Great – now we’ve got drugs that cause addictive behavior. And I’m not talking about an inherently addictive drug like OxyContin or Xanax. The specific drug in question here is Mirapex, used to treat Parkinson’s Disease, and it can cause addictive behaviors like gambling and compulsive eating.

It’s true, a lot of drugs save lives. But there are so many successful methods, other than drugs, for dealing with many of our problems. Pain can be addressed with certain nutrients and natural analgesics (and if you have to get into drugs you can certainly find some a lot less dangerous than things like OxyContin – OxyContin abuse has probably put more people into a drug treatment center than heroin (of course, OxyContin IS heroin, so what can we expect?)

And you can also get physical therapy, chiropractic, or acupuncture – which I understand does wonders for pain. My father got over debilitating hip pain in just two acupunture sessions. And it’s never come back!

There are also nutrients and natural remedies to address depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, and any number of things. These three can often even be addressed by just doing some exercise. But, instead, we put up with drugs, their outrageous side effects, and the possibility of drug overdoses, interactions, reactions, and so on.

What a mess.

A large percentage of people going into a drug treatment center program these days have a problem with prescription drugs – and they often started out by being prescribed the drugs by their doctors.

In some European countries, where people are much healthier than Americans, there is far more emphasis on natural remedies and prevention. Hopefully, Obama’s new health care plan will address some of these issues.

In the meantime … if you’re having trouble coming off a drug like painkillers, anti-anxiety or depression meds and would like to see if you can resolve your problems without them, contact us to find out if there’s a drug treatment center that can help you.

Popularity: 34% [?]

The FDA has approved another painkiller drug that also has the potential for addiction. This one’s called Tapentadol. It appears from the application for approval, submitted less than a year ago, that the testing was done on, and the drug should therefore be recommended for, patients who have had bunionectomy surgery (think ‘bunions’ – a inflammation or thickening of the fluid sac that prevents friction between tendon and bone in the big toe) or for patients with degenerative, end-stage joint disease of the hip or knee.

That’s a narrow group that suffers pretty severe pain.

However, just like OxyContin, originally approved for cancer patients with debilitating pain, there is no doubt in my mind that Tapentadol will be used for other things. And no doubt that it will join the ranks of the many painkillers that are causing problems with prescription drug addiction.

It’s unfortunate that the FDA doesn’t have the power to say ‘no thanks, we have enough painkillers, don’t need anymore, no need to apply because we won’t approve it, they cause too many problems.’

This drug may actually turn out to be even worse than OxyContin because it also contains an element used in antidepressants, anti-anxiety and for ADHD.

Which also means the potential of antidepressant side effects – on top of the opioid painkillers side effects.

Double trouble. And double the potential for landing you in prescription drug rehab. Think twice – no, make that 10 times – and really do your homework before taking this one. As usual, your doctor won’t know much more (if any) than he’s told by the drug rep who’s out to sell the product, not safeguard your best interests.

Popularity: 20% [?]

I’ve recently seen ads on TV, for an antidepressant, that gives us the startling fact that two out of three people who take antidepressants still feel depressed. The ad is for another drug, another type of antidepressant, that you take in addition to your original antidepressant, to help.

First of all, doesn’t this tell you something about antidepressants? They don’t work for heaven’s sake. Chances are a close inspection of all the trials done on the drug before it was released would have found the same thing – that the majority of people who take it still feel depressed, and many of those who don’t would have felt better even if they’d taken a placebo.

If your antidepressant isn’t working, consider more traditional methods of treatment. Exercise helps depression, nutrients, going to a doctor who can figure out if there’s something going on with you physically that may be causing the symptoms of depression. Or just taking a good, hard, honest look at your life and figuring out what’s got you down – stress at work, bad marriage (or even one that looks good but just doesn’t make you happy), not feeling like you’re accomplishing your goals in life, or maybe you’ve lost sight of your goals altogether – there are a lot of reasons to feel depressed about life – and then figuring out what you have to do about it.

Why don’t antidepressants work? Because your problem was not caused by an antidepressant deficiency. Get some help.  Get into an addiction treatment center if you can’t get off them. They’ll help you get off them safely, and help you figure out your life.

Popularity: 17% [?]