Cough Medicine...Remedy or Risk?

I remember when I was little, I absolutely hated cough syrup. If I had a cough, I would try to hide it for as long as possible so that my mom wouldn't make me take Robitussin. Even today, I try to avoid cough syrup as much as possible. It just grosses me out. So you can imagine my surprise to hear that teens are taking large amounts of cough medicine to get high. I can barely swallow a spoonful of cough syrup, but people are drinking two or three bottles. But upon further examination, cough medicine seems like an ideal candidate for teenage use and abuse because it can be easily bought, and its totally legal. All you have to do is walk into the drug store and pick up a bottle of Robitussin. You don't even have to ask the pharmacist. Totally easy, right? Maybe too easy. It's this accessibility that makes cough medicine abuse a problem.

Like I said when I was talking about prescription drug abuse, a lot of people assume that because drugs are legal,they aren't harmful. However, this is not the case. And while cough medicine doesn't seem particularly harmful (after all, it's supposed to make you feel better), it can do a lot of damage. Cough medicine contains an ingredient called dextromethorphan (aka DXM), which when taken in large quantities, can create the feeling of being high. DXM is safe when used in proper dosages, but in order to get high, teens are consuming really large quantities. This is where you might run into a problem.

If you take cough medicine in the proper dose, you don't have to worry about the negative effects caused by the abuse of DXM. If you abuse cough medicine, though, there are some consequences of this abuse, including confusion, dizziness, abdominal pain, rapid heartbeat, numbness of fingers and toes, and disorientation. These effects of the abuse of DXM or "robotripping" (get it? Robitussin...robotripping) are only the short term effects. There is also a variety of long-term effects of DXM abuse that can cause even more damage.

DXM doesn't just result in a short term high, but can also produce some long-term and life-threatening effects. Some of the long-term effects of cough medicine abuse include brain damage, psychosis, and addiction. Abuse of DXM can even result in coma or death. Just like any other drug, DXM is addictive and can result in really serious consequences. It's really not something to mess around with. Just because cough medicine will stop your cough doesn't mean that it's okay to drink 1 or 2 bottles at once. Really, it's just not a good idea, and the idea that because a drug is legal means that it is safe needs to be erased from your brain.

Labels: prescription-drug-abuse, teen-addiction, teen-drug-abuse, teen-drug-help, teen-rehab, teen-substance-abuse

posted by beth @ 3:58 PM