- Dangers of
Sharing Prescription Medication
- By Jenny Ursworth
It's becoming a big problem,
especially among this country's teenagers. More and more it's
being discovered that people are trying and sharing prescriptions
not meant for them. Because this is becoming such a big problem
as well as a dangerous one, studies are being done to find out
just exactly why this is becoming such a big problem in hopes
that a resolution can be made to stop the sharing of prescriptions.
|
Studies have already found that
more teenage girls, than boys are doing this. Why is not quite
known, but over 13% of teenage girls say they have either taken
someone else's prescription, or have given their own prescription
to someone else. The sharing of prescriptions start out innocently
enough most times. Someone has a friend who's in pain or "stressed
out" and another friend offers up what they take to relieve
them of the same problem.
The girls claim they share their
meds with a friend because she takes the same meds and is out
at the time needed, or a parent uses the same meds and they don't
feel that sharing is bad because the medication is the same.
It's still not understood why girls do this more than boys, other
than girls seem to go through more "growing pains"
than boys do.
Even though the intention of
sharing the medications with friends starts out innocently enough,
it can still be a costly mistake because doses may be different
for one person and not the other. |
|
Even vitamins should not be shared
with others because what works for one may cause health problems
for another. For example, if medicine is prescribed to work with
that person's own chemistry. Another person's chemistry may be
different and if given the same type of medicine, could cause
a terrible reaction with another person's chemistry.
Drugs that cause birth defects,
such as an teratogenic prescription are a huge concern among
doctors and pharmacists. A young woman taking someone else's
teratogenic prescription and not knowing she is pregnant, can
cause serious damage to her unborn child. Sharing prescription
medications is becoming such a trend that teenagers are turning
from the harder street drugs such as crack, ecstasy, and crystal
meth, because their using their parents or grandparents prescription
medication. If you think that the damage
that ecstasy can cause is already bad, you should know that
prescription drug addiction could be so much worse. This "new
trend" of teenage drug abuse has been branded "Generation
X," because the problem is becoming so serious.
With parents taking drugs for
anxiety, depression, migraines, pain, and so on, the medicine
cabinets are full. For the curious teenager or one that has a
"friend" who wants drugs, the pills are there for the
taking. If you have a child or teenager, this is the prime time
to talk to him or her about the dangers of prescription medication
sharing. Hopefully, educating your child about the consequences
of such action would be enough to change his or her mind from
trying it. |
