Dangers of Oxycontin Abuse
Oxycontin is the brand name for Oxycodone Hydrochloride. The primary difference between Oxycontin and Oxycodone is that Oxycontin is a time-released formula. An Opioid with a strong possibility of dependency. Once the drug enters the body, it works by stimulating Opioid receptors located throughout the central nervous system.
Oxycontin is used to treat mild to severe pain intended to work over a 12-hour period for relief from chronic pain. Yet, abuse of the drug is rising rapidly. People abuse Oxycontin by taking a higher dose than prescribed, crushing it down and snorting it, diluting and injecting it or smoking it. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, over one million people in this country over the age of 12 have tried it at least once in their life.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reported in 2006 that roughly 4 million Americans over the age of 12 had used OxyContin in specific for nonmedical reasons at least once.
The people who try Oxycontin will be lucky if they don’t become addicted. Just because Oxycontin is prescribed by a doctor, doesn’t mean it is safe to use. Oxycontin is just like Heroin, as both produce the same effects and have a high potential for addiction. Oxycontin can take everything from you in a blink of an eye, even your life.
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Street Names for Oxycontin
If you feel a loved one is abusing Oxycontin there are a multitude of things you will need to look out for. If you aren’t totally sure it is Oxycontin he or she is abusing, listen in on his or her phone calls or look though their phone when he or she isn’t looking. Dealers like to use street names to keep from having a run in with the law. Some street names for Oxycontin are: Cotton, Pills, OC’s, Orange County, Oxy’s, Killers and Beans.
A dealer may also refer to Oxycontin by the milligram by calling them 20s, 40s or 80s depending on the strength. These are some common street names for Oxycontin, however, new names can be made up at any time or people may just refer to it as Oxycontin.
Oxycontin Effects
The symptoms of addiction tend to vary depending on the user and on how much he or she takes and how long they have been taking it. Using Oxycontin in the short-term can vary from mild to severe, depending on the amount abused.
Some of the symptoms of short-term abuse are: irregular heart rate, chest pain, hoarseness, seizures, extreme drowsiness, and lightheadedness. It’s important that the individual who is abusing Oxycontin take care of it sooner than later, because the long-term effects can prove devastating.
Some of the long-term effects of Oxycontin abuse are severe constipation, persistent vomiting as it wreaks havoc on the gastrointestinal tract. It also has the potential to decrease the cardiac and respiratory rate, which can slow the heart and lungs.
Warning Signs of Oxycontin Abuse in a Loved One
An Oxycontin addiction can be accidental, when someone gets a prescription for it, or non-accidentally, when someone purposefully abuses it. Either way, the physical dependency is comparable to that of Heroin addiction. Because of the risk of addiction, legitimate users of the drug should be closely monitored. It will take just a few weeks for dependency and addiction to develop. If you feel your loved one has developed and addiction to Oxycontin, here are some signs to look out for:
If you feel your loved one has developed an addiction to Oxycontin but not totally sure, be observant of his or her arms and the stuffiness of his or her nose. To produce a greater high, your loved one could have started injecting or snorting Oxycontin which will cause bruising and stuffy nose.
Another sing of Oxycontin abuse is stealing money and valuables around the house. Oxycontin is expensive, anywhere from 20 to 100 dollars a pill. If your loved one is addicted, he or she will need more than one pill a day to keep him or her going leaving him or her with no option but to steal.
One of the most common things to happen to people abusing Oxycontin is loss of interest in their goals and daily activities. The only thing that truly matters to a Oxycontin abuser is when and how they will get their Oxycontin fix.
