The Dangers of Prescription Pills

dangers-of-prescription-pills

Drug Prescription pills had always been a threat to all – even before the recent opioid epidemic. Yes, they are safe for people who have prescriptions for them and take them as prescribed. However, prescriptions can easily be abused and pills also can be purchased illegally. This is extremely dangerous and can even be life threatening. Today, Anchored Tides Recovery would like to spend some time highlighting the dangers of prescription pills. 

According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, NCDAS, 53 million Americans had a case of drug abuse in 2018. And of the lot, prescription pills accounted for a significant 30%. Now, you see that prescription pills misuse and abuse poses a lot of health risk to everyone. With that said, what are those risks?

Before we discuss the risks of misusing or abusing prescription pills, let’s talk about the “what” and “why.”

What Are Addictive Prescription Pills?

Ordinarily, prescription pills are not necessarily meant to be addictive. The common prescription drugs fall into three categories, namely:

  •  Opioids
  •  Depressants
  •  Stimulants

As the name suggests, these pills are prescribed to people with certain health conditions. And the three major health conditions include pains, anxiety disorders, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). 

Even to “the administered,” doctors only prescribe the drugs under strict conditions and often as a last resort because they are strong medications. 

Why Do People Misuse or Abuse Prescription Pills?

People abuse prescription pills for various reasons. Some do so for fun (to get high), and others may start to build a tolerance to their prescription, and need to take more to feel the same effects.

Others may abuse prescription pills in the bid to study better, lose weight, or keep fit. Whatever reason you have for misusing or abusing prescription medication, they all often face the same complications listed below:

Risks Associated With Prescription Pills Addiction

 

  • Loss of Memory

 

Memory loss is often associated with depressants. Depressants generally increase the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain. And that explains why it treats anxiety.

However, high levels of GABA lower brain activity. In the event of depressant abuse, your brain will then stimulate more GABA. That would eventually result in memory loss and a lack of concentration.

What’s worse is that if you suddenly stop taking depressants after a long period of use, you might experience life-threatening withdrawal seizures.

 

  • Respiratory Complications

 

Opioids are responsible for respiratory challenges in prescription pills’ abusers. They can indeed help manage pain under a doctor’s supervision.

Nevertheless, at the slightest overdose, you can experience life-endangering breathing difficulties. It is even worse when you combine opioids with alcohol.

In addition to breathing problems, opioids deteriorate sleep patterns. Over time, your immune system suffers from your misuse or overdose of opioids.

 

  • Paranoia

 

Prescription medications generally affect the internal workings of the brain. Put simply; they disrupt how the brain cells send and receive information.

In particular, they (opioids and stimulants) affect the brain’s reward sequences. As such, you get high and joyous when you take. But when you don’t use these pills, you start showing paranoia tendencies.

Stimulants especially can make you paranoid, and short doses make abusers go aggressive and withdraw.

 

  • Organ Damage and Failure

 

Prescription pills can cause heart-related problems such as collapsed veins and eventual heart failure. For starters, the medications are strong. And for that reason, the heart starts experiencing abnormal heartbeat rates.

Another organ often affected by prescription medications are the liver and kidney. These pills often make your liver and kidney go on overdrive. In other words, the two organs require more work to digest the substances in opioids, particularly.

How Anchored Tides Recovery Can Help

In the end, whatever complications or risks you face for abusing any prescription drug, there is hope. It’s never too late to get help, and you don’t have to live a life abusing prescription pills. We can help you at Anchored Tides Recovery.

Our range of treatment services for women includes partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and other outpatient programs. Most importantly, we have some of the best guides to help you navigate your addiction! Trust us, and get help today!

How Domestic Abuse Can Cause Substance Abuse For Women

addiction-and-depression

There are many issues in society that people simply aren’t comfortable discussing. Sadly, many of these issues tend to go hand in hand. This is exactly the case when it comes to domestic violence and substance abuse. These are almost always found together. When someone abuses drugs or alcohol, they tend to lose control of themselves. Substance abuse has the potential to destroy relationships with loved ones. When someone surrenders control of themselves to the cycle of addiction, they tend to lash out at loved ones. This can lead to domestic violence.

At the same time, the inverse is also true. When someone is the victim of domestic violence, this can drive someone to the bonds of addiction as well. For this reason, many women who end up in the world of substance abuse are also victims of domestic violence. It is critical for everyone to know how the two are related. That way, they can get help if they need it.

What is Domestic Violence?

Domestic violence is any pattern of behavior in a relationship that is exercised to gain or maintain power over someone else. Domestic violence is a major problem in society and many people feel that the exact figures are under-reported. Domestic violence can take many forms. While many people feel that domestic violence is limited to physical abuse, this is not the case. This type of behavior can also include verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and even sexual abuse.

Domestic violence, like addiction, has the potential to cause collateral damage as well. In households where there are children involved, they can end up getting caught in the middle. This can lead to severe trauma for children, tearing a family apart. Finally, women who are victims of domestic violence are far more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol down the road.

Addiction and Domestic Violence are Related

What many people don’t realize is that addiction and domestic violence are related. The actions of domestic violence come out of someone’s desire to control someone else. When someone is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they are going to lose control of their own inhibitions. When someone is under the influence, they are far more likely to engage in abusive behavior. Furthermore, research has shown that the vast majority of domestic violence crimes are related to the use of drugs.

