Consuming prescription or over-the-counter medicines can cause severe side effects to patients at times. Patients who face side effects with prescription drugs can choose a compound pharmacy to get compounded drugs as an alternative. Patients can encounter problems, such as addiction, dependence, overdose, and even death in the worst case, with prescription drugs misuse. Notably, patients can become addicted to some prescription medications despite using the medicines that doctors prescribe them. We are going to share with you some common prescription medicines in this post that patients can abuse.
Most Commonly Misused Prescription Drugs
Patients can potentially abuse many prescription medicines with use. However, the most typical medicines that patients can abuse include opioids, stimulants, depressants, or dextromethorphan which compounding pharmacies point out, too.
1. Opioids: Opioids come from both natural and man-made compounds. Typically, doctors prescribe opioids for pain relief. Opioids can help patients manage pain if they take it as prescribed. Additionally, opioids can help patients manage pain who suffer from injuries or recover from surgeries. They also aid people in managing pain who experience chronic pain. Some of the most misused opioids or painkillers in the U.S. are as follows:
· Vicodin
· Percocet
· Morphine
· Fentanyl
· Codeine
Usually, patients take opioids or painkillers orally. Many opioids are a form of oxycodone and serve as time-released drugs. Crushing the opioids or painkillers turns them into a form that patients can snort or inject. Moreover, injecting or snorting opioids causes a quick release of the medicine and a high. When higher doses of opioids release into the bloodstream than prescribed, it can cause a much quicker dependence on painkillers.
Opioid abuse is hazardous that can lead to overdosing and even death. Life-threatening upshots can greatly increase when people take opioids with other substances. Patients should avoid using opioids with certain substances and also evade overdosing. Here are the substances that patients should avoid taking opioids with:
· Alcohol
· Antihistamines
· Barbiturates
· Benzodiazepines
2. Stimulants: Doctors usually prescribe stimulants to aid patients in increasing their alertness, attention, and energy levels. Usually, doctors prescribe stimulants to treat symptoms of ADHD and sleep disorders. Besides, patients also use stimulants with antidepressants as the doctors prescribe them to. Typically, physicians prescribe stimulants for the treatment of different medical conditions. However, stimulants aren’t prescribed, unlike opioids, due to their potential for misuse and addiction. Usually, patients abuse stimulants when they take these drugs orally. Furthermore, some patients dissolve stimulants or pills in water in order to inject them. Plus, it can cause vascular problems that a compound pharmacy also draws attention to.
Medical dangers related to stimulant abuse aren’t a few. There are many, and usually, they are related to the cardiovascular system. Some of the medical dangers related to stimulant abuse are rapid/irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, heart damage, or heart failure. Some severe psychiatric reactions can also result due to stimulant abuse. Mixing over-the-counter medications with stimulants pose several risks as well. Usually, it poses a risk when you mix cold medications containing decongestants with stimulants. Such a mix can lead to critically high blood pressure and irregular heartbeat.
3. Depressants: Sedative-hypnotics is a drug category, notably barbiturates and benzodiazepines that can lead to overdoses and deaths. Barbiturates, such as Mebaral and Nembutal, are a category of medicines that doctors use as anaesthetics and anti-seizure medications. Previously, doctors also prescribed the aforementioned depressants to help patients with anxiety and sleep.
These are some of the most commonly prescribed drugs that patients can abuse and also misuse, too. Nonetheless, patients who confront severe side effects with their prescribed medicines can search for an alternative. They can consult with their doctors or physicians first to get their treatment medications from a compound pharmacy with prescriptions. Nevertheless, choosing the right compounding pharmacy is also a concern for patients because every compounding pharmacy isn’t authentic. Patients should look for the following factors to identify an authentic compounding pharmacy, such as Aurora Compounding:
a. Look for the compounding pharmacy license and reputation for its compound medications
b. Find out if the compounding pharmacy adheres to the standards and safety guidelines for compounding
c. Determine if the compounding pharmacy makes compound medications after seeing medical prescriptions or working with doctors or physicians.
Conclusion
Sometimes, taking over-the-counter drugs or prescription medicines can cause severe side effects. Additionally, patients can encounter problems, such as overdose, drug abuse, and even die with the use of prescribed medicines. A compound pharmacy also points out the preceding issues. Hence, compounding pharmacies make compound medications that serve as an alternative for better treatments. The most commonly abused prescribed drugs that patients misuse include opioids, stimulants, & depressants. Opioids overdose or taking them with other substances, such as alcohol and benzodiazepines, can cause death. Plus, medical dangers related to stimulant abuse are related to the cardiovascular system. Lastly, depressants in the drug category “sedative-hypnotics” can also lead to overdose and death.
