Pain is the most common reason to visit a doctor. Pain is also a very common reason to become addicted to drugs and or alcohol. People often self-medicate themselves for pain or abuse prescribed drugs and become addicted. Another very common reason to visit the doctor is anxiety or depression. These reasons also lead to prescription medication abuse or medication combined with alcohol causing addiction problems.
One of the most abused drugs of the new millennium is vicodin. It has been over prescribed and underestimated. Vicodin successfully relieves pain, unfortunately it is highly addictive and withdrawal symptoms are very similar to the pain it was relieving. So many patients on vicodin (or hydrocodon, a even more potent version) often keep using it thinking that the body has not healed sufficiently to eliminate the pain itself. In fact, vicodin withdrawal can be the cause of a patient's continuing use and more importantly, the feeling that more is needed to combat the same pain. Many people end up taking more and more vicodin or graduating to a stronger pain medication and taking more and more of those, all because of the extremely addictive qualities of pain medication.
Pain that once was the physical problem is replaced by drugs. Instead of being used to help tolerate the pain, the drug becomes a problem itself. This is also true when medication is used to relieve anxiety. Valium was used for so many years to treat anxiety and everyone knows that millions of people became very addicted to it. The same can be said of Xanax and other benzodiazipans currently being prescribed for the same reason. Increased tolerance is a problem. The patient becomes addicted to the medication and the anxiety problem actually gets worse instead of better.
The combination of any medication with alcohol magnifies the problem to extremes not easily measured. When the effects of medication no longer ease the pain or anxiety, many people turn to alcohol. In this way, the effects can be compounded without increased doses of the prescribed drug. The social acceptance of alcohol often leads to its use, thus compounding the problem. Many prescription drug users cross-addict to alcohol.
