Prescription Drug Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic - Softcover

Colvin MS, Rod

9781886039520: Prescription Drug Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1886039526 ISBN 13: 9781886039520

Publisher: Addicus Books, 2001

Are you suffering with an addiction to prescription drugs? Or, are you suffering because you have a loved one who is addicted? If so, author Rod Colvin understands your anguish. His brother, Randy, died as a result of his years of addiction to prescription drugs. Once recovered from the loss, Colvin was determined to help others who are still suffering. He wrote Prescription Drug Addiction The Hidden Epidemic.

The Book Answers These Questions:
How does addiction rewire” the brain?
What happens if the drugs are stopped abruptly? What are the symptoms of addiction? Who’s at risk for addiction? When does proper medical use become addiction? How do most people become addicted? What are the symptoms of withdrawal? What is the difference between addiction and physical dependence? What are the top 20 most-abused prescription drugs? What is the proper use of benzodiazepines (xanax, valium, klonopin, ativan)?

How Can You Leave Prescription Drugs Behind?
Read stories of recovery from eleven individuals, including a homemaker, an attorney, a physician, a business woman, and a salesman.
�        Learn how they become addicted.
�        Find out how they made it into recovery.
�        What were the turning points in their lives that made them seek recovery?
�        What is their advice to others who are struggling?

Treatment for Addiction What’s Involved?�        What are the treatment options?
�        What is a medical detox?
�        What is in-patient treatment?
�        What is out-patient treatment?
�        What is a partial-day treatment plan?
�        What is rapid detox for opiate addiction?
�        Does insurance pay for treatment?
�        What is relapse prevention education?

How Can Family Members Ease Their Pain?
Addiction affects everyone in the family. No one escapes the pain and the chaos.
�        What can family members do to help the addict and themselves?
�        What does it mean to enable an addict?
�        Find out if you’re enabling the addict.
�        What are the levels of enabling?
�        What is a family intervention?
�        How can you set up an intervention to get your loved one into treatment?
�        Understand that addiction is a progressive disease.

Advice from Addiction Medicine Specialists
Read the advice of addiction medicine specialists. Their topics:
�        Addiction is an illness.
�        How to build on hope.
�        Be cautious with benzodiazepines.
�        Stages of chemical dependency.
�        Addiction to pills means greater denial.
�        Addicts are not having fun.
�        Warning signs of addiction.
�        How to avoid isolating, a trigger for relapse.

A Helpful Guide for Overcoming Prescription Drug Addiction

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About the Author:

Rod Colvin is the producer of documentaries and author of numerous magazine articles; he is also the author of two other nonfiction books, Evil Harvest and First Heroes.

From Booklist:

Colvin, whose brother died from prescription drug abuse, brings what he calls the hidden epidemic of such abuse into the light. In the course of writing his book, he talked with persons from many different occupations and activities, and excerpts from his interviews occupy a considerable portion of the text. Abusers discuss their methods and sources and disclose that many of them felt that because they had prescriptions, they were not really drug abusers. Medical, pharmaceutical, and legal personnel comment on the scope, sources, procedures, and possible solutions of the prescription drug problem. Although the presentation of that problem sometimes beautifully exemplifies how a few bad apples can give misleading pictures of their particular barrels, it also shows that a problem definitely exists. Solutions must be found; Colvin discusses some now in use, such as drug diversion control systems, and at the end of the book lists sources of additional information and help. William Beatty

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