Our Views

Are you confused about prescription drugs? If so, it’s not surprising. The word is getting out that they are dangerous. There’s even a commercial on television about it – a man sitting on a bench says that he doesn’t like living in pain, but he’s afraid he’ll get addicted to painkillers. A kindly man then replies that the drug he’s pushing isn’t addictive, so it’s not a problem. How can you tell if a drug is dangerous or not? How can you tell if you’re likely to need drug detox or rehab to get off them? One thing for sure, you can’t listen to the drug companies.

Actually, that’s not entirely fair, you can listen to some of what the drug companies tell you - there is some truth in their information about side effects.

However, until recently, even the side effects were downplayed: Drug companies used to choose which clinical trials they would disclose to the public, and even to the FDA when they requested approval. Obviously, they chose trials that presented the drug in the most favorable light. Fortunately, a new law now requires the side effects be disclosed. And those side effects should be enough to make deciding whether or not to take the drug a no-brainer.

The list of OxyContin side effects, for example, is very long – there’s at least 80 of them – and they cover such diverse reactions as anorexia, nervousness, abnormal dreams, thought abnormalities chest pain, amnesia, depression, migraines, . anaphylactic or anaphylactoid reactions – which basically amount to, among other things, a sudden drop in blood pressure accompanied by difficulty breathing and, if not treated, death – and withdrawal symptoms ‘with or without seizures’. That’s where the medical drug detox comes in.

If the side effects are that bad even after the drug company has done everything possible to make the drug look good, you can imagine how bad it really is.

The long and short of it – don’t take prescription drugs unless you have a life-threatening situation. And if you’re already taking them, get into a medical drug detox program that will help you get off the drugs before the drugs themselves threaten your life.

Popularity: 50% [?]

When you’re in a lot of pain it’s hard to resist getting a prescription for OxyContin or methadone from your doctor. I believe part of the problem is that too many people are uneducated in the various disciplines and alternative therapies that could help them handle the pain without drugs. Unfortunately, they pay for it in the end because they can end up dependant on the drugs or addicted to them and need to get through a medical drug detox program, and sometimes rehab, to get off them.

What are these alternative therapies? There are hundreds of them. Everything from chiropractic, acupuncture (which can work wonders for pain) and physical therapy to herbal and homeopathic remedies. It’s amazing how well some of these things work.

A friend of mine recently had neck and shoulder pain so severe he could barely move. And even when he wasn’t moving, it was killing him. His doctor gave him a prescription for OxyContin but knowing what he might have to go through to get off them, maybe even drug detox, he took one and threw the rest out.

Then he tried Arnica – a natural remedy made from the Arnica flower that has been used to treat inflammations, promote circulation and soothe sore muscles and joints. It’s usually taken in homeopathic dosages – very small amounts that could not cause toxicity. It took a while but, within a few days, the pain was virtually gone.

Arnica may not work for your situation but there’s a very good chance that something will.

If you’re not taking any prescription drugs, it would be a very good idea to educate yourself in drug-free alternatives so if you ever are in a position where you are tempted to take prescription painkillers, you’re already familiar with other methods that may help you out. If you can avoid drugs, you can also avoid dependency, addiction, and the need for drug detox.

If you’re already taking OxyContin or some other type of painkiller, look into a medical drug detox program that can help you get off the drug safely and start your research into alternatives. Living without drugs is healthy, and could save your life.

Popularity: 28% [?]

Sometimes I wonder why people seem to take prescription drugs so lightly. Millions of people are getting prescriptions for dangerous drugs from their doctors, millions are becoming dependent or addicted, and millions more are abusing them. And even though more people are showing up in drug detox and drug rehab centers to get off them, for every person who does get treatment, there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, who don’t.

Although the drugs themselves cause physical addiction and dependency, there’s another, underlying, reason why people continue to take them. Put simply, they make you feel better.

Years ago I had to take steroids for a while because of a severe allergic reaction. Honestly, the steroids made me feel great. It was completely clear to me why someone would want to take them.

I knew they were dangerous and knew I couldn’t stay on them for long, but I wanted to feel that way forever.

So, I spent the week I was taking them researching how they worked so I could figure out how I could feel that way without drugs. Fortunately, I had a family doctor who didn’t like to prescribe drugs and was also interested in how I could feel good without them.

Together, we discovered that I had a thyroid condition called Wilson’s Syndrome. It was dragging me down until I had absolutely no energy and was also causing both mental and emotional symptoms. My doctor put me through a program and, within less than three months, I felt better than I had in years. And I didn’t have to take any dangerous prescription drugs to do it.

