Opiates are one of the most commonly abused drugs sending people to drug rehabilitation centers in the US at this time. A review of 70 people chosen at random who were admitted to a Narconon rehab center in 2012 showed that 85% of them had abused opiates at one time or another.
Many people had a long list of opiates or opioids (partly or fully synthetic pain relievers) they had abused as most people who prefer these drugs will use any one they can get.
If they can’t get Percocet, they will use morphine, Dilaudid, Demerol, Lortab, oxycodone, Norco or tramadol. If they can’t get a pill, they will go to the streets and buy heroin.
Some pills are faster acting than others and some are extended release, meaning the drug is released over a period of time. Some formulas have harsher side effects and some are more addictive than others. The addicted will usually have preferences but if the preferred drug can’t be obtained, any opiate will keep withdrawal sickness away.
Brand names for tramadol include Ultracet and Ultram. It is not normally prescribed for the most severe types of pain. A person may start using tramadol for arthritis pain or after dental or other surgery. They may then progress to abusing it once a tolerance has developed. Once a person develops a tolerance, they need more of the drug to get the same pain relief. A doctor may increase a dosage a time or two and then may be worried about consequences of any further increases and refuse. A person who has become addicted to tramadol may be so dependent on the drug to relieve pain that he (or she) will start obtaining the drug from illicit sources, just to be able to function.
This path has led many people down the road to addiction. They may turn to seeing multiple doctors, to prescription fraud, theft from pharmacies, or stealing pills from friends and relatives. Some drug dealers may deal in tramadol pills or the opiate addict may just have to settle for heroin. It is estimated that 1.8 million Americans are addicted to painkillers.
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Tramadol is essentially classified with other opiates but some medical practitioners will disagree with that classification. Chemically, it is different from other opiates but it tends to work in a very similar way in the body. Some people say that tramadol is easier to get from a doctor because it is chemically different than drugs like hydrocodone or oxycodone.
A person will abuse tramadol to try to achieve the following effects:
Undesirable effects of tramadol are similar to those of other opiates:
Some people can experience seizures, hives, hallucinations, swelling of the face and throat and difficulty swallowing or breathing. Most opiates do not cause these reactions. They are considered a risk specific to tramadol abuse.
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Tramadol is not considered to have the same high risk for addiction as other opiates, but it is still addictive. What is typical when a person does become addicted is that getting pills becomes the most important thing for him (or her). This goes as far as a person being willing to commit crimes to get pills, when he never would have done anything criminal before he was addicted.
In some fifty worldwide locations, the Narconon program offers a deep detoxification program that can activate the body’s ability to flush out residual toxins from mescaline abuse, helping to eliminate the drug’s lingering effects.
Life skills training includes learning how poor decisions regarding friends and acquaintances damaged their lives in the past and how to make better choices in the future. The individual learns how personal values are lost and how to restore them.
The goal of the program is a drug-free individual.
Addiction treatment should occur as soon as a family realizes that the problem they are dealing with is addiction. Many families have become bankrupt by trying to help a person with every problem they ran into in life when at the heart of the matter, drug or alcohol abuse was the true ruin of their loved one’s life.
Find out how Narconon can help someone you care about come back to a productive, enjoyable life after addiction to tramadol or other painkiller.