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Prescription Drug Abuse out of Control

By Denise Foley for Completely You

There was a drug raid in my house last week. But it was me -- not the Drug Enforcement Administration -- who was confiscating the controlled substances.

In my medicine cabinet, I found narcotics such as Vicodin and oxycodone, prescribed, according to the labels, for dental pain. In one case, the bottle was full; apparently the dental pain hadn’t been that bad. And I found two lonely and long-expired Xanax -- remnants, I guess, of someone’s anxiety crisis. I tossed them all.

But in many households across the country, women are tossing them back -- along with antidepressants, antianxiety drugs, and ADHD medications. They’re all prescribed, all legal, but, in many cases, reflecting the new face of substance abuse: working women and mothers. Not your usual drug addicts.

A report released late last year from Medco Health Solutions, the pharmacy-benefit manager, produced some alarming statistics. Analyzing data from 2.5 million insured Americans from 2001 to 2010, the study found that 1 in 4 women is prescribed medicine for mental health conditions. Antidepressant use is up by 29 percent, and women are using antianxiety medication at twice the rate seen in men. Although ADHD drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall are more likely to be prescribed more for boys than girls, more adult women use these stimulants than men do. And their use of the drugs had more than doubled since 2001.

Most surprising, there’s been a rise in the use of antipsychotics, once only prescribed for schizophrenics. The number of adults taking them is 3.5 times higher than it was in 2001 and, again, more women than men are popping these 21st century versions of “Mother’s Little Helper.”

It’s been a tough decade, starting with the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York and inching painfully through two wars and a recession. But that bad? For answers, I turned to Karen Dodge, director of research at the Hanley Center, a leading nonprofit addiction recovery center in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“I’ve been in this business for more than three decades, and I’ve seen more prescription drug abuse today than I’ve ever seen,” Dodge told me. “Heroin abuse stayed steady from 2002 to 2009. However, the nonmedical use of psychotherapeutics really escalated as did the use of pain relievers. The use of OxyContin and oxycodone escalated five times.”

The reasons are complex, of course. When they’re feeling bad, women are more likely to seek help -- and to seek it from a mental health professional -- than men are. But the problem may be when they don’t go to a psychiatrist. “A lot of antidepressants, for example, are being prescribed by nurse practitioners or general practitioners,” says Dodge. “Psychiatrists go crazy when they hear this. They tend to be more careful in diagnosing and prescribing medication than a GP. And today, you have gastroenterologists prescribing psychotherapeutic drugs off-label for colitis, and rheumatologists prescribing Seroquel, an antipsychotic, for lupus.”

Many of these drugs can be habit-forming. Even antidepressants that have become household names -- such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil -- can have withdrawal symptoms. “Maybe you got a prescription for a pain reliever innocently, but they can be so addictive,” says Dodge. “You build up a tolerance to it and you need more and more to get the same feelings. You can’t go back to your doctor, so you go doctor-shopping or you buy it online, where there’s no quality control, so you can’t even be sure if what you’re getting is genuinely the pharmaceutical.”

It may also take some time before women realize they’re addicted. A suburban mom may think she has nothing in common with the junkie on the street corner. People just don’t consider prescription medication in the same way they do street drugs. “After all,” says Dodge, “the doctor prescribed it.”

If you think -- or know -- that you have an unhealthy dependence on prescription drugs, there’s help out there.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has a website filled with resources on both addictions and mental health problems, including a searchable mental health services locator and facilities finder. You can even locate centers that specialize in particular addictions, such as opioid abuse. They’re testing a system that allows you to locate a facility by texting your zip code from your cell phone.

Narcotics Anonymous is a 12-step program like AA. On their website, they can help you find a meeting or a hotline in your area.

And finally, there’s the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). Because it can really get that bad.

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Denise Foley  is Completely You’s “News You Can Use” blogger. She is a veteran health writer, the former deputy editor and editor at large of Prevention, and co-author of four books on women’s health and parenting.