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Why are prescription drugs dangerous? According to a recent study, the problem is often caused by patients giving their doctor incorrect information about what drugs they’re taking. You might need medical drug detox if you’re taking drugs that can cause addiction and dependency but, for other drugs, just knowing the names of the drugs you’re taking could prevent serious side effects and even death.

As an example, a recent study showed that between 40 and 65% of patients taking blood pressure medication don’t know what drugs they’re taking. If patients don’t know the names of their blood pressure medications, there’s a good chance they also don’t know the names of their other drugs. Consequently, they give doctors incorrect information and the doctor can easily prescribe additional drugs that could interact with their current drugs in ways that could be fatal.

Prescriptions drugs could be a lot safer if you take the right action: it’s important to remember that your medical records are not always correct, complete or available. To avoid problems with your prescription drugs, make sure you always take your bottles to the doctor to show him what you’re taking so any other drugs he prescribes will not be dangerous in combination with the drugs you’re currently using.

For drugs that do cause addiction or dependency, consult with a doctor, in liaison with a medical drug detox program professional, to find out how to stop taking them but, for all other drugs, making sure that both you and your doctor are fully informed could save your life or the life of someone close to you.

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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.

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Are you in your ‘60s or ‘70s and having a problem with prescription drug addiction or abuse? A recent pilot project conducted in Sarasota, Pinellas, Broward and Orange counties, Florida, found that 23% of the 3,497 people screened needed some form of treatment for prescription drugs. Although some of the people referred only required a little education on things like combining prescription drugs with alcohol, I’m sure some of those people actually need drug detox to get them safely off the drugs they’re taking. And they might even need drug rehab to help them overcome addiction.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), about 17 percent of adults over the age of 60 (that’s about 2.5 million people) have substance abuse problems. Some have problems with alcohol, some with prescription painkillers, but since seniors often drink or take drugs alone – it’s not a social event as it is for some young people - no one even knows they have a problem. Consequently, they don’t get into drug detox or rehab so the problem can be addressed.

Fortunately, the Florida pilot project is going to be extended to 18 Florida counties overall so seniors in other parts of the state will have more help available to them. Lee County’s treatment program, for example, will receive a grant to help find seniors who are abusing alcohol or drugs and get them the help they need.

If you or someone you know needs help with alcohol or drug abuse, contact Novus Medical Detox to find out about drug detox in Florida. Although many people use drugs and alcohol to help them cope with life’s problems, they really just make the situation worse. Get help now through a medical drug detox program.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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When Brad Culpepper was nose tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and willing to do whatever he had to to stay in the game, he took prescription painkillers. Lots of them. After several injuries, he was taking Vicodin every day, just to get through the day, and he really loaded up for a game. When it came time to stop, he was able to do it without drug detox. But he was one of the lucky ones – many athletes become addicted to painkillers. In fact, it’s becoming a problem of almost epidemic proportions in sports.

Most of the articles you read about drugs in sports focus on steroids. However, a California doctor who treats athletes with addictions says that prescription painkillers are 10 times more common in sports than steroids.

Steve Hayes, director of Novus Medical Detox in Florida, concurs. “Sometimes athletes have been taking painkillers for years before they finally get help. It is generally only a matter of time before a person decides they have to stop using them or their life will be ruined.“

Unfortunately, it’s not easy to stop taking opiates of any kind – whether it’s heroin or prescription painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin. If you or someone you care about has a problem with prescription painkiller addiction or dependency, contact Novus to find out if you could benefit from a medical drug detox program.

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I read an article today about a young Russian immigrant who was introduced to heroin when she was 12. She was addicted for several years and didn’t stop using heroin until a friend overdosed and died. I guess that was the degree of impact she needed to finally decide enough is enough – obviously, what happened to her friend could just as easily have happened to her. Although the article didn’t mention whether or not she had done drug detox, it did say she had gone through rehab several times.

One of the reasons she never got through drug rehab successfully is that the people in the rehab programs she did didn’t speak her language – literally: she spoke Russian, they spoke English. The language barrier would have made it all but impossible.

