Pain Killer Addiction – drug addiction for the new millennium

Pain killer addiction is the addiction for the 21st century as our medical knowledge has exponentially increased probably far more than our technological revolution of the internet age. Today, there is practically a panacea of prescription drugs that can be bought over the counter or obtained simply by performing a brief internet search. The risk of addiction is serious even when issued under medical supervision and this is a feature of this new age addiction. Those who become dependent are able to express perhaps the ultimate form of an addict’s denial and say “My doctor advised me to take them!”

Pain killer addiction is not new, it has been a feature of society for a long time, even the British Queen Victoria favored the use of cocaine based tonics as a pick me up after using them to alleviate the pangs of childbirth, and that illustrates a very good point. Pain killer addiction is a dependency that affects all parts of society and to gain an understanding of the scale here in America, the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) believes that more than 48 million Americans have used medically prescribed drugs for recreational, non medical use. The use of prescribed pain killers can lead to pain killer addiction and the numbers involved are alarming, however what is more disturbing is the insidious nature of pain killer addiction and the sections of society that it impacts upon. Typically these members of society are some of those who you would least expect would ever be classified as a drug addict.

Pain killer addiction tends to be focused upon three classes of prescribed drugs, the opioids, depressant and stimulants. Opioids (derived from opium) are frequently prescribed to treat and alleviate pain. Depressants, or to be more precise, Central Nervous System or CNS depressants are commonly prescribed by doctors to address anxiety and sleep problems while stimulants tend to be used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obesity.

Opioids and their propensity for pain killer addiction

Opioids are routinely prescribed for pain relief but there are numerous derivatives that are available over the counter. The radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh discovered that addiction to an opioid is a very serious personal and professional issue. Opioids are also known as narcotics, so when you hear that heroin and morphine are Opioids you may start to appreciate the seriousness of pain killer addiction. Opioids found commonly in medicine cabinets across the country will include brand names such as Codeine, Dilaulid, Demerol and Darvon. The chances are you have some in your home right now and they are not far removed from the street drug, heroin which should give you pause for thought.

Who is most at risk ?

The NIDA study conducted recently demonstrates that 20% of Americans have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons. The young and the old are most susceptible to pain killer addiction.

The older you are the more likely you are to take medication, and therefore the increased likelihood that you will be advised to take an opioid for pain relief due to infirmity and aging. It is not just Opioids prescribed by a doctor, the elderly are more likely to use over the counter drugs as well as dietary supplements which interact with prescription drugs from the doctor. It places pain killer addiction and it’s propensity to be prevalent in the older members of our society when you understand that those over 65 years of age comprise only 13% of our population but consume over 30% of all prescription medicines. Typically pain killer addiction in this age group of our society is as a result of ignorance and misunderstanding, however the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an agency of the Department of Health, highlights a far more disturbing trend - the propensity for the young to succumb to pain killer addiction as a result of recreational use and misdiagnosis of conditions such as ADHD. Such instances tend to be restricted to the use of stimulants rather than pain killer addiction but that is not a cause for celebration.

2002 – a benchmark year

In 2002, for the first time more people were killed by overdoses of Opioids than either cocaine or heroin. The opioid medications that people were using included such common drug cabinet names as Oxycotin, hydrocone and fetanyl. It also includes methadone, the heroin addiction substitute used to help heroin addicts deal with the effects of withdrawal from that drug, itself a member of the opioid family and probably the most well known name that would come to mind when the word opium is mentioned.

Many medical practitioners do not advocate the restriction of prescription opioids as a means of dealing with pain killer addiction. Doctors see opioids as a powerful tool in alleviating pain and discomfort. It is also a fact that pain killers are readily available from internet dispensers and in the case of serious pain killer addiction, a dependent individual will steal the opioid involved from a chemist or doctor.

Treatment of Pain Killer Addiction

Treating a patient who has succumbed to pain killer addiction follows the general protocols for treating dependency upon illicit drugs and substances. The first step in successfully treating a patient is the recognition that there is a problem, and in this instance where the drug has been prescribed, medical practitioners have a major part to play in identifying addictive behavior and dependency.

Upon recognizing that a patient has a pain killer addiction, readily available access to support and treatment is essential in order to deliver the services that are necessary to break the cycle of addiction. The cycle of addiction may be harder to break in these instances, as very often the drug has been administered by a medical practitioner which reinforces the addicted person’s belief that they actually need the drug for their medical condition. This belief may persist long after the clinical need for the opioid has passed and is a peculiar feature that needs to be tackled with pain killer addiction.