January 2006 GCR Newsletter - Pain Pill Addiction

Pain pill addiction ensues in two general ways. Firstly, pain patients suffering through legitimate needs for prescription pills take prescribed pills for too long, or in higher than recommended dosages, and find themselves eventually dependent; and secondly, people using pain pills recreationally soon find that the lure of the addiction overwhelm efforts to resist, and spiral into full blown dependency.

However the pain pill addiction originates, pain pill addiction has become an enormous societal problem, and there are an estimated 6 million pain pill addicts taking prescription pain pills every day within America. Because pain pills are "legitimate" and doctor prescribed medications, people underestimate the dangers of abuse, and underestimate the addictive properties of these medications that can be as addictive as heroin.

Additionally, because people using pain pills can more easily hide their consumption, family and friends often remain unaware of the true extent of the addiction until things have become severe, and behaviors and relationships already suffering from the effects of the pain pill addiction.

Pain pills are opiates, and once metabolized in the body are essentially the same as opium or heroin from the street corner; and as such the resultant dependency and physical addiction is very similar to that of an illicit opiate addiction. A pain pill addiction produces a very strong physical dependency, and people dependent on pain pills will begin to suffer the initial symptoms of painful withdrawal within a few hours of the last dose wearing off. The pains of withdrawal and the cravings to abuse are extremely strong, and few people can resist the urges back to use while attempting to detox off of pain pills alone. For the best likelihood of success, pain pill addicts need professional help, and a supervised or tapered down period of withdrawal and detoxification.

To break free from pain pill addiction, most people will require professional help and drug treatment therapies.

Although legitimate medications, pain pills carry a very high abuse potential and the devastation of a pain pill addiction resembles closely the devastation of any addiction, whether to an illicit drug or otherwise.