The moral of the story? Find a doctor who is oriented towards ‘wellness’ rather than ‘illness’, who believes you can feel better without drugs, and enlist his help to find the physical causes of the problem you’re trying to solve. You could feel better, naturally, and avoid having to ultimately do drug detox to get off whatever drugs you’re taking. And if you’re already taking drugs that you may not need do a drug detox program to get off them, then search for a real solution to the real problem.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Yesterday I read a blog about a new ruling from the DEA regarding prescriptions for Legal narcotics and stimulants that have a high potential for dependence and abuse – i.e. Schedule II drugs. Many groups and individuals are speaking out against this ruling and a petition to rescind it is circulating on the Internet. The ruling allows doctors to give out 90-day prescriptions rather than just 30 days. Will this ruling increase the already alarming need for drug detox and drug rehab for prescription drugs? Yes, I think so.

The list of Schedule II drugs includes many of the drugs we read horror stories about daily: methadone, morphine, OxyContin – which, along with other prescription drugs of their type cause more drug overdose deaths than cocaine and heroin combined - and Ritalin, normally prescribed for kids and identified by the DEA as one of the foremost contributing factors to later cocaine dependence and addiction.

So if a person is taking these drugs already what’s wrong with them being able to go to the pharmacy and renew their prescription a couple of times? Well, it means that no one is monitoring how they’re doing on the drug. And it means that anyone taking these drugs has an even greater chance of addiction and dependency than they had when their prescription lasted for only a month.

According to the DEA, this shouldn’t be much of a problem because doctors will only give the 90-day prescriptions to patients they know are going to need repeat prescriptions anyway.

However, judging by the number of people who’ve already died or gone into treatment at drug detox and drug rehab facilities – and the fact that many of those people start taking the drug when they were given a prescription by their doctor – I don’t see that doctors are any more able to predict prescription drug addiction, abuse or dependency than their patients.

Your safest bet, really, is to just not take these drugs at all or, if you absolutely have to, take them in the lowest dosage possible and for the shortest time possible. And get yourself into a drug detox program at the first sign of not being able to get off them.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Prescription drugs, and the alleged problems they allegedly treat, have turned the human experience into one big ‘disorder’. Just about any problem you have can now be solved with prescription drugs. Unfortunately, you may need drug detox or drug rehab to get off the drugs but, in the meantime, you at least you don’t have to cope with that pesky thing called “the human experience.”

No longer do you have to toss and turn in bed after an evening of coffee with friends. No longer do you have to upset your marriage by disagreeing with your spouse about whether or not a child should be grounded. No longer do you have to put up with a child who argues with you when you tell him to go to bed or stop playing his music so loud. There are drugs to handle all those problems.

And if you’re concerned about the fact that your child is having trouble with math, or can’t choose a career, you can get the prescription drug help your child needs.

If I didn’t cover your problem, check How Many of These Ridiculous “Disorders” Do YOU Suffer From? for more. Better still, check out the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders for a full list.

Psychiatrists and the drug companies have teamed up to make just about every experience you ever have that is not to your liking into a mental disorder – yours, or someone else’s.

If you’ve fallen for this ploy, check into a medically supervised drug detox program to help you get off the drugs. Get addicted to life, not drugs.

Popularity: 11% [?]

I read an article today about Errol Dodson, a weightlifter and wrestler who became addicted to prescription drugs when he received a Vicodin prescription for pain. Over the next few years he developed a Lortab and OxyContin addiction, as well as Vicodin, and was paying $400 a week to buy the drugs illegally. He eventually got off the drugs with a rapid detox procedure but, unfortunately, he’s now tied to another drug, Naltrexone, and can’t even experience the natural high of exercise. Not the ideal way to handle OxyContin addiction.

Rapid detox involves putting a patient under general anesthesia for several hours while he is given other drugs – usually Naltrexone - to force withdrawal. In theory, the pain and shock of a days-long cold turkey withdrawal is still experienced by the body but is condensed into the shorter time period. In practice, and as confirmed by a National Institute on Drug Addiction study, rapid detox is not rapid or pain-free.  Most rapid detox patients take many days or even weeks to recover from the procedure which is not only dangerous but a severe shock to the body. This is especially true when the body has already gone through years of degeneration caused by OxyContin addiction. 

To make matters worse, many patients are often prescribed Naltrexone for a period of a few weeks to two years after the procedure.

Dodson tried cold turkey withdrawal prior to the rapid detox and experienced severe pain and discomfort. He said he felt like snakes were trying to crawl out of his body. So, unfortunately, he chose rapid detox and is paying the price and has exchanged one addiction for another one.

But there is a safe, relatively comfortable OxyContin detox method that avoids the severity of a cold turkey withdrawal and doesn’t require prescription drug support afterwards.  The patient is given drugs to help with the withdrawal symptoms, but the drugs are weaned during the week or so of the drug detox procedure. Novus Medical Detox offers such a drug detox program. Give them a call if you are having a problem with OxyContin addiction.

Popularity: 20% [?]

A recent article professes that OxyContin addiction and addiction to similar prescription painkillers and other opioid prescription painkillers has been blown out of proportion. The author voiced concern that people in chronic pain – back pain, for example – are reluctant to take painkillers for fear of developing a Vicodin, Percocet or OxyContin addiction. The author also said that only 3 – 16% of those who take painkillers for an extended period of time become addicted. What they somehow forgot to mention is that it is almost guaranteed the person will become physically dependant and, when it comes to withdrawal, the line between dependence and addiction is almost invisible.

