How can RX or OTC drugs harm your body?
Narcotic pain relievers are not only highly addictive; stopping taking them causes some pretty drastic physical results. Withdrawal symptoms can include muscle and bone pain, insomnia, intense restless, diarrhea, vomiting and cold flashes.
Worse, youngsters are crushing time-released capsules like OxyContin, meant to be absorbed over a long period of time. And they are taking it all at once. Crushing, sniffing or injecting it causes the drug to enter the blood stream almost immediately and this can and has caused deaths. A price paid by not only the user, but everyone else in the user’s life.
Amphetamines like Ritalin, Adderall, Dexedrine, Focolin or Merida are not any safer. Not only can they be addictive, but abuse of them can cause feelings of paranoia, intense fear, and hostility which can lead to violence. High doses can cause heart attacks or seizures. Some fun, hey? Mix them with OTC decongestants and again, the heart is affected. Safe? Don’t you believe it.
And while teens abuse sedatives and tranquilizers to feel sleepy and less tense, or to relieve panic attacks, those feelings soon go away when their body becomes more tolerant to the drugs. So then you have a tense teen with panic attacks who is dependent on tranquilizers or sedatives and dealing with those feelings as well.
That sound funny? Not if it’s happening to you.
NOTE: Sedatives and/or tranquilizers can be deadly when combined with other prescription, some cold or allergy drugs, or alcohol.
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