Pain Killer Addiction – Facts To Help You Find Help Fast
Pain Killer Addiction – Facts To Help You Find Help Fast
Although detoxification is not a treatment for pain killer addiction, it can help relieve withdrawal symptoms while the patient adjusts to being free of pain killers or other prescription drugs. An opioid-dependent pain patient has improved function with the use of the drug while an opioid-addicted patient does not have improvement. Common side effects and adverse reactions of pain killers are: nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, dry mouth, miosis (contraction of the pupil), orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure drops upon sudden standing) — often happens when arising too fast when getting out of bed in the morning, urinary retention, constipation and fecal impaction.
Addiction to pain killers is an escalating problem today, especially the abuse of opioid pain killers. There are a number of effective treatment options to treat pain killer addiction to prescription opioids and to help manage the sometimes severe withdrawal symptoms that can accompany sudden stopping of pain killers or drugs. Less common side effects and adverse reactions of pain killers are: confusion, hallucinations, delirium, hives, itching, hypothermia, bradycardia (slow heart rate), tachycardia (rapid heart rate), raised intracranial pressure, ureteric or biliary spasm, muscle rigidity and flushing.
More than 10% of high school seniors have started taking Vicodin for reasons other than reducing pain. When you’re addicted physically to a drug, like pain killers or alcohol, etc., it’s because you’ve suppressed or shut down your body’s production of endorphins, which are natural opiate pain killers; when this happens you start craving the drug that you replaced the endorphins with whether it’s alcohol, any of a number of drugs or pain killers. Opioids used as the doctor has prescribed are supposedly not dangerous according to some well-established medical groups; but if this is the case, why are so many people addicted to them?
If you think you are addicted and want to get off pain killers or other drugs, it’s best to get detoxified as fast as you can and then go through some type of rehabilitation; it’s important to have others to lean on and learn from and offer support to you. Pain killer addiction includes: opiate dependency, opiate addiction, narcotic dependency, narcotic addiction, and pain killer dependency or painkiller dependency. Addiction is both a biological and psychological condition.
Chronic pain affects one out of three or four adults; millions of people suffer from severe disabling pain. 2.2 million people aged 12 and up first abused painkillers within the past year; this is more than the number of people who started using marijuana and has overtaken the use of cocaine. There are many side effects and adverse reactions that can occur with the use of opioids as pain killers.
Find out from your local health professionals where the closest and best pain killer addiction treatment centers are. Taking the time to spend in a treatment center, detoxing, is of the utmost priority. All other demands of children, a job, school, or any other responsibilities may make inpatient treatment seem like an intrusion but it’s not.
If you can’t do an in-patient rehab, find out how you can do outpatient rehab and pay for it under your insurance plan; check your insurance policy to see if it’s covered. If you don’t have insurance, check with your local mental health agencies to see what is available that’s free. There are many pain killer addiction treatment facilities located throughout the United States, Canada and the rest of the world.
The body’s natural pain killers, endorphins, have been replaced by these pain killing drugs; get them flowing again with lots of laughter. Knowing some of these facts and understanding endorphin production will help get you on the road to pain killer addiction recovery fast; start working on it today and hopefully you’ll notice changes tomorrow. The many problems that are associated with pain killer addiction and abuse have experts, doctors and authorities searching for solutions.
Tags: Addiction, Facts, Fast, Find, help, Killer, pain
Evaluating Your Pain Symptoms: When you’re in pain, where do you turn?
Evaluating Your Pain Symptoms: When you’re in pain, where do you turn?
if you’re like most people, you’re probably confused about the whole subject of pain and your body. You may wonder, Did the pain just start? (And how long have I been in pain, anyway?) Or do I have a serious medical issue? Could something be broken? Could it be a sprain? What about a disease? Or worse? Is it a sprain in my lower back, or a pinched nerve in my neck, or am I just stressed out, or…what is it?
Maybe you’re frustrated too, because the pain you have isn’t under control. Over-the-counter Ibuprofen or Acetaminophen can sometimes offer temporary relief, but you can never be sure when the next bout of pain will strike or whether the quick fix will work anymore. You may also have nagging pain during your everyday life that never seems to let up: working on a computer, vacuuming the house, standing in a line at the grocery store…
How to Evaluate Your Symptoms
Getting Help from Friends and Family
Many people turn to friends and family for help in the hope of getting some kind of explanation or cure for the pain. But, the pain you feel isn’t just confusing and frustrating to you. Odds are, your family, your friends, and even your doctor are at a loss to understand what you are going through. If your doctor has been prescribing medication for the pain, but you’re still struggling with it every time you bend down to pick something up, you’re likely feeling frustrated with each other. No wonder. You and your doctor are dealing with pain the wrong way. When you are diagnosed and treated incorrectly, and when you don’t get any better, it’s frustrating. The right way is know that things you do everyday, suddenly (or on and off for a long time), are no longer pain free. The right way is the knowledge that nearly all these everyday things arise from one thing – pain.
How to Measure Pain
Pain is built into us by nature and is generated when a specific thing happens. The pain mechanism, which produces the symptoms of stiffness, dull aches, sharp or piercing burning sensations, and many more, can be controlled. But, before you get there, you may go through fully activated pain, where the mechanism of pain generates full-blown episodes of severe spasms in your back, or neck, or arms, or legs. Far more frequently than this, you experience mild-to-moderate pain, non-specific discomfort that allows you to go on with your day-to-day activities, but just the partial activation of the pain is enough to want to stop you in your tracks.