Factual Dangers: Oxycontin
Oxycontin is a pain killer that people go crazy over. The abuse rates on Oxycontin are crazy high, with no sign of slowing down. If you are worried a loved one is abusing Oxycontin, you will want to watch out for common signs and symptoms of an Oxycontin abuser. The signs and symptoms range person to person and Oxycontin will affect each abuser differently. However, there are some signs all Oxycontin abusers will eventually show, such as:
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True Stories of Addiction: Justin’s Story to Recovery
Justin’s life took a turn for the worst when he tried Oxycontin. Listen to his story to figure out how he recovered. – View all episodes now
Oxycontin Rehab Treatment
If you or a loved one have become addicted to Oxycontin and want to stop but don’t know how, rehab treatment will be the best course of action you or your loved one can make. Most rehab facilities will begin with a period of detox for those who abuse Oxycontin or other Opiate based drugs. When you are in pain, it will make it difficult to focus on staying in treatment because you know some Oxycontin will take the pain away.
So, you will be evaluated by a doctor and given medication to help ween you off Oxycontin. Once your detox is complete, you will be clear headed and able to retain information from the therapeutic side of rehab. You will work on who you want to be as a person in a rehab facility with the help of a multitude of professionals. It is common for Oxycontin abusers to lose all respect and love for themselves in active addiction. Therefore, rehab treatment will help you to rebuild your self-love and self-respect.
When you love yourself, it would be hard to take a substance such as Oxycontin because you know it will eventually lead you down an undesirable path. Rehab treatment is important for anyone trying to recover from a drug or alcohol addiction. You need to be taught how to deal with life on lives terms without the use of drugs or alcohol. You deserve better than what you are living, make the decision and change your life. – Learn More
A Monitoring the Future survey in 2011 found that nearly 22 percent of high school seniors at the time had abused prescription drugs at least once.
Oxycontin Detox Treatment
The length of time it will take to detox off Oxycontin is dependent on multiple factors. The length of your detox may be affected by how long you have been using Oxycontin and how much you used daily. When it comes to detoxing off Oxycontin or any other Opiate based substance, there are a few routes you can take. The most efficient is to go into a medically supervised detox facility where you can receive medication to manage the withdrawal symptoms.
Oxycontin withdrawal symptoms are painful and include muscle aches, stomach cramps, nausea, anxiety, insomnia, restless legs and headaches. In a medically supervised detox a doctor will give you medication to slowly ween you off Oxycontin so the withdrawal is not as severe. Some medications that are used to manage withdrawal from Opiate based substances are: Subutex, Suboxone and Methadone. These drugs work as an Opiate receptor inhibitor, binding to the receptors that give that high feeling.
The drugs that are used to detox off Oxycontin are just as addictive and have similar withdrawal symptoms, so the detoxification process is best done in a controlled setting and immediately followed by rehabilitation treatment. If you decide to buy the detox medication on the street and try it on your own without treatment, chances are you will get addicted to the detox drug or go back to using Oxycontin. – Learn More
Addiction to Oxycontin
It is easy to become addicted to Oxycontin, and the dangers of an Oxycontin addiction are just as high as a Heroin addiction. There is a chance a doctor wrote you a prescription for Oxycontin to relieve some physical pain, but you notice that it might ease some emotional pain as well. This has caused you to start taking more than prescribed or you have turned to snorting or injecting it to achieve a greater high.
There is also a chance you got Oxycontin from a friend and just wanted to be taken out of reality for a bit. The next thing you know, you have been taking yourself out of reality for weeks and don’t plan on stopping any time soon. You may start stealing items to sell and have money to get the drug, start to display a loss of interest in things that were once very important to you or you put life on the backburner, including family and friends, so you can find out when and where to get high because Oxycontin is now the most important thing in your life.
An addiction to Oxycontin won’t stop there: if you don’t get the treatment you need and deserve, your life could be taken from in a flash. You can lose your job, fail in school, get kicked out and lose your home and become homeless, begging for money for more Oxycontin. If you don’t get help, you have three options: treatment, prison and death. Choose the right option and get help today. – Learn More
Oxycontin Dependency
Even when prescribed by a doctor, the chances of you building a dependency is very high. This is because your brains chemistry will become accustomed to the physical and mental effects of Oxycontin that it cannot function without having it in your system. Once you have built a dependence, you will physically need to use Oxycontin to function normally, and to keep your body from going through withdrawal.
