Signs and Symptoms of Soma Abuse

Soma is a drug prescribed to alleviate muscle pain. Its generic name is Carisoprodol. Usual dosage is 750 to 1050 milligrams spread out over a day. It is recommended for a treatment of period of no longer than three weeks. But is has become a common drug of abuse, particularly when mixed with other drugs like hydrocodone (especially Vicodin), benzodiazepines (Xanax or Valium), codeine or alcohol.

Soma is Frequently Combined with Other Drugs

In fact, the combination of Xanax, Vicodin and Soma abuse may have started out when people were prescribed these three drugs together after serious trauma like a car accident – Xanax to deal with anxiety, Vicodin for pain and Soma as a muscle relaxant. If a person felt great after the accident, it is understandable that they might want to continue to take these drugs, even if the doctor wanted to stop prescribing them. But each individual drug is addictive and of course, the combination is going to be addictive as well.

Its addictiveness is why Soma has such a short recommended treatment period. A person will develop a tolerance for the drug quickly, meaning that more of the drug needs to be taken to get the same effect. Cravings will set in that keep the person from being willing to quit taking it and there will be withdrawal symptoms if drug use is stopped. These three factors are what constitute addiction.

In most cases of adverse reaction that appeared in an emergency room, Soma was mixed with other drugs. Only one person in eight who needed emergency care for Soma abuse had used just that one drug.

Signs and Symptoms to Watch For

It may be difficult to identify the signs and symptoms of Soma abuse because they may be so mixed up with the symptoms of other drugs that are commonly abused at the same time.

The drug is intended to cause sedation, muscle relaxation and relief from structural pain.

But there is a long list of the other symptoms caused by using or abusing Soma:

Drowsiness
Dizziness
Vertigo
Tremors
Agitation
Loss of coordination
Headache
Depression
Irritability
Insomnia
Fall in blood pressure leading to unconsciousness
Speeded up heart rate
Flushing
Nausea
Stomach ache
Weakness
Double vision
Temporary loss of vision
Euphoria
Giddiness
Confusion

There is a serious condition called transient quadriplegia that can occur after Soma use. Transient indicates that it is not long lasting, and quadriplegia refers to a severe weakness of all four limbs. This symptom may require hospitalization and would be a very good reason to avoid abusing this drug.

It is possible to overdose on Carisoprodol. When too much of the drug is taken, it results in a stupor, coma, shock, depression of breathing and even death.

Coming off Soma and Getting Sober

There are two kinds of people who may need to get sober after Soma use and addiction: those who received this drug from a doctor and took it as directed and those who abused this drug by taking more than recommended or by mixing it with other drugs for the resulting high.

In many cases, the person who becomes addicted to a drug like Soma may come to depend on the drug for more than just the physical symptoms. They may rely on the drug for the euphoria and giddy feeling they get. These feelings may enable them to ignore problems in life. It is easy for them to depend on this drug for relief and escape from responsibilities.

For example, actress Jamie Lee Curtis admitted that she had become addicted to narcotic pain relievers that she was taking after cosmetic surgery. But once the pain of the procedure was gone, she didn’t stop taking them. She began to rely on the fuzzy, uncaring feeling that the opiates gave her. She finally had to admit that her reliance on these drugs was a sign of addiction and she got clean of them.

Especially when a person has been relying on a combination of drugs to blank out the world, they may need a helping hand to get sober. The Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program has been helping people achieve stable sobriety for almost five decades. This rehab program has an excellent record of enabling people to find lasting sobriety.

This program focuses on repairing the main impacts of addiction - guilt, cravings and depression - to enable a person to build a new life without these crippling effects.

The Narconon program helps to brings about recovery by helping each person detoxify from past drug use through a combination of sauna, nutritional supplements and daily exercise. This combination enables a person’s body to start flushing out old drug toxins that, as long as they remain lodged in fatty tissues, can affect clarity of thinking and brightness of outlook. When the residues of these past drugs are gone, one is able to think more clearly and have a more positive outlook.

This is an innovative program that never uses any drugs as part of treatment. The goal is sobriety and freedom from the need to abuse drugs or alcohol ever again. Find out how this rehab service can help someone you care about who is struggling with addiction.

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