Our Views

Drugs Kill. You’ve probably seen that on bumper stickers and T-shirts. And you’ve probably thought the same thing many other people think about guns – guns don’t kill people, people kill people. While it’s true that we have the option to take drugs or not – especially when we’re talking about street drugs – just as we have the option to pick up a gun, or not, the fact is that people prescribed drugs by their doctor are sometimes completely unaware that those drugs can kill them – or, more and more, that the drugs might motivate them to kill themselves. Which is just one more reason why you need to get people into drug detox so they can stop taking drugs that are unnecessary.

The latest drug to cause suicidal thoughts and tendencies is Zyprexa. Although it is supposed to be used to help those with the alleged mental conditions known as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, off-label prescriptions are not unusual. In fact, 15,000 elderly people in nursing homes die every year from Zyprexa and similar antipsychotic drugs. And they’re usually only being given the drug to calm them down so the nursing staff doesn’t have to bother with them.

But those deaths are in addition to those who commit suicide.

Increased risk of suicide has long been acknowledged as a side effect of SSRI antidepressants - Lexapro, Zoloft, Prozac and Paxil, for example - in people aged 18 – 24. But there seems to be no age limit on Xyprexa. And the lawsuits are starting to pile up.

One of these days, I hope we will have a sane, non-drug-dependent society. But, for now, help yourself and those you care about – get them into a medical drug detox program to get them off prescription drugs. Including Zyprexa.

Popularity: 38% [?]

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% [?]

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: 44% [?]

Cocaine and crack dealers in Florida have added something new to their menu: prescription painkillers. What brought about this turn of events? As with any market – dealers are responding to demand. But what created the demand? For many people with a prescription drug problem, it started when they received a painkiller from their doctor. And although more of them are getting help in drug detox and rehab, many more are still risking their lives.

Bradley Johnson is one of the many casualties. Bradley started taking OxyContin when he received a prescription from a doctor. In fact, that doctor, a podiatrist in Broward County, refilled the prescription for about a year.
 
All Bradley had to do was say his foot hurt, said his mother, Susan. He told her it was easy.

It didn’t stop at OxyContin addiction for Bradley. When he died – he fell asleep at a friend’s house and never woke up – it was from a combination of oxycodone and Xanax, an equally dangerous anti-anxiety medication.

I’m sure a number of things contributed to Bradley’s condition but the most obvious, and the most criminal, is the doctor who refilled OxyContin prescriptions for a year. Unbelievable. I’m surprised that Bradley’s mother is not suing the doctor.

The proposed Florida bill that will give doctors access to the prescription drug database will help some doctors – but it’s not going to do anything for a doctor who refills OxyContin for a year.

The patient’s records are right there – surely the doctor was aware of the fact that the kid had a drug problem. There’s no way someone could take OxyContin for a year and not be at least physically dependent, and the chances of him not being an addict by that point are also pretty slim.

Bradley’s mother is now out there campaigning, educating others on the dangers of prescription drugs. But it’s too late to save her son. Don’t wait until it’s too late to save yours, or yourself. Contact a Florida drug detox program, find out if you’re in trouble, and do something about it.

Popularity: 16% [?]

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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You may have heard Florida referred to as the prescription drug addiction and abuse capitol of the U.S., but now there are even more statistics to prove it: in the first six months of 2007, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines killed 470 people statewide, while the five most commonly prescribed painkillers and tranquilizers killed 1,324. With that number of mortalities, you can bet there are 100s of thousands of people hooked on these drugs who need drug detox and, possibly, drug rehab.

In fact, the statistics are probably worse than they look – these only include drug use identified during autopsies. Plenty of deaths occur that are never autopsied.
 
By the way, the prescription drugs that killed those 1,324 people were methadone, 392 people; benzodiazepines (including Valium and Xanax, 353 people; oxycodone, sold as OxyContin, 323 people; hydrocodone, often prescribed as Vicodin and Lortab, 134 people; and morphine, 122 people. Probably every one of them would be alive today if they’d done a drug detox and rehab.

“We’ve become a medicated society,” said Howard Lerner, clinical director of South Miami Hospital’s substance abuse treatment program. “Ten years ago, we never saw drugs marketed on TV. Now they’re selling them like McDonald’s hamburgers. The availability is a progression of the numbers. Many more people are attracted to it.”
 
Any many more people are dying, and many more people are in need of drug detox and rehab.

Lerner hit the nail on the head with the marketing end of things – Big Pharma’s spending billions on getting us to buy these drugs. And we’re playing right into their greedy little hands. I’d starve to death before I’d eat a piece of bread from one of those hands.
If you don’t want to end up in the morgue, or be called by the police to identify the body of a friend or family member, stop taking these drugs or stop your friends and family from taking them.
 
Contact a Florida drug detox center that can get you off the drugs safely and in relative comfort, and they can help you determine whether or not you need to follow it up with drug rehab.

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I read an article today about a woman who started drinking and experimenting with drugs when she was thirteen years old. She took drugs for years – marijuana, cocaine, crystal meth and a variety of pills – until she got married and had children. After the birth of her third child, she started again. She went to one drug detox after another, but she did them to keep social services from taking her kids away, not because she really wanted to get off drugs.

Then she was introduced to OxyContin and even her efforts to keep her kids came to a dead stop. She spent six years on OxyContin – nothing was more important to her than getting that drug. After all she’d been through all those years, nothing compared to the addictive powers of OxyContin. She eventually was sentenced to five years in prison.

Fortunately, within a few months she was given the opportunity, through drug court, to do another drug detox and drug rehab. This time, she was serious. She knew she’d hit rock bottom and really wanted to change. And she did. Today she’s been clean for over 1 ½ years.

OxyContin is not a drug you should mess around with. Purdue Pharma was fined $634.5 million for lying to the public about the addictive potential of OxyContin. This woman’s story is just one of many and, frankly, as bad as her story is, she’s one of the lucky ones. Thanks to her hard work and her determination to get off the drug, she finally made it. For others, their journey ended in the morgue.

If someone you know is taking OxyContin, get them into a good drug detox program fast. Don’t let them risk ruining their lives – they may not be so lucky.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Unfortunately, prescription drug addiction has become a major problem. Some drug detox and rehab centers have more people showing up at their door for help with prescription drugs than for heroin and the other illegal drugs. One of the worst prescription drugs is OxyContin: OxyContin, like heroin, is an opiate. It’s just as easy to develop an OxyContin addiction as an addiction to heroin, and it’s just as difficult to kick.

What can you expect while trying to withdraw from OxyContin? Although withdrawal is different for everyone, you can generally expect anxiety, increased respiratory rate, sweating, restlessness, anorexia and irritability as withdrawal begins. These symptoms can quickly escalate to include insomnia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, abdominal cramps, rapid heartbeat, abnormally high blood pressure, muscle spasms, and severe muscle and bone pain.

Does that sound like something you want to go through at home? I don’t think so.

Novus Medical Detox can help you take the first step towards ending OxyContin addiction with a safe and more comfortable medically supervised OxyContin detox. Here’s what one Novus client had to say after her OxyContin detox:

“While here I came to the realization that no one should attempt detoxification on their own. I had tried and failed to do so on my own. It was not until Novus that I finally succeeded. I never had the slightest problem here and would not recommend anyone trying to detox on their own. Novus was the best choice for my detoxification process and the staff made sure I was comfortable every step of the way.”

If you or someone you care about wants to overcome OxyContin addiction, contact Novus Medical Detox to find out how you can get through drug detox safely and with the minimum of discomfort.

Popularity: 13% [?]

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: 19% [?]

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% [?]