Prescription Drug Use

Introduction

Prescription drug abuse is on the rise in the United States, from pain killers to medications used to treat childhood disorders. Young teens and adults are abusing medications on a regular basis. Did you know that in 2005, In the United States there were more than 1.4 million emergency room visits associated with prescription drug misuse or abuse and nearly 400,000 involved non-medical uses of pharmaceuticals.

In a 2005 analysis of 1,898 death certificates from across Texas, 128 involved a combination of Xanax and another drug. An analysis of 168,900 autopsies conducted in Florida in 2007 found that three times as many people were killed by legal drugs as by cocaine, heroin and all methamphetamines put together. Do you know what is in your medicine cabinet?

Prescription Drug Abuse

Prescription drugs are available to nearly every person for almost all ailments from toenail fungus to chronic dry eye. Many patients are diagnosed with diseases that have just recently made the list. Ten years ago we hadn’t heard of acid reflux “disease”, instead of having acid indigestion we now have a new disease. The amount of prescription and over-the-counter medication available to treat the disease are tremendous. The daily lives of people living in pain and discomfort to any degree, have shopping aisle after shopping aisle of medication to chose from. If they cannot seek out an over the counter solution there are physicians that will assist them in “finding a cure” for their ailment.

Due to the colossal amount of prescription and over the counter medication available to consumers, the dangerous side effects are just as tremendous. Prescription and over the counter drugs may have benefited people in many ways, however most patients are unaware of the dangerous side effects, including addiction, internal organ damage, and/or prolonged issues fighting off further infections due to overuse of antibiotics;...