Hydrocodone addiction begins when people start abusing hydrocodone for its heroin-like high. A comparatively unpublicized problem here in the United States, hydrocodone addiction has increased four-fold in the last decade. Though pure hydrocodone is strictly monitored, and is almost never given out as a prescription, its presence along with other substances in the drugs commonly used for chronic pain relief such as Vicodin makes it one of the more dangerous drugs against we which we must guard our bodies and minds. Along with physical and psychiatric liabilities, prolonged and improper use of hydrocodone can come with serious behavioral side effects that can inflict lasting damage on personal relationships. The extreme sense of relaxation one garners from their initial use of hydrocodone may be enough to get them hooked for life. Before ingesting hydrocodone, be sure to speak with your physician about its potentially negative effects and use the drug only under doctor-established guidelines. Abuse of hydrocodone could very lead to overdose—a trip from which there is often no returning. If a person experiences an overdose, they should seek urgent medical attention, and enroll in a long-term treatment program that helps them fight their hydrocodone addiction.

What Hydrocodone Abuse Can Do

The list of damages which hydrocodone addiction can cause is long. Dangerous to both the mind and the body, untreated addiction symptoms can include: cardiac arrest, blood pressure complications, pulmonary problems, skin rashes, nausea, vomiting, permanently decreased mental and physical capacity, emotional dependence, prodigious and consuming fear, depression, breakdown of muscles, coma, convulsions, etc. The immediate symptoms that occur at the onset of addiction are no less painful and include: dry mouth, stomach cramps, urination problems, dizziness, problems breathing, altered mental state, constipation, anxiety, etc. You’ll notice a mixture of physical and mental risks in the aforementioned symptoms. This is why it’s important to approach hydrocodone treatment from a proactive and multilateral standpoint. Both the physical and mental elements of the addiction must be treated.

Who Is Most Likely to Abuse Hydrocodone?

While hydrocodone abuse and related deaths have occurred in every age group, recent studies indicate that the most likely abusers are women between the ages of 20 and 40. In the last ten years, hydrocodone-related ER visits have increased 500%. While there are relatively stringent guidelines associated with pure hydrocodone, its distilled use in other popular drugs has enabled its widespread circulation through every block of people in the United States. The fact that the problem has not been chronicled to the extent of other drugs doesn’t make it any less dangerous. Recent wide-scale DEA action and the growing number of fatalities associated with hydrocodone puts it front and center as a bona fide addiction epidemic here in the United States. The National Alcohol and Substance Abuse Information Center (NASAIC) maintains a continuously updated national database of hydrocodone addiction treatment programs in your local area, as well as the leading recommended hydrocodone addiction treatment centers in the United States and around the world.