Some withdrawal symptoms are nausea, body aches and pains, restless leg, agitation, anxiety, stomach cramps, and insomnia. Because these symptoms are unpleasant, you will begin to take more Oxycontin without even realizing what you are doing can be very dangerous. It is harder to fight an addiction than a dependence. With an addiction, you will need to rewire your brain with intensive treatment, detox and therapy to fully recover. With a dependency, you may only need detox paired with a less intensive outpatient program; depending on the person, treatment for dependency can, and usually is different.
Oxycontin might make you feel amazing, convincing you that it is the only thing that can make you feel this way. You will end up doing anything to feed your addiction if you don’t stop. A dependency of Oxycontin is not something that will go away on its own; it needs to be wanted by the individual suffering from the dependency on worked on every day. – Learn More
Seeking help for a loved one.
- Who Do I Include in a Oxycontin Intervention?
It is best to include an intervention specialist and those closest the Oxycontin addicted individual. It is best to leave out anyone who may not be able to control their anger. - What Do I Say in A Oxycontin Intervention?
You will speak directly to your loved one, only speaking in love and concern while leaving out judgment or anger. Let him or her know the negative impact their Oxycontin addiction causes you.
Intervention for Oxycontin Addiction
Breaking an addiction to Oxycontin can be tough, but it is possible. If you suspect that someone is addicted to Oxycontin, the most important thing you can do is to stage an intervention. Interventions are a vital part of the recovery process, as an addicted individual cannot engage in treatment with much success if he or she is not willing to either enter treatment, or even recognize that he or she has an addiction to Oxycontin or other addictive medications.
The battle against drug addiction can be overwhelming for those who are not properly prepared for it. When you or someone you care about is deeply dependent on any drug, emotions often come into play, which can easily cause someone to lose focus. Addiction recovery is not an isolated issue, as there are numerous elements of one’s life that are in play regarding Oxycontin abuse and addiction. When you want to help someone who is addicted to Oxycontin, there are several things that you must be aware of so that you can get them exactly what is needed to succeed. It may be best for you to contact a professional interventionist so that you can have help in having a successful intervention for your loved one.
You will gather loved ones of the Oxycontin abuser in hopes they can also help push him or her into the treatment that he or she truly deserves. The main goal of an intervention is to get your addicted loved one the help he or she needs, so be sure to have a rehab center set up for them to go to once the intervention is complete. – Learn More
Recovery from Oxycontin Abuse
Oxycontin is a dangerous drug to become addicted to. Just because it is legal, doesn’t mean it is safe to use. You may have justified your abuse for a very long time before you realized you had a problem because it is a legal substance. Knowing that you want to fix the problem is important in recovering from Oxycontin Abuse.
Your first step to recovery would be finding a treatment center. This treatment center should include a medically supervised detox and intensive inpatient therapies with a therapist that will also help you with a solid aftercare plan. You will want to begin your recovery with a medically assisted detox because withdrawing from Oxycontin is painful and it would be hard to focus on recovery if you were to be in that much pain. Once detoxed, you will go through therapy to teach you more about your disease and show you that you are not alone. In treatment, you will learn how to fight the temptation of the real world and learn how to say no to Oxycontin. You will stay in treatment until the program is done which can last anywhere from 30 days to a few months.
However, once you have completed treatment, your recovery does not just stop there. You will have a strong aftercare plan that will help you recover long-term. A smart place to go when you are finished with treatment would be to a 12-step program. You will find strong recovery there with people who have been sober for years and years. This will show you that you are not alone in this battle and recovery is possible.
- How Do I Recover from Oxycontin Addiction?
The first step in recovery from your Oxycontin addiction is admitting you have a problem. Once you have done that, reach out for help and seek detoxification and treatment center. - Will I Ever Relapse on Oxycontin?
