When Painkillers Become Dangerous: What Everyone Needs to Know about Oxycontin and Other Prescription Drugs

by Drew Pinsky, Robert J. Meyers, Marvin D. Seppala, et al.

A timely guide to the misuse and abuse of prescription painkillers that sorts the facts from the fiction for legitimate users and their loved ones.

If you are concerned about a loved one's use of pain medications, you need to read this book, When Painkillers Become Dangerous Whether prescribed by a physician as OxyContin or purchased on the street as "hillbilly heroin," painkilling drugs are extremely effective in eliminating physical,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159285107X
• ISBN13: 9781592851072
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Hazelden Publishing & Educational Services
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Important Book

"When Painkillers Become Dangerous" is a book that should be read by, pretty much, everybody and anybody. In this day and age, and given the staggering statistics of the use/abuse of painkillers, it should not come as a surprise that we all will either know someone - directly or indirectly - who develops an addiction to painkillers. This is an extremely resourceful book - one written without all the medical jargon. Drew does a phenomenal job covering an important topic in a concise and clear manner.

An Overall Review Summed Up Quickly!

This book is readable in one night. It is informative. It is interesting. It is helpful. And most of all, imho, it is not written like nor does it read like a text book, which can sometimes be difficult to get through. I felt, as I read it, that Dr. Drew or one of the other authors were sitting across from me talking to me about this subject! It was incredibly easy to get through and it doesn't have a lot of mumbojumbo that can be confusing to comprehend! I highly recommend reading this book and passing it on.

Best overview for patients and medical professionals

This is the best overview of substance abuse, its history and current treatment options that I have ever read. It is easy to read yet very thorough and easily understood by even my non-reading rehab trudging buddies but also very informative to my most sophisticated and jaded medical and mental health professional colleages. This is a must-read for everyone intested in understanding substance abuse. This was my third copy! The other two disappeared in the lending out to family, friends and colleagues. I'm tempted to just buy this by the dozen!

Straight facts and medical information concerning legal, painkilling prescription drugs

Written by the program medical director of chemical dependency services at Las Encinas Hospital of Pasadena, California, When Painkillers Become Dangerous offers straight facts and medical information concerning legal, painkilling prescription drugs. These drugs are highly effective, but also severely addictive. When Painkillers Become Dangerous is emphatically not a substitute for the diagnosis and evaluation of a physician, as an internal disclaimer warns, it is a "must-read" to acquaint oneself with the basics of the drugs and their dangers, how addiction develops, how addiction treatment works, how to intervene on a loved one's addiction, and much more, all presented in terms immediately accessible to the lay reader. Highly recommended.

Wow.

I cannot find enough words to say about this book. I have been waiting for months for it to come out and it's just amazing. I've known for a while that my mother was addicted to pain meds, but had no idea just how addicted she was until i read this book. I bought this at 9pm on friday night... and by 1am I had read almost the whole book. It is very easy to read (with the minimum of hard to understand doctor jibberish) and it draws a very crystal clear line of knowning addiction from need. (my grandmother needs her pain meds, my mother does not) She has nearly every tell-tail sign of addiction! Amazing job Drew Pinsky! Thanks to you and the other specialists who made the effort to make this book that is like no other! I commend your efforts and really appriciate the book! A.D Indianapolis In. cldnslnt@aol.com