Communication is a basic in drug detox and drug rehab. If you can’t talk to someone, it’s difficult for them to help you through the drug detox process and, when drug rehab starts, you can’t get down to the reasons the person is taking drugs in the first place. You also can’t give them the tools they need to handle their problems. In fact, you can’t even find out what their problems are.

The other barrier she would have experienced stems from the fact that she came from an environment, the former Soviet Union, where you just don’t say what’s on your mind – especially if you want to say something negative. It just wasn’t safe. So, even if she did speak English, the drug detox and rehab counselor would have had to have pretty sophisticated communication skills to make her feel safe enough to talk about her problems.

A successful drug treatment program is based in large part on communication. If you want to ensure you or someone you care about gets through a drug detox program and drug rehab successfully, make sure that the counselors have the communication skills necessary to get the addict to open up and to make them feel safe enough to discuss their problems.

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Are government efforts at curbing prescription drug addiction and abuse really pointed in the right direction? While it’s true that Cardinal Health, Purdue Pharma and a couple of other Big Pharma guys have had their wrists slapped, that’s only when they do something illegal. What about their legal activities? What about the millions who are taking prescription drugs who don’t really need them, who may wind up in drug detox and drug rehab to get off them, and who are taking them primarily because they saw them advertised and were led to believe they would be beneficial?

I just read an article about the prescription drug trafficking case against Bo Jeremy Storedahl – the case went awry when the informant, Tina Rivard, falsely claimed she bought 100 OxyContin pills from Storedahl with $4,000 given to her by the narcotics agents on the case.

God knows how many people are working on busting this little prescription drug ring while the biggest prescription drug ring in the world is sitting at their collective desk drinking Starbucks and figuring out how to get us to take more drugs. And they’re doing it with our blessing, and the blessing of our government.

War on Drugs money is primarily focused on manufacturers and suppliers, yet our number one criminals, the perps who are researching, manufacturing, advertising, marketing, distributing and selling prescription drugs continue to do business. Even when they do something illegal, the penalties don’t even put a dent in their resources.

If an avowed enemy did what Big Pharma is doing, we’d consider it an act of war. We’d be all out in our support of the victims, getting them into drug detox and rehab en masse, and we’d be using military resources to hunt down the perps. What will it take to remove the rose-colored glasses and recognize the enemy within?

Until that happens, we’re on our own. Educate yourself on the dangers of prescription drug addiction and abuse, teach your family and friends and, if you or anyone you know already has a problem, get them into a drug detox program fast.

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I read an article this morning about the Terrills, a family that lost everything to their son’s heroin addiction. It was a model family. Parents who were really involved with their kids – four boys, all of whom were promising baseball players, kids who were devoted to their parents, a new ‘dream house.’ They had it all. Then, having been introduced to OxyContin in school, one of the sons became a heroin addict. From there, everything was lost. But it could have been avoided through a good drug detox program followed by drug rehab.

The major mistake made by this family was not getting their son into drug detox and drug rehab when they first realized he had a problem. His drug use went on for years before they did something about it. In fact, they weren’t the ones to finally take action: the boy was arrested when trying to rob a convenience store.

After his arrest, he went to a 30-day drug treatment center. In my experience, a 30-day treatment program is not enough to handle heroin addiction. First they have to get through withdrawal – which, for many addicts, causes such severe symptoms they can’t stop taking the drug. Some may require a separate medical drug detox before they’re even ready for rehab. Then, in rehab, you have to address the reasons for their addiction, give them the tools to live life drug free, and build them up physically to handle the deterioration that occurs with addiction.

That can take a while. Addiction doesn’t happen overnight, neither does rehabilitation.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that a heroin addict, or someone addicted to any opiate, will get through it on their own steam. 95% of those who try aren’t successful. Drug detox and a long-term residential drug rehab program is the only chance they have. Waiting too long has devastated many families, and lost many lives. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can always do something about it tomorrow.

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