Oxycontin relapse is always possible. As long as you learn from it and move on in a positive direction you should be fine and able to have a strong and lasting recovery in the future.
Dangers of Oxycontin Overdose
It is very common for an Oxycontin abuser to suffer an overdose. The chances of an overdose occurring are high and no one is protected from one happening. One of the most common ways an overdose happens is when someone comes out of a long stay in a recovery treatment center.
The body purges itself of all the harmful toxins and mind-altering substances that were in the body including Oxycontin, which causes tolerance levels to drop. Because most people aren’t aware of their tolerance dropping, they will use the dosage they used before they got into treatment and suffer an overdose. Another very common way to overdose on OxyContin is if you crush the pills, mix them with water and use it intravenously. When you are shooting something straight into your veins, your chances of overdose are very high because the Oxycontin goes right into the blood stream. Some signs of an Oxycontin overdose are confusion, delirium, nausea or vomiting, extreme sleepiness, slowed or irregular breathing or cold and clammy skin. If these signs of an overdose aren’t taken care of and emergency services are not contacted, an overdose can lead to loss of consciousness, coma and even death.
In 2010, more than 180,000 visits to emergency rooms in the U.S. were attributed specifically to oxycodone use or misuse, according to SAMHSA.
It is important to seek medical attention if you or a friend are suffering from overdose symptoms. It is better to be safe than sorry and the emergency services will be more concerned with saving your life than getting you in trouble with the law. The only way to prevent an overdose is to seek treatment for your Oxycontin addiction. – Learn More
The Reality of Oxycontin Addiction
Oxycontin is a brand name for the powerful and highly addictive pain killer, Oxycodone. A doctor would prescribe Oxycontin to relieve and manage pain from something like a car accident or a surgery on something like your back. If you take Oxycontin as prescribed for the pain it is supposed to be helping, it is very effective at reliving the pain you are feeling. There are, however, people who are incapable of following the doctors’ orders once they have felt the effects Oxycontin produces. For people like this, maybe even you, Oxycontin helps relieve the mental pain more so than the physical. You can see how dangerous abusing a drug can be but since a doctor prescribed it and it is legal, you feel there should be no problem at all.
This, however, is how you can become addicted to Oxycontin. Oxycontin is just as addictive and dangerous as the street drug Heroin. The only difference is that Oxycontin is legal and Heroin is not. The two drugs produce identical effects and have the same withdrawal symptoms. This is because Oxycontin and Heroin are both Opiate drugs. When you realize the drugs are the same, it may help you come out of denial that your Oxycontin abuse isn’t “that bad.” You could realize how dangerous the drug is and not even care; it takes you out of reality, what you have been searching for your whole life, and that’s all that really matters. The signs, symptoms and dangers of abusing Oxycontin don’t scare you as much as they should.
Because you are taking Oxycontin to suppress negative and traumatic events in your life, you usually spend your days trying to find how and where to get high. Getting high is easier when you have a prescription from a doctor, however, it doesn’t last as long as it should. After a few weeks of abusing Oxycontin, as your addiction progresses, you may feel lethargic, suffer from extreme drowsiness, have pinpoint pupils and a dry mouth, start to lose an unhealthy amount of weight for no reason, always be itchy, slur your words and have a stomach ache you can’t seem to beat. These are the physical effects your body is going to go through as it becomes more dependent on Oxycontin to function normally.
There are, however, behavioral symptoms you will go through such as depression, isolation, lack of interest in activities, issues with accepting yourself as who you are, negative self-image, neglecting work and/or school and problems with your memory and concentration. These are just a few things that will happen at the start of your addiction, and will progressively get worse if you don’t get the help you need for your addiction.
