Oxycontin is a white, odorless, crystalline powder derived from the opium alkaloid. It is also called oxycodone hydrochloride which is known as a potent painkiller. Oxycontin is commonly used as a mild to severe pain reliever for patients with chronic pain. Cancer patients are commonly prescribed with this drug and it has been praised for its long lasting pain relieving quality.
Oxycontin does not just lessens pain but it also gives the body a relaxing and euphoric feeling. This substance has a time-release structure that lasts for 12 hours. This drug is safe and nondestructive provided that it is taken properly. However, the drug becomes abused and people are more likely developing an addiction to the drug. Abuse is done by chewing, crushing, or dissolving the pill into liquid form, and then eating the solution. Through this, the drug is released all at once and the user experiences a rush similar to heroin, thus experiencing euphoria and the like. Oxycontin addiction shows through chronic use and increasing tolerance so that more of the drug is needed to feel the same effects day by day. This will start making a person’s life to go on complications.
Addiction to this drug forces the person to take in more dosage otherwise they would experience physical pain. Oxycontin addiction also has side effects this includes insomnia, muscle and bone pain, sweats, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach cramping, and muscle twitching. Severe side effects could be detrimental.
Oxycontin is a prescription drug and is prescribed to lessen pain. However, when it is abused and used for the purposes it also elicits dangerous effects maybe not sooner, but later on as the euphoric effect subsides. That is why it is called addiction because the once the person takes in the drug and gets the high feeling, he/she is, in a way, reinforced to take in more of the drug so as to get the same feeling again. One former oxycontin user testified that within a very small amount of time of taking in the tablet, he felt like superman, he could work all day, go home, and play with his kids. He felt he could do everything he wanted. Common sense would tell us that the immediate effects of the drug are very appealing. As time would pass, continuous intake of the drug would lead to dependence. Thus, you couldn’t get away with the drug. That’s when the problem starts.
Dependents on oxycontin admits that they have become dependent on the drugbut it’s the physical will to discontinue using the drug that is too complicated to deal with. Why so difficult? One, they have become very dependent on the drug and two, discontinuing usage would mean painful side effects. Every thing always has it’s negative sides. Once the usage of the substance is stopped by an addict, he/she is more likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal syndrome is characterized by dysphoria, the opposite of euphoriathat entails sadness, depression, anxiety, and craving. So as they say nothing lasts forever.
A medical professional is always needed to cure oxycontin dependency. There are a number of means to treat oxycontin addiction. This includes medication and behavioral and counseling approaches. The substance methadone is helpful in eliminating drug craving and symptoms of withdrawal. Another way of treating opioid addiction is through rapid detox. Furthermore, medication should go hain in hand with counseling and behavioral therapy because addiction is not only biological but psychological.
The substance oxycontin is very helpful in taking away pains especially to cancer patients. Nevertheless, when addiction sets in, one should be prepared to go rehab for a treatment.
