Warning: Your medicine cabinet can make you high

Did you know that the medicine in your cabinet can get you high?

Medical Aid Fedhealth has warned that hard core drugs like heroine and cocaine are not the only addictions to be careful of.

FedHealth in a statement this week said that “Drug abuse comes in all shapes and sizes and today there is a worrying trend in the high number of people who are addicted to prescribed medication and even over-the-counter (OTC) and herbal medications.”

The most commonly abused prescription drugs are painkillers, sedatives or sleeping tablets and stimulants.

Withdrawal from these can be every bit as traumatic as withdrawal from street drugs such as heroin. In fact, according to some doctors, the withdrawal process from sleeping pills and tranquillisers (the benzodiazepines) is the most difficult out of all the drugs, and must be medically managed.

Then when it comes to over-the-counter abuse painkillers with codeine; benzodiazepines like valium for anxiety and amnesia and appetite suppressants/stimulants rank as the top most abused general drugs.

Peter Jordan, Principal Officer of Fedhealth says “Many people believe that a doctor’s prescription makes their medication, even if they do take a little more than prescribed, safer than other drugs and yes, these medications are safe and effective when taken as directed, however overdosing on any drug can cause serious and potentially fatal side effects if abused.”

“Long-term addiction to any form of medication, whether OTC or prescription drugs, can lead to liver and kidney damage, and in some cases, heart and blood pressure problems. Jordan says today one of the biggest challenges health care professionals face is being able to detect the problem as many “addicts” GP hop, getting prescriptions from more than one GP in order to get enough medication for their fix.

“This has led to a definite drive amongst medical schemes to see a more co-ordinated approach to healthcare. With a single, nominated GP on a designated network, the doctor can become the ‘coordinator of care’ and therefore work directly with the member and monitor care. At Fedhealth for example we have introduced a 360 degree care approach for our members in an effort to curtail any abuses and promote better wellbeing,” says Jordan.

He explains how Family Practitioners play a pivotal role in the coordination of out-of- hospital-specialist-care for their patients and that benefits to both members and the scheme are as follows:

• Quality of care is improved by enabling access to the correct and best possible specialist care.

• Unsafe combinations of treatments, including medicines, can be prevented.

• Unnecessary duplication of costly clinical tests and treatments which contribute to rising health care costs and the resultant increase in members’ contributions can be prevented.

“Most people who become addicted to prescribed medications started off with a legitimate prescription for an existing medical condition. Our 360 degree care approach, which nominates a single GP from the network as a member’s coordinator of care, helps to monitor and regulate the addiction danger of taking too many pills too often or for too long,” says Jordan.