Drugs have the ability to change how the neurotransmitters in the brain flow back and forth. The brain develops a need for these drugs and will do anything to force the person to find them. As a result, significant others who get in the way of this addiction will cause someone to lash out. This will lead to domestic violence. There are a few major characteristics that addiction and domestic violence share. Both activities can cause someone to lose control over the actions, engage in dangerous behaviors despite the negative consequences, will get worse over time, and can lead to both denial and shame. In many cases of domestic violence, both the abuser and the victim have a substance abuse disorder. This only complicates things further. If there are children involved, the situation only becomes even direr.

The Effects of Addiction and Domestic Violence

The effects of these two dangerous activities can lead to serious issues. When someone is the victim of domestic violence, they are far more likely to experience other mental health disorders. While substance abuse is a mental health disorder unto itself, there are numerous other complications that might result as well. Some of the problems that might arise following addiction and domestic violence include:

  • The development of other dependencies including designer drugs and alcohol
  • The development of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia
  • Depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder can also start to manifest
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is becoming more common

These are only a few of the many mental health issues that might result when someone is the victim of domestic violence. Addiction is bad enough; however, when it is coupled with domestic violence, the consequences can be particularly severe. That is why it is important for everyone to rely on trained professionals to help address addiction and substance abuse. Nobody should have to face these problems alone.

Rely on the Professionals at Anchored Tides Recovery

At Anchored Tides Recovery, we are drug abuse and addiction treatment program designed by women because we believe that women deserve to have a dedicated cadre of professionals who know and understand them. We know that drug abuse and domestic violence go hand in hand. That is why we tailor our addiction treatment plans to meet your individual needs. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you, please contact us today.

The Silence Of A Client’s Death

By, Heather Black-Coyne

I have worked in addiction treatment for 10 years now. My journey working in the treatment industry began early in sobriety and like many, I wanted to help others find recovery just as I had.  A topic much talked about but not really talked about is the death of our clients. The news coverage speaks to the number of opioid overdoses and the stark increase of deaths over the years. The opioid epidemic is well underway, and tens of thousands die each year because of opioid use. Today’s reality is that someone is now more likely to die of an opioid overdose than a motor vehicle accident. The unfortunate news is methamphetamine use and alcohol use also take thousands of lives, but their toll is overshadowed by the opioid crisis; that’s a topic for another day.

Despite the staggering statistics, in all of my classes, clinical team meetings, and new employee orientations, the fact that one of my clients might die was never discussed. Sure, we covered self-care, hear of and grieve the third-party news that a former client has passed. Sure, I have learned that certain standards, regulations, risk management and compliance measures need to be in place to safeguard organizational liability in case of sentinel events. I have participated in the silence, and I am sad to say that over time, my cognitive sensitivity to death by overdose has decreased.

 

Today, I’m very aware of the cumulative effect these losses have had on my soul. I am sad. I am confused. I am preoccupied with images of my late client. My thoughts vacillate between my recent client’s death and the loss of past clients. I see past clients sitting in my office talking about their dreams. I hear their longing to be a part of. I imagine them at my doorway, smiling, telling me about their latest achievements. I replay moments where I had this keen sense of them flirting with the afterlife and their weighted connection with death. My process then flips to my recent loss. I feel guilt when I hear others express they thought ‘this one would make it.’ The guilt is rooted in retrospect. I knew a barrier existed between her and true joy. I knew she was just existing, despite the smile she flashed the world. The guilt is rooted in knowing, at times, I operated from a place of defense, “I am here for you AND I am protecting myself.” A sense of protecting myself from the overwhelming feeling of grief, even before you passed away. Though at the time, I truly didn’t know that would be the outcome.

I am grounded and rooted in emotional health. I don’t beat myself up, I don’t ruminate on what I did or did not do. I do not assign myself unnecessary blame. I have and my guess is, others have too. My guess is, that especially for newer counselors, there is some unshakable sense of responsibility. I want to validate that normal human process for anyone who has experienced the death of clients. I want to validate the enormous pull to help save someone’s live and the disappointment of that endeavor not being realized. I want to validate the disparity between seeing someone thrive and then learning of their passing. I want to talk about the fact that if you work in addiction treatment, for any length of time, losing a client is not only a possibility but a probability. When this happens, the loss is staggering. The world silences while your heart sinks. Our thoughts attempt to reconcile the feelings that can’t be explained.

 

We do this work because we are called to help others, and the need is clear. We do this work, because we believe in the gift of life. We keep doing this work despite the heartache for these reasons. The number of individuals I have seen achieve successful recovery far outweighs the number of individuals I have seen die from this disease. Every story holds a special place in my heart. Every story teaches me something I didn’t know I needed to know. If you are like me, if this subject wasn’t talked about with you, know you are not alone. I am with you, we are with you, let’s talk about it.

 

Anchored Tides Supports Rock to Recovery Benefit

Rock to Recovery Event in LA August 24th at 7pm

Rock to Recovery 4 – the fourth annual benefit concert with music featuring John Feldman and Sacred Sons, with the latter consisting of musicians whose credits include Korn, Sevendust, She Wants Revenge and Madonna. System of the Down’s Shavo Odadjian will also be sitting in with Sacred Sons for the night.

Feldmann, Goldfinger’s frontman and producer for such acts as Blink-182 and Andy Black, will be saluted with the Rock to Recovery Service Award, while the night’s other major honor, the Rock to Recovery ICON Award, will go to actress-singer Katey Sagal. Both honors salute those who have used their power of influence to help put a spotlight on addiction and recovery while giving hope to others.

The fundraiser helps grow the reach of Rock to Recovery’s innovational music therapy program.  All proceeds go towards funding the non-profit’s services which help those suffering from addiction, mental health, wounded warriors, and at-risk youth, to find hope, support, and recovery.

Click here to purchase Rock To Recovery 4 tickets.