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Prescription medication abuse amongst adolescents is on the rise. 20 percent of 12- to 17-year-old teenagers in the U.S. have reported giving their prescription drugs like Oxycontin and Adderall to friends or obtained drugs the same way, Reuters reported Aug. 18.
Allergy drugs, narcotic pain relievers, antibiotics, acne medications, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety medications were the most commonly shared. Three-quarters of those who borrowed drugs from friends said they did so instead of visiting a doctor.
About one-third of those who borrowed medications said they had experienced an adverse reaction as a result.
Past research has shown that 40 percent of adults also share their medications. "However, prior to our study, no one had asked adolescents how often they shared prescription medications, which meds they shared and what some of the outcomes were," said lead researcher Richard Goldsworthy of Academic Edge, Inc.
When I went to teen drug treatment , most of my friends thought I either went to hell or went on vacation. I think they either imagined me digging trenches and staring at walls or having a blast riding horses and getting massages at the beach. It wasn’t like either of those things. I did learn how to manage my time though, which has turned out to be an unexpected benefit of going to treatment. I watch a lot of my peers struggling to get everything done, and a lot of them resort to drinking and taking pills like adderall or vyvanse to get through finals week or to finish a bajillion college applications. Some of the things I learned in treatment I learned without realizing. For instance, I learned how to recognize priorities and to set and stick with a game plan. I know that nothing is worth using over, and in order to keep myself from losing my mind, it’s imperative that I create a manageable workload and schedule. I can recognize my boundaries today. I know how much work I am capable of, and what I am able to do without going off the deep end. I also know how to put my head down and work. I know that uncomfortable feelings pass and that sometimes life is just challenging. I thought that teen drug rehab in Malibu was just going to help me get off drugs (which it did) but it also helped me learn valuable life skills that I use daily.
It is reported that calls to poison-control centers in Orange County regarding teens misusing ADHD medication rose 76% . Around 42% of the adolescents suffered from moderate to severe side effects, and of the calls, four teens died as a result of misusing ADHD medications. Opiates are not the only medications teens are abusing. Adderall, Concerta, and Ritalin are all ADHD medications that act as stimulants. Many teens abuse these medications in order to achieve a “speedy” effect. The pills may make teens feel like they are more focused or confident.
I began abusing ADHD medication when I began to feel too much pressure in school. I thought that the pills would make me study better or help me stay up and finish reports. When I was on the pills, I felt like I was brilliant and everything made sense. Unfortunately, that feeling didn’t translate into my school work, and I certainly didn’t retain information the next day. I often felt tired and irritable following a pill binge. I began snorting them to get the effect faster. As I began to need more and more stimulants, I turned to cocaine and speed because they were stronger and cheaper. After awhile, my original intent of using the drugs to achieve more in school fell aside and my newest priority was to just get high. I went from an A student to ditching class to get high with my friends. My whole life revolved around using.
When my parents found out, we tried several different outpatient counselors but I just kept using. When they were at their wits’ end, and I was confident I would never stop using, they contacted Visions Adolescent Drug Treatment Center.
It seemed really harsh to me to have to get sent away to drug treatment, but it was exactly what I needed. I learned to deal with my feelings and learned how to manage my time effectively. I realized that I’m a really competent person and I don’t need stimulants to feel like I’m worth something. Learn how to stay clean, one day at a time, that’s just what I’m doing.
Officials investigating the death of Michael Jackson will be looking into his prescription drug abuse as a possible cause of death as an accidental drug overdose . The pop icon admitted to prescription drug addiction in the 90’s and it is likely that his battles continued. Some rumors speculate that Jackson was injected with the heavy narcotic Demerol prior to suffering from cardiac arrest. Autopsy findings will be released in the near future.
Prescription drug abuse is growing rapidly in this country, with prescription drug use eclipsing marijuana use among teens. Teens are increasingly abusing stimulants like Adderall, sedatives like Xanax and Valium, and opiates like Oxycontin, that they acquire from parents’ drug cabinets, friends, and online purchasing. Most parents do not suspect that their teen is abusing prescription medication, however, over the past decade-and-a-half, teen prescription drug abuse has increased five-fold.
