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An article in the February 2nd edition of the Baltimore Sun stressed the difference between drug users who are addicted to recreational and other drugs and those who are physically dependent on painkillers. The article by Anthony Tommasello was prompted by the story of Baltimore sportscaster Keith Mills, who was arrested for stealing prescription painkillers from his neighbor, who was suffering from cancer. The article points out that by 2002, nearly 30 million people had
used prescription pain relievers for non-medical purposes at some point
in their life, and that 1.5 million were dependent on them, according
to statistics issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration.
In his article, Tommasello hopes to point out the difference between dependency and addiction, stating that “the biological processes involved in the relief of pain are precisely the same processes that lead to physical dependence.” “If someone is on a sufficient dose for long enough, that person is going to become physically dependent,” Tommasello stresses. “There is nothing that science can do to avoid that. It is simply a side effect of the long-term use of narcotic drugs.” The author believes it is counterproductive to label such dependent individuals as drug addicts. “That person's problem is pain, not addiction. Labeling him or her as a drug addict can ignite feelings of shame and guilt, a stigma unwarranted in these patients.” Physicians, he notes, should not be sending these dependent patients to drug addiction treatment programs but rather should be referring them to pain management specialists. A number of other steps can be taken as well, he notes, to avoid dependency. “When doctors start prescribing pain relief medication, they need to have a protocol for drug management from start to finish,” Tommasello states, “rather than simply adjusting the medication without a thorough strategy. The physician's strategy should include a plan to wean the patient off painkillers - when it is reasonable to do so - but also to continue effective treatment as long as it is necessary.” |
Fresh Air Reply to this Comment Wow.... a voice of sanity rises through the muck, that is this country's drug knowledge/treatment/policy. I am tired of reading about only drug "abuse" never drug "use"/drug "treatment" ... and getting detox help is near impossible because of all this confusion. I am now addicted to the back pain meds that 8 years of doctors, hospitals, clinics and specialists have all Rx'd for me.... I take full resposibility for my addiction/ dependency, I looked it up and I learned about the medicine before I took it, so I knew this day would come, I just didn't know that there's no safe, decent place to detox, once you are dependent or addicted to an opiate detox Reply to this Comment If you are seeking to get off your meds under a doctor's care, please apply to the Johns Hopkins inpatient Pain Treatment Program. They will detox you safely and as comfortably as the circumstances allow. Check around, there are other clinics that offer the same treatment. This is a treatment that is administered by psychiatrists, so check the offerings of inpatient mental health facilities. pain med dependency Reply to this Comment How in the world do I treat pain without pain medication? I want off the meds because I'm lethargic and antisocial. I've been on them for four years. Lots and lots of surgeries and fibromyalgia. i'm looking for someone in texas to help me. Response to addiction and dependency Reply to this Comment Suffering from chronic pain is an awful diagnosis to encounter. Chronic pain entirely steals your life from you and turns you upside down. You are virtue left with anxiety, depression, sadness, pain for the rest of your life and there has to be away to deal with this tragedy. Being dependent on a drug is totally different than being addicted. There should not be any shameful or guilty feelings associated with drug use and dependency. You depend on the drug to get rid of your pain. When you are in pain you just want the pain to stop, and if there are no procedures or surgeries or physical therapy that won't stop the pain you are left to use drugs that block the nerve receptors in your brain so that you can have some quality of life. It is like being trapped between a rock and a hard place. And the hard place is the lesser of the two evils. With drug USE, you can at least try to return back to in some normal way and as long as you are not using the drug to get high (which is what I would never do because I hate drugs), you are justified in asking your doctor to treat you with a drug for as long as it takes. Dependency is not a bad thing if you compare it to the constant burning, throbbing pain that leaves you debilitated and unable to cope with life. The healthcare professions in order to understand this phenomenon is to experience pain on a chronic basis. Not that I wish chronic pain on anyone, but by God, this I think is the only way they can understand what a patient in chronic pain goes through and must deal with on a minute by minute basis. I told someone that I would rather bore 3 more children and raise them until they are 40 years, at the age of 43, than to deal with chronic pain. It is the worst thing that you can imagine to happen to your life, next to cancer and being a quadraplegic. I just pray the physicians and healthcare workers get it right. There are people out there who do not abuse drugs. We just want to be relieved of this awful pain that no one seems to know how to get rid of. | ||||||||
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By:GratefulBear Posted: Feb 08 2006 12:39:53 PM