Aa
Anxiety Meds Dependence
Wondering what the difference is between physical dependence and addiction (if there really is a difference). I take xanex for my panic attacks and anxiety and am definitely dependent on it. However, when a person is physical dependent on alcohol, they are an alcoholic - or tobacco, they are addicted to it. So why is there a difference?
Um Sleepless, feel however you like about it. The fact still remains that whether your taking a medicine because you LIKE to (addiction) or because you have to but dont LIKE to (dependant)... makes no difference.
A diabetic needs insulin to survive.. please keep this within the original context of the threads intention. Dying without a medicine because your body needs it for its survival is not an 'addiction', but I understand where the overlap of 'dependance' can be INCORRECTLY used this way when its applied to those with addiction issues. A person who takes pain meds will suffer but its highly unlikely they will die from the pain itself.
Like I said, whatever makes you feel better, but its all rationalization out of ones desire to not clump 'addicts' into the same group as those who are 'dependant'.
Quite frankly the 'dependants' I have seen posting on this board who dont WANT to be, are the ones who need to stand up and say enough. They dont LIKE being physically dependant on the meds their doctors have prescribed them,, but they HAVE to because even though they hate how the drugs make them feel , their body NEEDS it or they suffer terribly. So if saying they are dependant rather than addicted makes it somehow easier to handle, okay. But its not the same as somone who must have a particular medicine for the body to continue to function properly.
Atleast I have yet to see any studies that prove a persons brain will die a physical death without said medicination.
Enough said,,, we will just have to agree to disagree.
*Bows with respect and apprication to those who contributed to this thread*
Jennifer
I also take a beta blocker. Does that mean I am addicted to it as well? I have to take it every day.
Also just tapered off Neurotin. Addiction?
If a person is on anti depressants, don't they need to taper? So, addiction?
A diabetic needs insulin. Addiction?
I'm not looking for a back and forth argument, but, come on. Doesn't this forum need to be careful about giving advice, based on opinion or facts?
WOuldn't it be scary if someone decided today to go off their beta blocker cold turkey because now they are worried about addiction?
Also just tapered off Neurotin. Addiction?
If a person is on anti depressants, don't they need to taper? So, addiction?
A diabetic needs insulin. Addiction?
I'm not looking for a back and forth argument, but, come on. Doesn't this forum need to be careful about giving advice, based on opinion or facts?
WOuldn't it be scary if someone decided today to go off their beta blocker cold turkey because now they are worried about addiction?
LOL just realized I did that wrong...
Well good for him... so because its NOT a product that the doctor calls 'good for you' its an 'addiction' but when it IS somthing the doctor feels is good for you its just a 'dependance'...
as I said,, whatever makes you feel better about your 'depenadance' on said chemical/drug.
*With respect and apprication* Jennifer
Well good for him... so because its NOT a product that the doctor calls 'good for you' its an 'addiction' but when it IS somthing the doctor feels is good for you its just a 'dependance'...
as I said,, whatever makes you feel better about your 'depenadance' on said chemical/drug.
*With respect and apprication* Jennifer
Well, good for him,, so because its not a product that the doctor calls 'good for you' its an 'addiction' but when it IS something the doctor feels is good for you its called and 'addiction'
Whatever makes you feel better about your 'dependance' on ___fill in the blank__ drug.
*With repsect and apprication* Jennifer
Whatever makes you feel better about your 'dependance' on ___fill in the blank__ drug.
*With repsect and apprication* Jennifer
I asked my dr. this very question on Monday. He totally disagrees with you. He agrees 100% with Ryan.
quote," Your comparison of physical dependency to the consumption of alcohol and tobacco is flawed - as these agents provide no medicinal value, and are used for their non-medicinal effects by those who choose to use them. One does not need alcohol or tobacco, and there is no legitimate medical purpose to consume them. "
If you ask an opiate addict if they are in pain due to withdrawls, they will respond with yes. Whether thats from years of abuse to the product or not, it doesnt matter, the person is still in pain.
If you take away a smokers cigarettes , whether they help or not its exceptionally uncomfortable and the only thing that will relieve that discomfort is anouther cigarette or other product conaining the chemicals that persons body craves.
If you take an alchoholics drink away they may go through severe withdrawls which INCLUDED , Anxiety, hallucinations, physically shaking, ect. Whether or not the product is GOOD for the body thats craving it or not is irrelevant... it is CRAVED by the body due to a physical dependance.
All are physcially addicting , you can slap the word 'medicinal' onto it and use that as the cover word if you like,, but the persons body is craving the chemical due to a dependance upon it.
