Prescription Pain Medications (Opioids)

 People misuse prescription opioid medications by taking them in a way that is not intended, such as:

• taking someone else’s prescription, even if it is for a legitimate medical purpose like relieving pain.
• taking an opioid medication in a way other than prescribed—for instance, taking more than your prescribed dose or taking it more often, or crushing pills into powder to snort or inject the drug.
• taking the opioid prescription to get high.

Sometimes people misusing opioids combine them with alcohol or other drugs, which is particularly dangerous. Misusing opioids increases risk for both addiction and overdose.

In addition to pain relief and euphoria, other effects of opioids include:

• sleepiness
• confusion
• nausea (feeling sick to the stomach)
• constipation
• slowed or stopped breathing.

These medications are not safe to use with alcohol or other medications that also slow breathing, such as depressants, because their combined effects can increase the likelihood of a fatal overdose.

Does misusing prescription opioids lead to heroin use?

Prescription opioids are chemically closely related to heroin, and their effects, especially when misused, can be very similar. Because heroin may be cheaper to get, people who have become addicted to prescription pain medications sometimes switch to using heroin.. Nearly 80 percent of people addicted to heroin started first with prescription opioids.  However, the transition to heroin use from prescription opioids is still rare; only about 4 percent of people who misuse prescription opioids use heroin.

Yes. In fact, taking just 1 large dose could cause the body to stop breathing. In 2014, opioid medications resulted in 19,000 deaths in the United States. If you compare it to 2001, when 5,500 people died from an overdose of opioid pain relievers, you can see how dramatically deaths have increased in the last decade. Among young people, males are much more likely to overdose from opioid abuse than are females.¹ In 2014, among young people ages 15 – 24, males accounted for three out of every four deaths from an overdose of pain relievers.

The risk for overdose and death are increased when opioids are combined with alcohol or other drugs, especially depressants such as Benzodiazepinexs (e.g. Xanax).

Signs of Overdose

Signs of a possible heroin overdose are:

• slow breathing
• blue lips and fingernails
• cold damp skin
• shaking
• vomiting or gurgling noise

People who are showing symptoms of overdose need immediate medical help—call 911. A drug called naloxone can be used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and prevent death if it is given in time.  Naloxone is an opioid antagonist, which means that it binds to the opioid receptors and blocks their effects.

Naloxone, which is available as a nasal spray or in an easy-to-use autoinjector, is often carried by emergency first responders, including police officers and emergency medical services.  In some states, doctors can now prescribe naloxone to people who use heroin or to their family members, so that in the event of an overdose, it can be given immediately without waiting for emergency personnel (who may not arrive in time). Read more about how Naloxone Saves Lives.

If you, or a friend, are in crisis and need to speak with someone now, please call:

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (they don't just talk about suicide—they cover a lot of issues and will help put you in touch with someone close by).

If you need information on treatment and where you can find it, you can call:

• Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator at 1-800-662-HELP or visit www.findtreatment.samhsa.gov.

For more information on how to help a friend or loved one, visit our Have a Drug Problem, Need Help? page.