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Northpoint Seattle’s outpatient treatment program is located in beautiful Seattle, Washington, and we work to help the surrounding communities.
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2111 N Northgate Way Suite 101,
Seattle, WA 98133, United States
Signs You Are Addicted to Your Prescription Medication
Are you addicted to your prescription medication? Do you know what the signs of addiction are? These are important questions, and if you are currently taking prescribed drugs, you need to know the answers.
Pill addictions are actually quite common. People are often completely unaware of how addictive their medicine can be. The tendency is to assume it's safe because a doctor prescribed it. Unfortunately, this isn't the case at all. In fact, it can actually make it even more dangerous.
All over the world, people abuse prescribed drugs. Eventually, this can lead to an addiction, and for many, it does. If you have questions about your relationship with your medications, this is information you need to know.
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Signs You May be Addicted to Your Prescription Drugs
There are many prescription drug addiction symptoms and signs that you should be aware of. Usually, when someone is an addict, that person begins to show signs early on. However, some of these signs may be hard for them to notice.
If you're concerned about your use of pills, please take note of any symptoms you may have. It's possible that you're a pill addict, but you don't even know it.
The First Signs of Addiction to Painkillers
There may be some early warning signs that you're an addict. Many of them seem perfectly harmless, but they are signs of a more serious problem.
Some common, early signs of addiction to pain medications might include:
- Frequently thinking about your medicine
- Taking different amounts of your drugs because the prescribed dosage isn't working
- Going to more than one doctor for the same medication
- Getting pain medications from other places aside from the pharmacy
- Becoming angry if someone brings up your pain meds
- Not feeling like yourself unless you've taken your medicine
There are also both physical and emotional signs of being a pill addict as well. It's important to be able to recognize them.
What are the Physical Signs of Being Addicted to Pain Pills?
The body reacts negatively when you are addicted to prescribed medications. Because of this, you'll notice several physical signs of addiction. These can include:
- A quick decrease in your blood pressure levels
- Becoming constipated of having irregular digestion
- Becoming short of breath
- Feeling physically restless
- Having cold flashes
- Nausea and vomiting
The Emotional Consequences of Prescription Pain Medicine
There are also emotional and psychological consequences to using these types of medications. You may notice that you suffer from:
- Bouts of confusion
- Feeling disoriented
- Symptoms of depression
- Symptoms of anxiety
- Feelings of paranoia
- Becoming hostile or angry easily
The short-term effects of various prescribed pills vary, depending on what type of medication is used. There could be a number of short-term effects that are experienced, and some of these include:
- Having trouble with your breathing
- Bouts of nausea
- Feeling drowsy
- Easily becoming unconscious
- The risk of a coma
Long-term use of pain pills and other prescribed medicines is extremely common. This is because people aren't aware of the dangers associated with these drugs. Still, even under strict medical supervision, addictions still occur with long-term use. When they do, they can result in:
- Feeling restless
- Pain in the bones and muscles of the body
- Insomnia and other sleep problems
- Severe diarrhea
- Increased tolerance levels
Warning Signs of Prescribed Medication Abuse
Typically, people tend to think of abuse as being for illicit drugs or alcohol. They don't realize that it's possible to abuse prescribed meds. Maybe you've always shared in that thought.
You might be unsure as to whether or not you're abusing your medicine right now. If you are, you can look for these warning signs:
- You're taking your doses too closely together
- You're taking more pills at a time than you should be
- You're getting your pills on the street, or buying them online
- You're participating in doctor shopping, and seeing more than one doctor for the same drug
- You're convinced that you need your prescription medicine in order to feel like yourself
Have you noticed any of these? If you have, you could be headed down a dangerous road toward an addiction.
List of Commonly Abused Prescribed Medications
There are many different types of prescribed drugs that people commonly abuse. These all fall under specific categories.
The following is a list of frequently abused prescription pills:
A Prescription Drug Addiction Treatment Center in Seattle is the Answer
It's so important to choose the best option for prescription medication addiction treatment. At Northpoint Seattle we know you have a lot of options available to you. However, how will you ever know which one is right for you? We can assist you with that.
We can provide you with an assessment over the phone. At that point, you'll know if you have an addiction or not. Our job is to get you the type of rehab that will be right for you, and that will meet your unique needs.