I disagree with you then as well, we put judgement labels on things like, medicinal, abuse, addict, depenent, alchoholic, or Junkie (my least favorite) so that others can identify whether that persons using the chemical because of what WE think their issue with it is... but all will suffer physical discomfort when the chemical is removed from the body which does qualify it as an ADDICTION whether its physical or mental.
*bows with apprication and respect*
Jennifer
If you ask an opiate addict if they are in pain due to withdrawls, they will respond with yes. Whether thats from years of abuse to the product or not, it doesnt matter, the person is still in pain.
If you take away a smokers cigarettes , whether they help or not its exceptionally uncomfortable and the only thing that will relieve that discomfort is anouther cigarette or other product conaining the chemicals that persons body craves.
If you take an alchoholics drink away they may go through severe withdrawls which INCLUDED , Anxiety, hallucinations, physically shaking, ect. Whether or not the product is GOOD for the body thats craving it or not is irrelevant... it is CRAVED by the body due to a physical dependance.
All are physcially addicting , you can slap the word 'medicinal' onto it and use that as the cover word if you like,, but the persons body is craving the chemical due to a dependance upon it.
I disagree with you then as well, we put judgement labels on things like, medicinal, abuse, addict, depenent, alchoholic, or Junkie (my least favorite) so that others can identify whether that persons using the chemical because of what WE think their issue with it is... but all will suffer physical discomfort when the chemical is removed from the body which does qualify it as an ADDICTION whether its physical or mental.
*bows with apprication and respect*
Jennifer
quote,' like xanex is the drug for short term anxiety/panic. and as you take it your body gets used to that drug so as time go on you need more and more of it '
I believe that describes your typical addiction to cigarettes and alchohol as well, yes. If taking it causes tolerance and if not taking it brings upon physical or mental withdrawls, it is an addiction,,AND a physical dependance. Its just how society and the government looks at them that matters based on the harm or lack of harm done.
Unfortunatly many of us know or have known people seriousely addicted to pain killers and or benzopines.... Im sure most of these people most certainly did not want to be adddicted but felt trapped by the physical withdrawls of the pain killers that make them feel so good. Catch 22, The pain of coming off the pain killers force most people to avoid that at all cost, even if it means death for trying to get the chemicals. Yes, it is a fine mess.... it certainly is.
Im not teaching my kids to say no to drugs,, Im teaching them how deadly addiction of any kind is, be it to food, to caffine, to pain killers, to whatever. Because ANYTHING if done in excess can do your body harm, remeber the lady who died from drinking to much water to win a video game player?
Addiction of any kind will rob you of your health, your loved ones, your everything. It slowly takes everything that you loved away a little at a time, you smoke, you cant breath you loose your health you get wrinkles you get... and eventually your lungs fill with fluid and you drown in it if cancer doesnt get you first.
Gambling,, it takes your family it takes your money it takes your...
And the list goes on, just add your favorite addiction and add up the ways it takes from you. And yet you go back,,, until you dont anymore.
*Blessings and Love* Jennifer
I believe that describes your typical addiction to cigarettes and alchohol as well, yes. If taking it causes tolerance and if not taking it brings upon physical or mental withdrawls, it is an addiction,,AND a physical dependance. Its just how society and the government looks at them that matters based on the harm or lack of harm done.
Unfortunatly many of us know or have known people seriousely addicted to pain killers and or benzopines.... Im sure most of these people most certainly did not want to be adddicted but felt trapped by the physical withdrawls of the pain killers that make them feel so good. Catch 22, The pain of coming off the pain killers force most people to avoid that at all cost, even if it means death for trying to get the chemicals. Yes, it is a fine mess.... it certainly is.
Im not teaching my kids to say no to drugs,, Im teaching them how deadly addiction of any kind is, be it to food, to caffine, to pain killers, to whatever. Because ANYTHING if done in excess can do your body harm, remeber the lady who died from drinking to much water to win a video game player?
Addiction of any kind will rob you of your health, your loved ones, your everything. It slowly takes everything that you loved away a little at a time, you smoke, you cant breath you loose your health you get wrinkles you get... and eventually your lungs fill with fluid and you drown in it if cancer doesnt get you first.
Gambling,, it takes your family it takes your money it takes your...
And the list goes on, just add your favorite addiction and add up the ways it takes from you. And yet you go back,,, until you dont anymore.