You are not only going to become addicted mentally, but your body is going to need Oxycontin to feel normal. Without it, if you run out of your supply, you will begin to go through Oxycontin withdrawals. The withdrawals for Oxycontin include but are not limited to insomnia, anxiety, restless legs, muscle aches, fever, chills, unpleasant mood, nausea/vomiting and excessive sweating. Because these symptoms are so unpleasant, your addiction will take control of your mind and will have you do anything to get your hands on Oxycontin.
Oxycontin can go from 20 to 100 dollars a pill on the streets depending on the milligram and competition with other dealers. You will run out of money quickly if you don’t have a job so you will result in doing other things to get what you need. This is where your addiction will take you if you don’t get help. You may begin to go to multiple doctors for prescriptions, forge prescriptions or steal from and/or rob people to sell their goods to get what you need to get high. When acting out in such behavior, the law seems to get involved quickly.
If you are caught with Oxycontin pills on you without a prescription, selling stolen merchandise, forging prescriptions, or robbing someone, chances are you will go to jail or prison depending on how severe the charges were. In jail, the medical staff will not give you medication to help your withdrawal from Oxycontin, you will be cold and in pain surrounded by other people with no privacy. You will have to face a judge while withdrawing and may ruin your record and all your future opportunities. To prevent this from happening, you will need to seek treatment. If you seek treatment on your own, you can have a comfortable detox, privacy and really learn how to live without Oxycontin in your life. It is going to be hard to make the decision to change your life, but you won’t regret it when you feel the freedom of recovery.
- What Will I Work on in Individual Oxycontin Therapy?
You will work on yourself. Individual Oxycontin therapy focuses on bettering your life in ways you never thought were affecting you. - What is Individual Oxycontin Therapy?
Individual therapy is where you would meet one-on-one with a therapist in a confidential setting to talk about your Oxycontin addiction.
Family Oxycontin Therapy
If your Oxycontin addicted loved on has taken the extra step to get treatment, you should feel so grateful. There are many people suffering with an addiction who don’t make it out. So, if your loved one is working on themselves you should be very proud and support him or her however you possibly can. If the treatment center your loved one is at offers family therapy, you should gather other family members and attend whenever possible.
Family therapy will not only help your loved one but it can heal the family as a whole. Oxycontin addiction is very powerful and can cause a lot of emotional damage on everyone in the addicted individuals life. He or she could have stolen from you, lied to you or said terrible things to you. In therapy, the family will be able to work with the loved one by addressing these issues with a therapist present. Having a therapist present will make the conversation go in a positive way and resolve the issue before it gets worse.
Working through family problems while the Oxycontin addicted loved one is in treatment will reduce the chances of relapse when he or she leaves treatment because the conversation will be done and over with. Also, in family therapy, the family will learn more about the disease of addiction so they can better understand the addicted loved one. This will help everyone get along when he or she gets out of treatment. Overall, family therapy helps heal the family from all the bridges that were burnt when their love one was in active addiction.
Individualized Oxycontin Therapy
There are a multitude of people who started abusing Oxycontin and other drugs as a way to escape from their past. It is common for people who become addicted to Oxycontin to have had traumatic events occur during childhood or before the individual started using. If something did happen that was traumatic and it is not dealt with, people will start to bottle those emotions and become numb to the situation. This is not an effective way to cope because when those emotions begin to pop up years later, these poor people will start to seek escape in unhealthy ways.
One of the most common ways for people to escape reality is to use drugs, including Oxycontin and alcohol. When someone gets to this point, an addiction will escalate in a scary way. Until they decide to get treatment, those emotions will never go away on their own. Therefore, in treatment, people who have had this experience will seriously benefit from individualized therapy. In individualized therapy, Oxycontin addicted individuals will work with a therapist one-on-one. The therapist will then ask many questions and get to the bottom of your issue so you can work through it and not go back to Oxycontin as a means of escape.
Individualized therapy will also help you learn how to control new emotions as they arise in daily life. This is crucial, as you will learn how to cope with the intense emotions that life throws. Overall, individualized therapy will help you recover so you never have to go back to the life you were living.
