Painkiller abuse is a significant public health crisis that devastates individuals, families, and communities. While prescription painkillers serve an essential role in healthcare, their downfall is their potential for abuse and addiction. In fact, for many, a prescription for painkillers unwittingly becomes a gateway to opioid use disorder (OUD). Typically, taking prescription painkillers precisely as prescribed […]
Bridging is a street term used to describe the abuse of prescription drugs, not to gain a high, but to minimize withdrawal symptoms between highs. The practice is most common among people suffering from opioid and benzodiazepine addiction. Both families of drugs cause severe withdrawal symptoms.Opioid and Benzodiazepine Withdrawal SymptomsIf your loved one abuses opioid
More than 40% of Americans say they know someone who has been addicted to prescription painkillers, and a majority say that lack of access to treatment for people with substance abuse issues is a problem, a new survey shows. The poll results released in May 2016 by the Kaiser Family Foundation also found that more
Have you ever given a friend a painkiller to soothe a sore back? Maybe you gave them an anti-anxiety pill before a long flight? Even if it was not intentional, you might have inadvertently contributed to a serious substance abuse problem. This can increase your friend’s chance for a deadly overdose. It is important to
Overdose Risk Increases with Family Drug Connections Read More »
In Pennsylvania, like so many of our neighboring states, the opioid crisis has been particularly brutal. In 2017, overdose deaths rose by 16%. However, the good news is that around that time, we began to turn a corner. More people made their way into rehab, and the easy-access prescriptions became a thing of the past. Still,
Nobody just wakes up one morning as an addict. There are stages that they have gone through even though they didn’t realize it at the time. The stages of addiction start with that first episode of taking a drug or drinking a glass of alcohol. There are then three more stages you go through before
Two out of every three drug overdoses in the U.S. involve an opioid. Opioid epidemic statistics are concerning. Opioids killed nearly four times as many people as drunk driving in 2017. Opioid addiction stats found that 47,000 people died from overdoses involving overdoses in 2017. Those battling addictions need to seek out an opioid addiction
Doctors commonly prescribe Benzodiazepines, or “benzos,” to manage conditions like anxiety, panic disorders, seizures, alcohol withdrawal, as well as insomnia. When taken as a doctor prescribes, these substances are very effective and useful. If someone crosses the line and abuses these substances, there could be a high price for them to pay. The price is
