O’Loughlin in Rehab

Developing an addiction to prescription pain medication after an injury has become a serious problem in the past couple of years. People are prescribed pain medications like Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycodone, and Morphine to cope with pain after a surgery or any kind of injury—anything from a broken bone to a torn muscle, but then some become physically dependent or addicted to the drugs after a short period of time. Hawaii Five-0 star Alex O’Loughlin is an example of how these pain medications can essentially force people into an addiction after an injury.

O’Loughlin injured his shoulder because each week Hawii Five-0 has movie-style stunts that the actor performed mostly on his own. At some point in time his shoulder required medical attention, he was given pain medication, and now he’s developed a problem with them. Patients who are prescribed pain medications for a period of time may develop a physical dependence on them, which is not the same as addiction. Repeated exposure to pain medication causes the body to adapt, sometimes resulting in tolerance (that is, more of the drug is needed to achieve the desired effect compared to when it was first prescribed) and withdrawal symptoms upon abrupt cessation of drug use. O’Loughlin falls in this category and he is taking a short leave of absence from the TV show to seek medically supervised treatment.

Individuals who abuse or are addicted to prescription medications can be treated. Initially, they may need to undergo medically supervised detoxification in order to help reduce the withdrawal symptoms—however, that’s just the first step. Options for effectively treating addiction to prescription pills are drawn from research on treating heroin addiction. Behavioral treatments combined with medications have proven effective. Finding the right treatment center can make all the difference for a patient because certain standard programs may not work. At Seabrook, patients can take comfort in knowing that we structure individually inspired detox and rehab programs in order to fit the needs of each unique patient. Seabrook has rehab facilities located in New Jersey (NJ) and Pennsylvania (PA) and also an outpatient office in New York (NY). Contact Seabrook today with any questions about prescription pill abuse, addiction, or treatment.