- Will Group Therapy Help My Oxycontin Addiction?
Yes. Group therapy will show you that you are not fighting your Oxycontin addiction alone. - What Do I Do in Oxycontin Group Therapy?
In group therapy, you will talk about your Oxycontin addiction and relate with others’ battle with their addiction.
True Stories of Addiction: Breana’s Struggles to Overcome Drug Addiction
Breana’s life went downhill when she watched her mother pass away at 13 years old. She began experimenting with drugs, and it ended up taking everything from her. She was homeless, afraid and alone wondering what her life has become. She ended up getting pregnant and got on a Oxycontin program that didn’t help her recover, but rather, it made things worse. Her child was taken by CPS and she was heartbroken. It took some time, but Breana fought the battle of addiction and won. She is now living a clean and sober life with her daughter right by her side. If Breana can recover, you can too.
Seeking help for a loved one.
- Why Should I go to Inpatient Treatment for My Oxycontin Addiction?
You should go to inpatient treatment to save your life from Oxycontin addiction. You will learn a new, healthier way of life while in inpatient rehabilitation. - Why Should I Attend Inpatient Rehab?
You should attend inpatient rehab for your Oxycontin addiction so you can learn how to live your life in a positive way without the use of drugs.
Inpatient Oxycontin Rehab
Once you have decided you are done letting Oxycontin control your life, you will need to get the proper treatment to learn how to live without drugs and alcohol as a way to cope with life. There are many treatments you can chose from but the most successful way to recover would be admitting yourself into an inpatient rehab facility. An inpatient rehab facility is where you will stay from 30 days to a few months while getting the treatment you need to recover. Removing yourself from the environment you used in has been proven to be beneficial in recovery.
An inpatient treatment center should always start you out with a medically supervised detox before you get into therapy. The pains of Oxycontin withdrawal could make you less likely to retain valuable information in rehab therapy. So, going through a medically supervised detox for a few days is highly advised. Once detoxed, you will attend therapies such as individual, group and family therapy.
In inpatient, you will not have to deal with the daily triggers of life until you are ready to leave treatment, but by then you will already have learned how to deal with triggers so your chances of recovery will stay high. Each of which will work on important aspects of your life that may have triggered you to use. Also, in inpatient therapy, depending on the treatment center, you will have daily activities such as yoga to help heal you spiritually. Inpatient is the best option to take when looking to recover from your Oxycontin addiction. – Learn More
Outpatient Oxycontin Rehab
Outpatient rehab is where you would travel to a facility a few times a week to attend group and individual therapy. You will not stay in a facility like you would if you were to do in an inpatient facility. You would still live at home and be able to work, attend school or watch the kids if you need too. Outpatient does not offer detox. Unfortunately, this can tamper with your recovery.
Oxycontin withdrawal is very painful and without detox it will be hard to stay sober during the withdrawal process. So, if you are choosing to go to Outpatient rehab, it would be best to go to a hospital and look for resources to find a detox facility near you. Most detox facilities require you to stay in a hospital setting for about a week, so plan some arrangements to make this possible. When traveling to an outpatient rehab, you may run into a trigger and have not yet been taught how to deal with it. This decreases your chance of recovery. However, if you pair outpatient with something like a 12-step program your chances of recovery will increase.
Working both an outpatient and 12-step program, you will have less free time and learn more about your addiction quicker than you would with just outpatient. There are 12-step meetings at all time of the day so it should not interfere with your work, family or outpatient program. Working the two together can help you close to as well inpatient rehab can. Outpatient alone has also been effective but takes a lot of will power and energy to make recovery happen. – Learn More
- Will Outpatient Help my Oxycontin Addiction?
Just like inpatient, if you are willing to do what it takes to recover, outpatient rehab will help you learn how to live your life without Oxycontin. - When Should I go to Outpatient Rehab?
Following up your inpatient treatment with outpatient rehab can help provide you with a better chance at Oxycontin recovery.