Routinely, pain is misdiagnosed as a pulled muscle, a mild strain, or something other than the underlying problem. Misdiagnoses often lead to mistreatment, which lead to failure, confusion and frustration. Sound familiar?
Keep in mind there are two definitions of pain: acute and chronic.
Acute pain is usually brought on suddenly by a specific event. Maybe you were bending down to pick up something heavy and when you did, you experienced sharp pain in your lower back. This type of pain will generally resolve itself in one to two weeks. Unless you have seriously damaged something in your back (in this example), acute pain goes away 80-90 percent of the time.
Chronic pain, however, is another matter altogether. Chronic pain, by definition, is with you all the time, no matter what you are doing during your day. Unlike acute pain that will go away, chronic pain is such that the goal is to reduce the pain frequency, severity, and duration to a level where you’re reasonably satisfied: a situation you can live with. For any of you suffering from chronic daily pain, proper control and management can help you enjoy many more pain-free days.
Evaluating Pain in Your Everyday Activities
Whether your pain is acute or chronic, keep a diary of what happened, where it happened, and what pain you experienced after if happened. In your pain diary, also document how severe the pain was at the very moment you felt it.
To make it easier to figure out how to evaluate yourself both before and after seeking medical attention, create a list of the five activities that are most important you.
Here’s an example of a helpful table where can rank activities that you must perform (usually work related) and those that you enjoy.
Rank
Activity
Avg Pain Level
(scale of 1-10, 10 as severe pain)
Pain Description
Level of Disability
1
Typing
9
Sharp pain in neck & shoulder blades, numbness in fingers on right hand and right arm
Limited mobility when trying to turn head/neck. Unable to tilt head back.
2
3
4
Below is a list of activities you should evaluate if they are affecting your regular day-to-day life. Think about where you fit in to each of these activities (and/or those you have added to the list) and within each of them, also consider the following:
Where is the pain after you: type, make the bed, cook, etc.
What it is that triggers your pain when engaging in the activity?
Where on your body are you affected (neck, shoulders, etc.)?
What other function in your life is affected as a result of the pain from an activity?
How is your life affected on an ongoing basis after engaging in the activity?
Is the pain I am experiencing acute or chronic?
As a guide to help you evaluate yourself, the first activity below answers the questions above:
1. Computer Use/Typing:
A. Where is the pain
The pain is in my neck and shoulders..
B. What is the trigger for your pain when you type and use the computer:
The motion of typing and keeping my arms and hands in one position for a long period of time.
C. Impact of pain in neck and shoulders in the rest of your body
Sometime I have sharp pain that radiates down between my shoulder blades to the middle of my back. I have numbness in my fingertips (could be left and/or right hand), and I can’t raise my arm (left and/or right) any higher than my shoulder without experiencing pain.
D. Other functions impacted
I have pain in my neck and upper back when washing my hair, picking up my child, turning my head while driving…
E. How life is impacted
I am depressed due to ongoing pain and inability to perform day-to-day functions. I call in sick to work on an ongoing basis, etc.
F. Is the pain acute or chronic
The pain is chronic – I have it all the time.
Answer the same questions above, for the activities below.
2. Cooking
When you stand and stir for too long (whether cooking or baking), you have pain that runs from your neck to the lower part of your back.
3. Making Your Bed
When you make the bed, your can’t straighten up without experiencing sharp pain at the top of your tail bone.
4. Sleeping
When you turn over in your sleep, you have to do it in slow motion to avoid the sharp pain radiating from your mid to lower back.
5. Taking a Shower
When you take a shower you can’t wash your hair for more than a few seconds because raising your arms over your head makes you’re arms feel weak and lifeless.
6. Lifting
When you lift your child you feel as though someone has stabbed you in the middle of your back.
When is it Time to Act
Now that you have identified what it is that leaves you in pain, what do you do next? You know that when fully activated, your pain can be debilitating. You may have already been to the doctor where you were given a quick-fix approach of painkillers. In other words, instead of taking full control of your pain, you’re on the run from it so you can resume your life; you’re a victim, acting defensively.
What can often happen, however, is the drugs become less and less effective and/or leave you drowsy, moody and unable to function at your full, alert capacity. As a result, you might call into work sick more often. In these cases, the quick-fix approach backfires: You either find yourself in a state of never-ending pain because you go off the drugs so you can work and play as you once did, or you rely on painkillers, masking the pain temporarily, while the actual problem causing the pain worsens.
Is that it? Are you doomed to live your life in pain? Are pain-killers your only hope?
Fortunately, the answer is no. Being proactive, you have already written out a chart of your symptoms and pain. You have identified how many activities (or perhaps just one) causes you different levels of pain. What are you waiting for?
New Concept Pain Management Support System:
Since you are unsatisfied with the conventional approach to your doctor’s diagnosis and treatment, what do you do next? Let’s consider the situation from your perspective. You have complained during several doctor’s visits that your pain persists. You have complained to your doctor that the medication is no longer effective and that you can no longer put your life on hold to manage your pain. You feel as though your doctor has labeled
Tags: Evaluating, pain, symptoms, turn, you're
