Prescription drug addiction is a serious condition that needs medical attention. At times, patients may become addicted to the prescribed medication for their pain or other condition.
The incidence of prescription drug addiction increases when drugs are used other than what have been prescribed. The doctor, pharmacist,patient,and their loved ones can all help each other to address the addiction. Patients Patients should be responsible about the medications they are taking. They should be aware of the right dose, frequency and side effects of their medicines. It is their duty to follow the doctor’s advice to avoid the onset of prescription drug addiction. Nothing will go wrong if they follow their physician’s instructions. They should not alter the directions of the doctor, unless they have spoken directly with them. On their part, they should be open with their doctors on all the medicines they are taking whether it is herbal or OTC medicines. Patients should also throw all expired medicines as mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Doctors During the previous year, 80 percent of patients in the United States consulted their doctor. Physicians are the only one designated to prescribe medications, and also the one in the position to determine if there is a case of prescription drug addiction. Medical professionals are tasked to prevent it and if there is, to control it by recommending rehab programs.Every visit, doctors should include screening of patients for any sign of addiction to medications. Doctors can easily spot an addiction if their patients ask for prescription refills too early or their patients are requesting for more pills than needed. Since the case of addiction to prescribed medicines are on the rise, more doctors have been aware of the patient’s "doctor shopping" practices. It is the doctor’s responsibility to care for their patient’s welfare. They should notice of the changes to prescriptions and should help their patients avoid drug abuse. If there is a need, they should still prescribe medicines such as opioid pain relievers, CNS depressants, orstimulants. However,since these medications are the cause of prescription drug addiction, they should double check their patients taking these. Pharmacist Pharmacists are the one distributing medications to the patients and so they should be responsible to spot any abnormalities when it comes to prescriptions. They should be aware of the differences, falsifications and modifications in the prescriptions. There are strict implementations in different states to spot any sign of medication abuse. There are hotlines and prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) now that can help them track anyone abusing or is committing fadaulent prescriptions. |