It makes sense. When I was using, pills seemed like a harmless thing. I ate Xanax (we called them “zanies”) and Oxycontin (“oxy”) like candy. Pills have less of a stigma attached. While my friends and I would have considered heroin or cocaine a horrible and dangerous drug to try, pills seemed easy and normal- something the girls from Sex and the City might to do relax. I had no idea I was gambling with my life the same way a junkie on the streets gambles with theirs.
Adolescent Drug Treatment helped me see teen addiction as the problem- not the particular substance I abused. I know that the prevailing attitude among teens is that pills are harmless and not nearly as dangerous as street drugs. I hope that with the insane amount of press coverage surrounding Michael Jackson’s death, more attention will be given to the seriousness of prescription drug abuse in our country. I’d rather have a better name for my generation than “Generation Rx”. We can be more than pill-popping zombies I hope. I know I can. If your teen is struggling with prescription drug abuse, help is right here.
If your teen is struggling with teen prescription drug abuse, help is right here.
Teens with drug problems come from all walks of life; they aren't just the teenage runaways depicted in Lifetime movies as I'd originally thought. Teens develop drug problems for a number of reasons- my daughter's competitive nature seemed to be what initially led her down the path of drug and alcohol abuse. I was the last person to suspect that my daughter was a drug user. On the outside, she was a perfect student. She excelled in school, taking all honors classes, and was the star of the track and volleyball teams. I often wondered how she could get it all done. She never got into trouble and seemed pretty happy at school. I knew my daughter was extremely hard on herself. Her weight began to drop and she seemed increasingly edgy and irritated. I chalked it all up to the stresses of high school and teen angst and tried to talk to her more. Her withdrawing from the family seemed like something teens do- I didn't want to smother her. I tried to be more lenient with her. She was such a good student I never suspected she was up to anything dangerous.
One night I heard a crash in her room. I found her sitting on the floor sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she just cried and cried. It was a heartbreaking thing, to not be able to fix what was hurting her. I don't know what possessed her to tell me, but finally she just blurted out that she had a problem with pills and couldn't stop. I was floored. It was hard not to get angry with her, because I felt so scared, but at the same time, I didn't want to discourage her from talking to me. I guess she'd put so much pressure on herself to be the best at everything she eventually became a candidate for teen drug treatment turned to stimulants like Adderral to help her preform and downers like Xanax to take the stress away. As she opened up to me that night, I was horrified to learn what she was putting herself through. I promised we would get help, but I had no idea what to do for her. Sitting there on the floor, holding my sobbing daughter, I felt as terrified as she did.
I had heard of Visions through a coworker, but had never thought much of it, since I didn't think I'd ever need that information. They were amazingly helpful and understanding. It was hard leaving her there, but the weekly family sessions helped me work on myself so that I could help my daughter. She just blossomed there. Instead of being the rigid girl I knew who was so incredibly tough on herself, I began to see a girl who took care of herself and could respect her own limitations. As my daughter worked on herself, I learned ways to help support my daughter's new sobriety. She isn't a bad kid because she did drugs. She's a fantastic kid. She always has been. Visions Adolescent Drug Treatment Center just helped her realize that.
Us Magazine attributed Lindsay Lohan’s recent weight loss to her abuse of the prescription drug Adderall, a stimulant usually prescribed to combat ADHD. Abuse of the drug is rampant among youth and college students, who often use the medication to lose weight or to stay up in order to study for exams. Adderall and other stimulants such as Concerta and Ritalin, are chemically very similar to methamphetamine, and when abused, pose similar health risks. Because the drug allows people to focus for longer periods of time, it deceives the user into believing that they will do better in school, but as with most drugs, the cons outweigh any pros. Long term abuse can lower the levels of dopamine in the brain, creating a need for larger amounts of the stimulant in order to achieve a “high.” Withdrawal can cause the user to feel dysphoria and depression. Abuse can lead to hallucinations, psychotic episodes, extreme paranoia, irregular heartbeat and even death. Giving the pills away or buying and selling them without a prescription is a felony. If anyone in the household is prescribed a stimulant, pills should be kept in a secure area and counted regularly.
Adderall abuse in teenagers and college students is common, as most students know someone with a prescription and can easily get the pills.
