I've tried to read all of the posts, and you all make many good points, so I'm just going to share my story.
After the arthritis diagnosis at 12, my docs gave me tylenol-3. Years later, when I wanted off the codeine (and the acetaminophen), I moved onto tramadol (Ultram). Once the pain started getting much worse, it was on to Vicodin. Then it was onto Percocet AND Vicodin. My tolerance had gotten insanely high. Then the Percocet was switched out for Darvon, and I still had the Vicodin.
I got addicted. It took me the past few years but there is no question that I was extremely addicted to opioids (opiates are drugs that are actually derived from the opium plant, opioids are synthetic opiates).
Also--has anyone mentioned that opiate use can lead to major migraines? It's true. I developed intense migraines while I was on Vicodin, and I simply treated them with more Vicodin, and then Percocet. I had to take a frightening amount of drugs just to get the migraines to go away. It's probably one of the reasons I got so addicted--I had to take enough opioids to not just get rid of the pain from arthritis, but to get me so high that I could barely feel the migraines.
I figured out I was addicted when I started a pain journal, and included in it how many times a day I took pain killers. Within a few weeks, it was obvious that I was just popping opioids because I liked popping opioids, not because I was in that much pain. If I hadn't gone to my docs with the pain journal, they probably would have kept giving me pain killers and not thinking twice about it. No one who's ever met me, especially my docs because I'm super-responsible about my CD, would ever think that I had gotten addicted to drugs. Even my own husband didn't realize how bad it had gotten until I had him read the pain journal. My family, my boss, my co-workers, my friends, NOBODY knew how many drugs I was taken on a daily basis.
So, yes, it is possible to get addicted to the pain killers. They are habit forming, especially opioids (including codeine). I've been reading up a lot about addiction, and they're learning so much about our brains on drugs. We all have opiate receptors in our brain, and our body does actually produce a small amount of opiates on a daily basis. Except the drugs, even codeine, flood our brains (opiate receptors) with far more opioids than it could ever naturally produce.
Which is why, at first, they work so well. Docs are learning that we build a tolerance to opiates because, after prolonged use of them, we actually trick our brains into thinking that we the need all of those extra opioids just to survive. So, instead of working as a pain killer, they simply keep the addict from going through a painful detox. It's why opiate addicts have one of the highest relapse rates of all drug addicts. We're not just physically addicted to the drug--we have our brains convinced that we NEED the drugs. So, for me, instead of taking them only when I was in pain, I took them all of the time because my body had gotten so used to them. If I tried to be good, and not take any for a few days, just to prove I could, the withdrawal symptoms would be so bad that I'd go back on the Vicodin just to make the withdrawals go away. For me, it became a vicious cycle.
(If anyone is curious about the new methods of addiction treatment, check out
the HBO site for it's documentary, "ADDICTION" It's incredibly informative. They've done brain scan studies of addicts that show that an addicts brain reacts to drug cues (triggers) so quickly that the addict doesn't consciously realize it's happening. All they know is that their brain is suddenly telling them that the drugs are the most important thing in their lives--more important than a spouse, children, families, and a job--and that they need to get the drug NOW. It's all really interesting. Well, to me, at least.)
Now, just to be clear. I am simply sharing my story. I come from a family with a history of addiction (my maternal grandparents were alcoholics, my Mom was addicted to prescription meds and my Dad is addicted to gambling). That history definitely had a lot to do with pushing me further into my own addiction. I'm not trying to advocate that anyone should just abstain from pain killers because you might get addicted. I just think that it's a good idea to know your family history regarding addiction, to make sure your docs know about it, and to keep a pain journal.
I still keep my pain journal, even though now all it says (for the past month) is "I hate withdrawals! Withdrawals suck!" But I still write in it because I know that, someday, I'm going to need to go back on pain killers. Unlike the average addict, I actually have a chronic illness that will, eventually, necessitate some amount of pain relief. We just won't ever take me back to the opioids.
People get addicted to all sorts of things. Oprah talks all the time about her addiction to food, but that doesn't mean she stopped eating entirely because of it. I have friends who are definitely addicted to shopping. It's how we handle the addiction that matters. Which was why I needed my pain journal to finally make me admit that I was an addict. I could hide my drug use from my husband, but I couldn't hide it from myself.
Yikes. This is long. I apologize for that. When I saw this thread I couldn't help but think, WOW. I'm only a month clean from my opioid addiction, so this thread called out to me because the more I talk about my addiction, and how I'm dealing with it, the better I feel. The withdrawals are still awful but talking about it helps remind me why I'm going through it all in the first place.
Thanks for letting me share.
Katie.
(Edited to Add: Oh yeah. I still smoke pot. I'm in California, and I have a prescription, so my docs are all just fine with it. I'm going to Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and I have a therapist that I see on a regular basis. They all agree that as long as I don't get psychologically addicted to pot--which probably won't happen since I don't smoke on a regular basis, only as a last resort when I'm either in a whole lot of pain, or haven't eaten anything for a few days--then it's not a problem. Luckily, every single study has shown that there is no way a person can become physically addicted to pot. Just mentally dependent upon it. Which is why I have my pain journal, and my therapist. Dealing with the opioid addiction is bad enough, so I'm doing everything I can to not develop another addiction.)
It took me a very long time before I could find competent doctors. Good luck!
