Underground Journal

Hydrocodone Treatment Addresses Both Physical and Mental Addictions

The need for hydrocodone treatment to address addiction problems is rapidly escalating as this opiate narcotic becomes more popular and widely used and abused. Hydrocodone is prescribed in liquid, capsule or pill form most commonly for pain relief and as an anti-cough medication.

Hydrocordone affects brain function and its side effects include dizziness, sleepiness, lightheadedness, nausea, vomiting, a sense of euphoria and mental confusion. Addiction to hydrocodone develops as the effectiveness of the drug to produce the desired pain relief lessens and more and more of the drug is required on a more frequent basis in order to achieve pain reduction.

Hydrocodone treatment for overdose always requires immediate hospitalization. Symptoms include shallow or irregular breathing, difficulty breathing, a cold, clammy feeling to the skin, and a noticeable lethargy in the patient. Treatment for an overdose requires the administration of naloxone to prevent the drug from poisoning the liver.

Those who take hydrocordone over prolonged periods of time can develop an addiction which requires treatment for withdrawal symptoms once use of the drug has been stopped. Symptoms usually appear within six hours of the last drug dosage and can continue for several days and as long as two weeks. These symptoms include respiratory difficulties, vomiting, severe anxiety, fevers and chills, dilated pupils, irritability, muscle aches, insomnia, heart palpitations, mental fogginess, sweating, nasal congestion and an expressed intense craving for the drug to the exclusion of any other activity or desire. Symptoms gradually decrease within two weeks of the last administered dosage.

Various hydrocodone treatment methods include slow withdrawal from the drug using a substitute to lessen withdrawal symptoms such as methodone, as well as a program of psychological support to prevent a relapse. Although at-home treatment for hydrocordone addiction is possible, having some sort of structured medical and well as psychological supervision is more desireable. Treatment adminstered by medical professionals can address both the physical as well as psychological repercussions that long-term use of the drug has created.

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