Taken from the opium alkaloid, oxycontin is a white, odorless, crystalline powder. It is the brand name for a powerful painkiller called oxycodone hydrochloride. This drug is used as a mild to severe pain reliever for patients with chronic pain. Cancer patients are usually prescribed with this drug and it has been acknowledged for its long lasting pain relieving quality.
Oxycontin does not just lessens pain but it also gives the body a relaxing and euphoric feeling. The drug has a time-release structure that will last for 12 hours. When taken properly, which is through swallowing it whole, it is safe and not destructive. Once abused, addiction would always follow. Abusing it is through chewing, crushing, or dissolving the pill into liquid form, and then injecting the solution. Through this, the drug is released all at once and the user experiences a rush similar to heroin, thus experiencing euphoria and the like. Oxycontin addiction shows through chronic use and increasing tolerance so that more of the drug is needed to feel the same effects day by day. This will start making a person’s life to go on complications.
Once oxycontin addiction kicks in, an individual needs to increase the dosage to avoid experiencing pain. Side effects of the addiction include insomnia, muscle and bone pain, sweats, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach cramping, and muscle twitching. Severe side effects could be highly dangerous.
Oxycontin is a prescription drug and is use to lessen pain. However, when it is abused and used for the purposes it also elicits dangerous effects maybe not sooner, but later on as the euphoric effect subsides. That is why it is called addiction because the once the person takes in the drug and gets the high feeling, he/she is, in a way, reinforced to take in more of the drug so as to get the same feeling again. One former oxycontin addict testified that within a few minutes of taking in the tablet, he felt like superman, he could work all day, go home, and play with his kids. He felt he could do everything he wanted. Common sense would tell us that the quick effects of the drug are very inviting. As time would pass, nonstop intake of the drug would lead to dependence. Thus, you couldn’t get away with the drug. That’s when the problem starts.
Dependents on oxycontin admits that they have become dependent on the drugbut it’s the physical will to discontinue using the drug that is too difficult to deal with. Why so difficult? One, they have become very dependent on the drug and two, discontinuing usage would mean painful side effects. Every thing always has it’s negative sides. Once the usage of the substance is ended by an addict, he/she is more likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal syndrome is characterized by dysphoria, the opposite of euphoria, which entails sadness, depression, anxiety, and craving. Nothing really lasts forever.
A medical professional is always needed to cure oxycontin dependency. There are many ways to treat oxycontin addiction. This includes medication and behavioral and counseling approaches. The substance methadone is helpful in eliminating drug craving and symptoms of withdrawal. Rapid detox is also one option to treat opioid addiction. Furthermore, medication is accompanied with counseling and behavioral therapy because addiction is not only biological but psychological.
Oxycontin is a drug prescribed by doctors to eliminate mild to severe pain and it is used among cancer patients who experience extreme pain. Nevertheless, when addiction sets in, one should be prepared to go rehab for a treatment.