Teen painkiller addiction often begins with a necessary prescription for pain medication. Whether the adolescent underwent a one-off surgery or suffers from a chronic health condition, legitimate pain medication can result in teen prescription drug misuse. Avenues Recovery, leading addiction rehabilitation specialists, explores the signs, symptoms, and effects of teen prescription drug addiction.
Pain Pills: The Catalyst for Teen Painkiller Addiction
Pain pills are medicines used to relieve short-term or long-term pain. The majority of these drugs fall in the opioid group.
Opioid drugs are also called narcotic pain relievers and are used to relieve pain. They do so by changing the brain's response to pain and lowering the number of pain signals the body sends to the brain.
Opioid pain pills help treat different issues, such as:
- Injuries
- Toothache
- Dental procedures
- Chronic conditions like cancer
- Surgeries
Examples of common opioid pain pills include:
- Tramadol
- Methadone
- Opium
- Hydrocodone
- Morphine
When taken as prescribed by the doctor, pain pills pose no harm. However, they can lead to side effects (like constipation, mental fog, and nausea), dependence, or addiction when misused:
- Misusing drugs involves taking too many drugs, taking medicine incorrectly, taking someone else's medicines, or using medicines to get high.
- Dependence refers to the state where a person experiences withdrawal symptoms when not taking the drug.
- Addiction is a condition affecting the brain and behavior such that a person's mind or body cannot function without the drug. This often leads the person to seek drugs compulsively, even if the drug harms them.
Teen Prescription Drug Abuse: The Statistics
According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics (NCDAS), at least 1 in 8 teenagers abused an illicit substance during the last year, with statistics increasing exponentially.
Additionally, studies show that 80% of people who have a heroin abuse problem, started by misusing prescription opioids. Approximately 10% of adolescents receive an opioid prescription each year, the CDC reports. 57% of 12-17 year-olds who misuse opioids obtain them by “diversion”, taking pills from family members’ and friends’ prescriptions.
Why Do Teens Abuse Prescription Drugs?
Teens abuse prescription drugs for pleasure or to get high - not for medical purposes. As such, they become dependent.
Dependence on painkillers means the teens cannot control when to take pills, whether to take them or not, how to take them, and how much drug to use. Their bodies and brains cannot function without the pain pill.
How To Identify Adolescent Prescription Drug Abuse
Teen drug addiction involving opioids can result in them experiencing severe pains. As such, if your teen is consistently taking painkillers for non-medical use, they may display apparent abuse symptoms, such as:
- Nausea
- Coughing
- Slow breathing and movements
- Laziness
These symptoms may make the teens appear confused and uncoordinated throughout the day. As a result, it may become difficult for them to focus or concentrate on tasks. The teens may also be constantly dizzy.
Adolescent prescription drug addiction can also affect teens’ behavior. The opioid in painkillers can make teens disinterested in their jobs or school. Such teens may become aggressive and provoke disputes among family members.
Symptoms of Teen Prescription Drug Addiction
Common symptoms of adolescent prescription drug abuse include:
- Misusing pain pills: taking pain relievers in a way other than prescribed, taking more than the doctor prescribed, or taking pain pills to feel high.
- Taking pain pills "just in case" even when the teens are not in pain.
- Teens displaying extreme mood changes, for example, going from being high to being hostile in a short time.
- Changes in the teen's sleep patterns.
- Borrowing other people's medication or intentionally "losing" medicines so that they are given additional prescriptions.
- Teens looking for the same prescription from different doctors just so that they have a "backup" supply.
- Teens presenting with poor decision-making abilities to the extent that they may put themselves or others in danger.
Painkillers Commonly Resulting in Teen Drug Addiction
During surgery or when a person is in pain, they need medicine to help them manage it. The most effective medicines for these circumstances are usually pain pills, also called opioid medications. Opioids are good at relieving pain as they work by blocking the body's pain signals from reaching the brain.
However, consuming too many opioid pain pills can lead to overdose, youth becoming dependent on the drugs, and addiction. Below are some pain pills youths commonly become addicted to:
- Hydrocodone with acetaminophen. This could either be in liquid (Hycet) or tablet form (Vicodin and Lortab).
- Morphine, both in pills and liquid form.
- Hydromorphone, both in pills and liquid form, for example, Dilaudid.
- Oxycodone with acetaminophen, both in pills and liquid form. Examples include Roxicet (liquid) and Percocet pills.
- Plain oxycodone both in pills and liquid form.
Side Effects and Symptoms of Teen Prescription Drug Abuse
Taking opioid pain pills for a couple of days can lead to side effects, such as:
- Constipation
- Drowsiness
- Stomach problems
- Itchiness
When pain pills are taken as instructed, the side effects may cause inconveniences but are usually not dangerous. However, when medications are taken for longer or in higher doses, they could lead to the following risks:
Physical Dependence
Failure to take the pills means that the person experiences withdrawal symptoms.
Tolerance
Tolerance means a person needs more or higher opioid doses to relieve the same pain he could previously manage with a lower dose.
Addiction
This is when a person strongly craves opioid use and continues to use it even when the medication poses a risk to his health, money, or relationships.
Pain pill addiction can lead to inappropriate or risky behavior. Often, the youth involved resort to stealing pain pills from family or friends, buying opioid medications from friends, lying to their doctors to procure new prescriptions, and buying or using street drugs. Taking opioids in very high doses or mixing them with other drugs or alcohol can result in overdose or even death.
A Warning About Teen Prescription Drug Abuse
When taken for non-medical purposes, painkillers can lead to adverse health effects like overdose, dependence, addiction, or even death.
Prescription drug addiction has significantly increased in the United States. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), about 4,000 to 14,800 people have died from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in the last 10 years.
Common painkillers usually contain opioids. Natural or synthetic opioids are used mainly as pain relievers. When taken as instructed, they are safe and help patients with chronic pain or those recovering from surgeries control pain.
Opioids are usually ingested by mouth. Once ingested, the drug is slowly released in the body over time instead of being released all at once.
The drug can also be crushed into a powder and then injected or snorted. Doing so causes the drug to be released into the body rapidly, making a person feel high quickly.
Taking higher doses of opioid medications leads to quick dependence on the drug. Abusing opioids is very dangerous and can cause death. Taking opioids with other medications should be closely monitored as it can lead to life-threatening consequences.
For example, opioid drugs should not be taken with antihistamines, alcohol, benzodiazepines, or barbiturates.
Here are some common painkillers containing opioids that may result in addiction:
Codeine and Morphine
Codeine and morphine belong to the opioid family. They help reduce pain but can make a person feel high or cause serious side effects when taken in large doses. Usually, codeine is prescribed for mild pain or coughs, while morphine is prescribed for severe pain. Morphine brands include MS Contin, Kadian, and Avinza.
OxyContin and Percocet
Oxycodone is another opioid pain pill present in drugs such as Percocet, OxyContin, Percodan, and Roxicodone. People abusing the medications sometimes crush, inhale, or inject them, increasing the risk of overdose.
Lorcet, Vicodin, and Lortab
These drugs contain acetaminophen together with hydrocodone (the opioid). High doses of these drugs can lead to severe breathing problems. Feeling sick or having flu-like symptoms after ceasing these drugs means that the person is dependent on them, and a doctor should be consulted.
Overcoming Teen Painkiller Addiction
Teen painkiller addiction is increasing in the United States. At Avenues Recovery, we have successfully treated many teens suffering from painkiller substance abuse. When treating addiction in youth it's more important than ever to find a suitable and reputable rehab center. Contact Avenues Recovery today to find out if we’re the right fit for you or your loved one.