There is a new hidden addiction that is frighteningly out of control and it has the power to carve a hole in your life before you know it. The addiction I refer to is an addiction to pain medication prescribed initially for actual physical pain. Addiction to pain medication is the fastest growing addiction in the world due to mismanagement of actual physical pain.
Physicians and most especially surgeons are not permitted to admit when they have failed to perform well and a patient ends up with chronic pain. The first line of defense for a patient with a mismanaged case is pain medication. Even non-narcotic pain medication like Tramadol (ultram) is an addictive medication. With the long term exposure to medications like these, the patient ends up addicted. Addiction to these medications are particularly complex because there is a physical element of pain coupled with a narcotic or non-narcotic form of pain management.
Medications such as Oxy—anything or Methadone are highly addictive and have recovery rate of less than ten percent. Many patients attempting to get off of these medication and withdrawal from their addiction go through what is known as Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome, which is a way of saying that the brain doesn’t fire the right hormones any longer and the digestive tract, the body’s self regulation of temperature, the ability to feel emotions is temporarily damaged. These addictions are often reinforced when the patient struggles because there is a physical pain element that occurs and it is simpler for physicians to place patients back on pain medication. With proper nutritional supplements and a dedication to breaking the addiction, these medications can be lived without and other less invasive forms of pain management can be instilled provided the patient is willing. Addiction, medically endorsed, is still addiction and requires intervention to prevent long term problems.