How to tell if your teen is addicted to or abusing Adderall? If your teen is prescribed Adderall, you should count their pills regularly and dispense the pills yourself. Regular contact with your child’s doctor is important. One of the most noticeable physical signs of stimulant abuse is dilated pupils. Whenever I abused Adderall, my pupils got gigantic. There was no hiding it. Kids on Adderall may be noticeably excited, overly talkative, or irritable. Stimulants often cause the user to feel very thirsty, and create a loss of appetite and eventual weight loss. Users often refer to “tweaking out” on something, which is when the user hyperfocuses on a task, such as obsessive cleaning, drawing, studying, or playing video games. Finally, Adderall and other stimulants cause sleep loss. Abusing stimulants can keep the user awake all night or, on a binge, multiple nights. Users coming down from the drug may “crash,” sleeping heavily all day following the binge. Withdrawal from the drug often makes the user feel extremely irritable, hostile, or depressed. Prescription stimulant addiction is very serious as addicts will often move on to abusing methamphetamine (meth, tweak, speed, or shit are some common street names) because it is a much stronger version of Adderall. Prescription Adderall abuse is taken very seriously and should be addressed by professionals. Adolescent drug treatment is a very helpful option in dealing with teen prescription drug addiction.
Fast forward to a year ago. I am twenty-one with four years sober and now I work at that treatment center that changed my life. I am a chemical dependency counselor and I specialize in adolescent addicts. I am the youngest person to ever hold this position within my company and I aspire to become a psychiatrist one day. Yet even with all of this going for me I have the nagging belief that I am not good enough, school is too hard for me and I am nothing without Adderall. Through a lot of prayer and support from family and friends I enrolled in my first classes at Pierce, the first step on the long road to my MD. Talking to a friend at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting one day, I casually mentioned that I was struggling with school and I noticed that I was self-medicating with excessive amounts of coffee. “Caffeine is a stimulant ADD adults frequently use for self-medication (Kelly and Ramundo).” My friend, who has 22 years sober, shared her experience with ADHD with me. She told me that when she had 11 years sober she felt like she was dying inside and didn’t know what was wrong with her. She gave me some books on the topic and recommended a psychiatrist that specialized in addiction.
I like to call this part of my life “my recovery with ADHD”. I am now taking a non-stimulant medication that assists with some symptoms but I have also made it a point to learn more about my disorder. “It’s difficult to grow up with the hidden handicap of ADD. Many of us feel that we’ve spent our lives disappointing everyone-parents, siblings, teachers, friends and ourselves (Kelly and Ramundo).” The same feeling of relief and identification comes over me when I read about ADHD as when I read the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. The more I learn the better I feel and the more coping tools I am trained to use. I have learned that medication is just one piece of my recovery; it is not the sole solution. “Finding a drug to manage some of your symptoms can be extremely helpful in your recovery. But you should regard it only as a starting place in your journey, not as the final destination (Kelly and Ramundo).” I have already implemented tools of increased structure, color-coding, studying in 20 minute increments, flash cards, etc. I am learning what works for me and how I work, so to speak.
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Upon entering treatment an overwhelming sense of relief flooded my body. The realization that I wasn’t crazy; I am not the one solitary nut job in the world that doctors can’t help. I am an alcoholic/addict. “Psychologists usually define substance abuse as continued use of a substance after several episodes in which use of the substance has negatively affected an individual’s work, education and social relationships. (Wood, et al.)” The more I learned about alcoholism/addiction the more I identified. The more I identified the better I felt, I learned more about myself. I learned that mainly being concerned with myself and operating in self-pity most the time was worsening my situation (Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous).
I had previously been diagnosed with ADHD at age seven at a clinique in Newport Beach and again at age 15. I was put on Adderall at age 15 and my grades improved. I never learned or read much about ADHD as I was in the mindset that Adderall was my solution. I began to abuse the Adderall when I started abusing Marijuana and in treatment they suggested not to take a stimulant as they have a high risk of abuse. When I had six months sober I tried to go back to school. I started taking a few classes at a community college. Before long I felt like I was in over my head. I felt like I was nothing without Adderall, it was the key to accessing my brain and my self-esteem plummeted with every class I took. After several failed attempts at taking classes I decided to take some time off of school.
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