Signs & Symptoms of Addiction to Prescription Drugs

Prescription drug addiction is difficult to detect because the medication is legal and prescribed by a licensed physician. Prescription drugs are often abused by individuals who work in the medical profession and have direct access to and authority over prescription medications. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 16.2 million U.S. residents in 2006 admitted taking a prescription medication for nonmedical reasons at least once a year.

Prescription Drugs Abused

• Opioids, which are drugs prescribed for pain, are among the most commonly abused prescription medications. Central nervous system depressants used to treat anxiety and sleep problems are also frequently abused because of their calming and sedating effects. Stimulant drugs prescribed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, narcolepsy and obesity are also commonly abused medications.

Opiod Abuse

• Signs do exist of abuse involving these medications. One red flag for caregivers involves patients who continue to run out of medication sooner than the prescription requirements indicate. Patients who visit a number of different doctors and make frequent visits to hospital emergency rooms with professed symptoms calling for strong pain medication, might be prescription drug abusers. Examples of complaints often given by opioid drug abusers are migraine headaches and back pain. While these types of pain are real for many people, they are difficult to determine in an emergency room, and pain medication is generally prescribed with a recommendation to see one's private doctor later. Short-term symptoms of opioid prescription drug abuse include slurred speech, impaired motor coordination and drowsiness.

Central Nervous System Depressant Abuse

• Central nervous system depressants are commonly abused by individuals who desire the calming effects of these medications. They are often used to counter the extreme hyperactivity experienced by stimulant drug abusers. Early signs of abuse of those medications are slurred speech and inappropriate emotional and physical reactions to stimuli. Extremely slow movements and unusual drowsiness are common among abusers of these drugs.

Prescription Stimulant Abuse

• Stimulant prescription medication is often abused by those who desire a high energy level or wish to lose weight quickly. Consequently, extreme hyperactivity and rapid weight loss are early signs of stimulant prescription drug abuse. As is common with all addicted prescription drug patients, the individual will use the drugs up faster than she is supposed to. Prescription stimulant abusers might require less sleep than normal, and they often become anxious and irritable.

Longer Term Symptoms of Prescription Drug Abuse

• Prescription drug abuse, like all drug abuse, places the abuser at risk of addiction. Opioid, central nervous system depressant and stimulant drug abusers will all develop increasing tolerance to the abused substance, if they abuse it long enough. Tolerance is defined as the need to use more of the same substance than was initially required in order to obtain the same level of intoxication as experienced before. Addiction is defined as a chronic relapsing disease that causes the addicted person to continue abusing the substance of choice in spite of negative consequences.
  Opioid and central nervous system depressant abusers who become addicts will eventually develop serious physical symptoms, including malnutrition, liver disease and possible dementia. Stimulant abusers who continue to use stimulant medications additively will also experience malnutrition, in addition to emaciation, rotting teeth, gum disease, rapid heart beat and increased danger of cardiac arrest. They might also experience extreme paranoia, and sleep deprivation that can continue for days at a time.