Hydrocodone addiction and its use has been increasingly dramatically in the past ten years. In fact, the average use of hydrocodone in the United States has increased by over 200% of the past decade. Likewise, the number of emergency room visits related to hydrocodone overdose or addiction has increased by 5 times.
Hydrocodone is in the opiate family and used primarily to control chronic pain. Since hydrocodone is taken orally in a pill form, it has become an attractive drug of choice for people that normally take opiates such as heroin via needle. To satisfy their need for hydrocodone, people suffering from hydrocodone addiction call in phony prescriptions and shop doctors for extra prescriptions. Another aspect contributing to the rapid spread of this drug addiction is the economics of dealing the drug, pills can be very profitable to sell.
Hydrocodone addiction affects people of all economic and age groups. In reality, hyrdrocodone addiction is steadily increasing among all groups of people. Yet, the most likely group of people to suffer from hydrocodone Addiction is 10-40 year old white women.
Recovering from hydrocodone addiction can be difficult because hydrocodone creates both a mental and a physical addiction. If a person really has chronic pain, there can be an overwhelming fear of the pain returning. In the person suffering from hydrocodone addiction, the hydrocodone stimulates opiate receptors in the brain. For the person with a hydrocodone addiction, this results in feeling extreme pleasure.
A feeling of relaxation and satisfaction that can last for many hours then follows the initial high created by hydrocodone. Along with the feeling of relaxation, the respiratory system is affected – causing a decrease in the rate of breathing. This slow down in the person with the hydrocodone addiction can be fatal.
Traditionally, hydrocodone addiction treatment dealt with both the psychological side of hydrocodone addiction and the symptoms of hydrocodone addiction withdrawal. This method, however, has not proven to be a highly effective method for treating hydrocodone addiction.
No matter the method used to treat hydrocodone addiction, it is imperative for the person suffering from hydrocodone addiction to get help with his problem, it can be a matter of life or death.
