- Image by Greg McMullin {Gone To Kenya, back soon} via Flickr
The injury was enough to warrant a subscription. You were in a car crash, suffered a fall during your softball game or just came home from surgery. Your doctor prescribed you a painkiller. Probably an opiate like OxyContin (codeine) or Vicodin. Either way, the purpose was to treat the pain. The relief was just a pill away. After a while, the body needed more. You needed more. You developed a tolerance and now you are upping the doses to get the same relief. You are now abusing the drug just to feel normal again.
Besides the higher doses, you’re probably taking them more frequent. Instead of the suggested tablet(s) with a glass of water, you’re crushing it up and chewing them or snorting it. YES, snorting the crushed up pill now in powder form through your nostrils. Forget about the warnings on the label, you need this stuff. You are now showing the signs of addiction as you crave more.
Unfortunately, that abuse has accelerated to addiction and now you can’t stop. It’s getting worse. You start setting appointments with several different doctors to keep the supply flowing and the doctors questions to a minimum. The body is dependent on the drug. As you struggle to hide this addiction from loved ones, you become desperate to maintain the relief or fix by adding other medications or even alcohol to the mix. By now, there is no hiding the addiction as you seek that “high” as often as you can. Eventually, you’ll try harder substances to feel the same effects.
The good news is there are indicators to show you, there is a problem. A few signs to look for would be:
- your body needs the drug to function normally
- your tolerance increases over time
- withdraw symptoms surface when you try and stop
- you are using despite possible health risks
- you become defensive and/or deny there is an addiction
- withdraw from friends and family or daily activities
- your behavior exhibits drug-seeking patterns
The first thing you need to do is except and recognize there is a problem and then seek help.