Whether you have an OxyContin addiction or dependency, here’s what can be expected when you try to get off it: In the early stages you will probably experience anxiety, increased respiratory rate, sweating, tearing or crying, yawning, runny nose, goose bumps, restlessness, anorexia, irritability. If you don’t take more OxyContin the symptoms will probably escalate to include insomnia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, abdominal cramps, rapid heartbeat, abnormally high blood pressure, muscle spasms, muscle pain and bone pain

Having gone through it myself, I can tell you that there will be plenty of times you would trade how you feel during withdrawal for your original pain in a heartbeat.

OxyContin addiction and dependency has been all over the news for months – ever since Purdue Pharma pled guilty to misleading the public about the dangers of the drug and was fined $634 million. Sure people are afraid of it, and for good reason. Most of that $634 million was used to reimburse various states for the costs incurred trying to help people out of the mess they’d gotten into with the drug.

To my mind, this article smacks of the drug companies fighting back – salvaging what they can of the OxyContin empire by targeting the people least able to resist painkillers: the people who really hurt.

If you have to take OxyContin for a legitimate situation, that’s understood. But you’re right to be wary – as soon as possible get into a medically supervised OxyContin detox that can help you get off the drug safely and with a minimum of withdrawal symptoms. I just wish that I had gone to a good medical detox and spared myself the pain.

Popularity: 19% [?]

I’ve been reading news items for weeks about communities objecting to drug detox and rehab facilities in their area. However, over the last week or so the tides seem to have changed – why, I don’t know. One of the most recent stories is from Hemet, California. Even though city employees recommended that the City Council ‘aggressively oppose’ permits for two drug detox and rehab centers, the council members seem to have nothing but praise for the facilities.

Both centers have operated for years without permits, and are now due to appear at a hearing to remedy that situation. The mayor said she’s lived in the area for 59 years and has never heard of the group – which she considers to be a good thing. In fact, she said she thinks they’ve been pretty good neighbors.

If more people welcomed drug detox programs and rehab facilities into their communities, they might have a better chance of winning their local war on drugs.

Popularity: 18% [?]

I read an interesting statistic today – the money spent annually in the U.S. on weight loss products is about double what it would take to feed the world’s hungry for a year. You might think that has nothing to do with drugs – but, it does: much of that money is spent on diet pills. Basically, they’re speed. And some experts say they are highly addictive, a problem that may require drug detox and rehab.

Why do people choose drugs as a weight loss option? Usually, the answer is simple – they don’t want to change the way they eat and they don’t want to exercise. The pills speed up the central nervous system, brain and spine, so the body burns fat while suppressing the appetite.

However, they do have side effects: diarrhea, vomiting, tightness in the chest and urinary tract problems are the most common. But if you overdose you can expect convulsions, tremors, confusion, shallow breathing, hallucinations, kidney failure, heart attack and stroke.

You’re advised to stop taking them immediately if you get mood swings, hyperactivity, stomach cramps, insomnia, nightmares, severe irritability, fatigue, depression, nausea, vomiting or trembling.

That’s a big risk to take to lose a few pounds.

And then there’s dependency and, possibly, addiction. I can’t find any statistics on how many people are dependent on diet pills, but it is fairly common among people with eating disorders, and even Angelina Jolie and Nicole Richie have been said to be addicted.

As with any drug, getting off diet pills not be easy. Find a good medically supervised drug detox program, and then check out your other options for weight loss. Maybe some of the money you spent on diet pills can feed people who are starving.

Popularity: 12% [?]

I read a very moving article today about the millions of people around the world who suffer pain daily because they don’t have access to painkillers – specifically, morphine.  I’ll be honest, my immediate reaction when I saw the headline was “What are the drug companies up to now?” But, as I read further, I found that this was not just another ploy to sell drugs: it is a heartbreaking story about Sierra Leone, a country that has had such severe problems with drug abuse and addiction in the past that even those suffering from the severe pain of late-stage cancer cannot get relief. The fear is that once morphine, or painkillers of similar strength, are made available the country will once again be awash with people needing drug addiction help.

While it is true that morphine can be prescribed by doctors, and prescriptions filled by pharmacists, access to doctors is almost impossible. Sierra Leone has one doctor for every 54,000 people. In the U.S. we have one for every 350. The affluent have access to these doctors, but not the very poor majority.

Critics can’t understand why officials think this is acceptable. They feel that if someone does get addicted, you can get them help through drug detox and rehab – if they recover. But some of the conditions are so severe dying with dignity is the best that can be hoped for.

Obviously, I’m not an advocate of drugs. Every day I write about the disastrous effects they create and the desperate need for effective drug detox and rehab. But, really, this is taking it too far. No one should have to suffer like the people of Sierra Leone. First, they need drugs, then they can get drug addiction help.

Popularity: 19% [?]