Oxycontin is a white, odorless, crystalline powder derived from the opium alkaloid. 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 substance and it has been acknowledged for its long lasting pain relieving quality.
Besides its pain relieving benefits, the drug could provide the body with a relaxing and euphoric feeling. The drug has a time-release structure that lasts for 12 hours. This drug is safe and nondestructive provided that it is taken properly. Once abused, addiction would always follow. Abusing it is through chewing, crushing, or dissolving the pill into liquid form, and then eating 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 manifests 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.
Addiction to this drug forces the person to take in more dosage otherwise they would experience physical pain. Oxycontin addiction also has side effects this includes insomnia, muscle and bone pain, sweats, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach cramping, and muscle twitching. Severe side effects could be detrimental.
Oxycontin is a prescription drug and is prescribed 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 dependent testified that within a very small amount of time of taking in the tablet, he felt like superman, he could work all day, go home, and play with his kids. He has the notion that he could do everything he wanted. Common sense would tell us that the immediate effects of the drug are very attractive. As time would pass, continuous use of the drug would lead to dependence. Thus, you couldn’t get away with the drug. That’s when the problem starts.
An oxycontin addict may admit that they have become dependent on the drug, however, it’s the physical will to stop taking the drug that is too difficult to deal with. Why is this so? One, an individual becomes 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 euphoriathat entails sadness, depression, anxiety, and craving. Nothing really lasts forever.
Treatment for oxycontin addiction is done with a medical professional. There are many ways to treat oxycontin addiction. Treatments include medication and behavioral and counseling approaches. Methadone can be used as an effective medication that eliminates withdrawal symptoms and relieves drug craving. Another way of treating opioid addiction is through rapid detox. 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. However, once abused, one may develop oxycontin addiction and thus should be put admitted to a rehab for treatment.
