Lindsey Root
Addicted to Pain Medication
Lindsey Root - Monday, March 08, 2010
If you’ve suffered from chronic pain due to illness or injury, you’ve probably been prescribed a painkiller before. When you take your prescription exactly as your doctor instructs, you run very little risk of becoming addicted. If, however, you begin to take more than your doctor prescribed, or you find that you need to take the medicine more frequently than you were told to, the danger for addiction becomes very real very quickly.
Pain medicines such as Oxycodone, Vicodin, Demerol, and Morphine carry powerful opiates that your body can become dependent upon very quickly. It is normal for someone who takes a pain medication for a very long period of time to build up a resistance to the drug, which means your doctor will need to prescribe higher doses to give you the same pain relief. If you follow your doctor’s advice you should be fine. If you begin to alter your regimen on your own, however, you may find that you begin a spiral of taking more and more medicine to achieve the relief you desire.
Pain medications can be very difficult to stop taking once you become addicted. You have to slowly reduce the amount of medication you take carefully to avoid uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. Sometimes it may seem that the detoxification process is more painful than your initial reason for taking the medication. Detox can be accomplished with the proper care and supervision of a trained health professional.
Lisa Buck
You Are Not Alone. A Painful Look Into American Life.
Lisa Buck - Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Pain is a positive function of the human body. It is necessary and vital to overall health. Pain is the body's mechanism for self-preservation. Pain alerts people to their physical condition, serving as a warning sign of danger. The inability to sense pain puts a person at increased risk for burns, exhaustion, serious health issues that go undiagnosed and other hazards that can arise from everyday activity.
There are two types of pain acute and chronic. Acute pain is the result of tissue damage and is typically short-term. The cause of acute pain can easily be identified. Chronic pain, however, is persistent pain lasting more than six months that may or may not be the result of an injury or medical problem. Chronic pain limits daily functioning and can induce additional hardship and side effects.
If you or someone you know suffers from chronic pain, know that you are not alone. Chronic pain costs Americans $70 billion dollars a year. Nearly 80 million people suffer from chronic pain in the United States alone. Chronic pain is the leading cause for disability of Americans under 45 in the United States.
Chronic pain is best treated with a pain management program tailored to you. Your program should be developed and closely monitored by a physician whom you trust and can communicate with. Pain management plans are integrated approached to managing a disorder. A pain management program is likely to include prescription and medical treatment, exercise, lifestyle change and continuous self-evaluation of pain level. Most pain management plans attempt reduce the patient's dependence on drugs. Alternative therapies are developed and tested regularly.
If you find yourself suffering from chronic pain and turning to prescription drugs for relief, enlist the care of a qualified physician immediately.
There are two types of pain acute and chronic. Acute pain is the result of tissue damage and is typically short-term. The cause of acute pain can easily be identified. Chronic pain, however, is persistent pain lasting more than six months that may or may not be the result of an injury or medical problem. Chronic pain limits daily functioning and can induce additional hardship and side effects.
If you or someone you know suffers from chronic pain, know that you are not alone. Chronic pain costs Americans $70 billion dollars a year. Nearly 80 million people suffer from chronic pain in the United States alone. Chronic pain is the leading cause for disability of Americans under 45 in the United States.
| At least 40 million Americans suffer chronic, recurring headaches | A total of $4 billion a year is spent on headache medication yearly | Migraine sufferers lose 65 million workdays each year |
Chronic pain is best treated with a pain management program tailored to you. Your program should be developed and closely monitored by a physician whom you trust and can communicate with. Pain management plans are integrated approached to managing a disorder. A pain management program is likely to include prescription and medical treatment, exercise, lifestyle change and continuous self-evaluation of pain level. Most pain management plans attempt reduce the patient's dependence on drugs. Alternative therapies are developed and tested regularly.
If you find yourself suffering from chronic pain and turning to prescription drugs for relief, enlist the care of a qualified physician immediately.
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