Many unsuspecting people have fallen into the trap of Hydrocodone addiction. This happens for a number of different reasons, and there is a trend for it to be happening more and more frequently. Possible reasons for falling into this addiction and some hydrocodone addiction 101 facts include:
1) Doctors tend to be ill informed about the potential side effects of addictive medications, and in some cases have been led astray by drug reps from pharmaceutical companies.
2) The general public is not well educated about the dangers of addiction, but have an increasing awareness of pain medications that might be used to treat their conditions.
3) Teens and children are more savvy about opiate use these days, and will take pills that are laying around the house or from their parent’s medicine cabinet in order to get high.
4) There is an increasing expectation in our society that any pain we have should be treatable and medicated to perfection, simply due to the advancement of medicine.
These factors, and more, combine to give rise to a rash of pill addiction in our society. It is a growing problem that has more and more people struggling to get help for an addiction that has taken over their lives. Many of these people are not what we would consider to be typical drug addicts, but instead are ordinary people who became hooked on medicine after suffering an illness or injury.
Symptoms of Hydrocodone Addiction
If you or someone you know is taking their medication as prescribed, then it is not likely that they are addicted to it. Before addiction would occur we would expect to see some elements of abuse present first.
Some hydrocodone addiction warning signs would be indicated by behaviors such as:
1) Taking more medication than what is prescribed by the doctor.
2) Taking the medication via a different route than what is prescribed. For example, crushing pills and snorting them instead of taking them orally.
3) Running out of the medication too fast and then scrambling to get more.
4) Using multiple doctors or emergency rooms to try and get more pills.
5) Buying the medication off the street or from friends or relatives.
6) Hiding or stashing the pills and being overly protective of their supply.
If you are attempting to diagnose a friend or a family member with an addiction like this, it can be a bit trickier. The physical effects of Hydrocodone abuse are not as readily apparent as some other drugs, such as alcohol. But there are some things you can still watch for. For example, if someone seems to be nodding out, tired, or fatigued at strange times, or if they are really sick and experiencing flu-like symptoms when they run out of their medication, then these are potential signals that they may be abusing their medicine.
Hydrocodone Withdrawal
Anyone who is addicted to Hydrocodone will probably experience periods of time when they run out and cannot get any more pills for a short time. During this period they will go through withdrawal, as their body is demanding opiates and they are not feeding their body what it wants. These withdrawal symptoms may include any or all of the following:
1) Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or stomach cramping.
2) Anxiety, nervousness.
3) Tremors, shakes.
4) Hot and cold sweats, chills.
5) Bone and joint pain, soreness throughout the body.
These symptoms will last for approximately 3 to 5 days, but may also linger on for up to a week or more depending on the person and their exact history. Generally the worst day of withdrawal is the third day. While it is uncomfortable, there is not much medical danger in any of these symptoms.
Hydrocodone Addiction Treatment
Anyone who wants to avoid further addiction to Hydrocodone and the associated withdrawal symptoms should seek treatment.
There are a few different options available. The most popular option that is recommended for most people is to go to a drug rehab facility for detox and residential rehab treatment. In detox they will treat your withdrawal symptoms with medication until you are drug free. This generally takes about 3 to 5 days and most people agree that they are fairly comfortable through the entire process. Most detox units use a synthetic opiate that is carefully administered to get clients through Hydrocodone withdrawal.
Many clients leave detox only to relapse within a few days, so it makes sense to also follow through with a residential program. Clients will benefit from a continuous support system, such as through 12 step meetings, and also from learning more about addiction in groups and lectures during a residential program.
Most treatment centers also use group therapy in order to get to the root causes of addiction as well.
Going to rehab is just one option of many, but for most people it is probably the best option. Other treatments include ultra rapid detox, which is a medical procedure where the opiates are rapidly flushed from the body in order to avoid much of the pain of withdrawal, and also drug maintenance therapy, where the client uses medication in order to replace the Hydrocodone. This can be useful for some people who have serious chronic pain and cannot manage their pain through holistic strategies alone. However, these alternative strategies both have serious downsides, and should therefore only be explored after traditional treatment therapies have failed to work.