Very interesting article in Parents magazine

[urbaneve]

Of all places, i am sitting at my docs office when i casually pick up this magazine and start reading and somewhere a little bit after the middle, i read this title....Moms on Drugs: The Prescription Pill Epidemic

i thought seriously..... but as i read i was blown away. now the reason this article got my attention is because of 2 very simple reasons:
1. i am a mom
2. i take prescription drugs

it is about mothers and their addiction to prescription drug medications. i have to say, it was an eye opener. i did not realize the horrifying statistics of prescription abuse that was really happening. this article goes on to talk about how, (and this is taken straight from the article in this next quote)

The number of people who were admitted to treatment centers for narcotic-painkiller addiction increased a staggering 400 percent from 1998 to 2008, found a 2010 government study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The number of fatal overdoses involving these drugs more than tripled during a similar time period. No group is immune: The increase includes women and men of every race, education level, and geographic region, employed or unemployed.

now that is down right scary, right? these are people taking care of children. these are people we see in our local grocery stores, dropping their kids off at school, hell dropping our kids off at school, PTO leaders, pillars of our community. these people are me and that is scariest of all.

this article goes on to discuss that people view these drugs as okay because they go to the doc, are written a script and go to a legal pharmacy to fill. but what makes me wonder all through out this article is this: if these women are scripted a pain medication month after month and year after year, isn't the physicians responsibility to do a "med check", check for levels in the blood or urine. it also talks about these women finding outside sources to find their medication. one woman was sent a letter from the DEA that if she did not stop doctor shopping, they were going to open a full investigation on her. luckily, that was enough to scare her straight. but the other woman.... and i have to quote this as i dont want to loose the impact of the article

Claire was ingesting a cocktail of 20 Percocet (a painkiller), two or three OxyContin, 15 to 20 Soma (a muscle relaxant), and ten Xanax four times a day. This was all while driving her kids, then ages 9, 6, and 1, around. "When I could tell I was high, I didn't drive them," she explains, "but most of the time I felt normal." Unable to get enough medication between visits to her doctor, she'd "find whoever I could think of who knew somebody who knew somebody who had extra," Claire says. She'd even give rides to an older woman who lived on her street in exchange for pain meds.

One day her body rebelled and Claire overdosed at home. Her husband found her and called an ambulance. When she woke up in the hospital -- with no memory of what she'd taken or how long she'd been unconscious -- doctors told her she'd swallowed enough drugs to kill three people. "I was taking ten to 20 times the recommended dosage of all the meds I was on," she says.

i sat back and said WOW!

if you would like to read the full article here it is:
Moms on Drugs: The Prescription Pill Epidemic

for me this article hit home a bit. i don't abuse my medication, but i do use it. and that has been one of my biggest worries, is how my interaction with my son affects him. he sees when mommy is hurting and has to stay in bed all day, or mommy can't drive him to the park because i just took my medication and so on. the devil's advocate of all this is, if i do not take these scripts, i don't function at all, i have no alternative answer to turn too. there is no other way (right now) for me to function unless i take my scripts. until they find answers and a fix all to the medical issues i have, taking scripts is my answer.

[Griddlecakes]

Anyone can be an addict.. remember the generation of houswives popping Valium like candy? It was quite a big deal. Most people don't realize that just because a doctor prescribed it to you doesn't make it any less addictive/dangerous.

[crucibelle]

Anyone can be an addict.. remember the generation of houswives popping Valium like candy? It was quite a big deal. Most people don't realize that just because a doctor prescribed it to you doesn't make it any less addictive/dangerous.

I remember reading about back (way back) when Heroin was being sold over-the-counter, that many housewives were addicted to it. I actually saw a Sears catalog ad for heroin that came with a syringe in a nice little carrying-case. Those were the days, I guess.. lol.

Claire was ingesting a cocktail of 20 Percocet (a painkiller), two or three OxyContin, 15 to 20 Soma (a muscle relaxant), and ten Xanax four times a day.

HOLY CRAP WTF? Wow, I cannot believe this woman is still alive! I'd be dead as a doornail if I even took a third of all that.

[jettagirl]

Yeah, no doubt that is an exteme amount to be taking every day. If she continues down that path her kids will either die in a car accident or look at her lifeless body in the hospital or funeral home. Even on the days when I am extremely anxious or in great pain, I'm taking at most 4 mg xanax and 1400 mg soma. And I have no small children to take care of, just a 23 year old son who will be moving out on his own some day.

[bUrke]

WOW, that is a dangerous cocktail to be taking.. She must have quite the tolerance built up, I'm surprised she hasn't hurt herself or anyone around her yet. It's inevitable and very likely that it will happen soon if she continues down that path. The war on drugs is targeting all the wrong people, there will always be drugs on the streets and nobody can do much about it. However, something can be done about prescriptions and giving them to people who honestly don't need them.. Ahhh the world we live in ehh?

[urbaneve]

it seems to me that having a tolerance like that must have taken some time to build up. i mean to take that cocktail 4 times a day. i am surprised that her heart simply didnt stop. not only that but how was she getting her hands on that much medication and no one noticed....