*Blessings and Love* Jennifer
summer there is a difference with some meds . like xanex is the drug for short term anxiety/panic. and as you take it your body gets used to that drug so as time go on you need more and more of it , my mom was on it and she started out with .25 pills before she knew it she was taking them 3 times a day than she needed two pills at a time and so on, so your body adjust to it and needs more and very hard to get off of. now shes on klonopin its same family drug but very different . she takes .25 in am and .25 at night .this drug is for long term anxiety and your body does not want more of it . it works great , now if you go off of it yes you have to wing yourself off i did it i was on it once , but your mind and body does not want it , like the short term drugs. this med you can stay on for a life time , talk to your dr about long term meds. like ther klonopin. good luck hope this helps .
After being on Seroquel for 4 years I am feeling like I can't live without it. I almost feel like I am craving it at night. I certainly can't sleep with out it. I used to try to slowly come off of it but I gave that up. At times I feel out of my body looking in. I am so concerned about not being able to get off of this junk.
There is no difference Summer,, its just that one is looked at as a 'weakness' and critisized,, while the other is understood for what it really is.. a phsyical dependance upon a chemical or chemicals to produce a desired effect of better well being mentally or physically. The first 'addiction' is generally considered to be nothing more than a lack of willpower, which is a mistake. When looked at as a 'physical dependance' we understand that the body requires it due to the pain of withdrawl when the medication is no longer made available to the body and parts of the body/mind react negatively.
Really makes you look at alchoholism and drug addiction a bit differently. Strangely, many things that do not cause physical dependance are lumped also into this catagory of 'street drugs' that really arent, so the whole system of understanding what causes long term harm and what doesnt is confusing to the average person. Although rare, we read sometimes about people being arrested when they are found to have things like hallucinagenic mushrooms on them which are classed right up there with the harmful effects of cocain and crack.. and we think, 'well GOOD' when the truth of the matter is, no one has ever in the long ancient history of use, been known to die or even cause harm to others due to exclusive singular use of said 'drugs'.
Unfortunatly the most dangerous drugs of all are put into the hands of the public not by nature, but by mankind.
This is a direct quote from a Washington post article which I will link below. It really makes you wonder with all the issues we are seeing on this board and others like it, just exactly WHY so many people are finding themselves terribly physically dependant on many of these 'newer' class of brain chemical altering drugs we are.
========= quote=============
One of the worst examples of this would be when Purdue Frederick Co. and its chief executive, top lawyer, and former medical chief agreed to pay a total of $635 million to resolve charges filed by the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Virginia, who called OxyContin "one of our nation's greatest prescription-drug failures."
The drugmaker knew as early as 1995 that health professionals feared the addictive potential of OxyContin, an opium derivative, but looked the other way, according to court papers. From 1996 to 2001, Purdue claimed that the "miracle drug" was safer than rival medications despite repeated studies that suggested patients had developed a risk of abuse and had serious trouble withdrawing from OxyContin. Purdue collected $2.8 billion through sales of OxyContin during that time, court papers said.
In one instance, supervisors decided against sharing information about difficult OxyContin withdrawal out of fear that it would "add to the current negative press," according to documents presented in an Abingdon, Va., courtroom yesterday.
"Purdue put its desire to sell OxyContin above the interests of the public," Assistant U.S. Attorney General Peter D. Keisler said.
__________
to read the rest of this available article please copy and paste the link below into a new browser window to read it... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051000892.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Really makes you look at alchoholism and drug addiction a bit differently. Strangely, many things that do not cause physical dependance are lumped also into this catagory of 'street drugs' that really arent, so the whole system of understanding what causes long term harm and what doesnt is confusing to the average person. Although rare, we read sometimes about people being arrested when they are found to have things like hallucinagenic mushrooms on them which are classed right up there with the harmful effects of cocain and crack.. and we think, 'well GOOD' when the truth of the matter is, no one has ever in the long ancient history of use, been known to die or even cause harm to others due to exclusive singular use of said 'drugs'.
Unfortunatly the most dangerous drugs of all are put into the hands of the public not by nature, but by mankind.
This is a direct quote from a Washington post article which I will link below. It really makes you wonder with all the issues we are seeing on this board and others like it, just exactly WHY so many people are finding themselves terribly physically dependant on many of these 'newer' class of brain chemical altering drugs we are.
========= quote=============
One of the worst examples of this would be when Purdue Frederick Co. and its chief executive, top lawyer, and former medical chief agreed to pay a total of $635 million to resolve charges filed by the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Virginia, who called OxyContin "one of our nation's greatest prescription-drug failures."
The drugmaker knew as early as 1995 that health professionals feared the addictive potential of OxyContin, an opium derivative, but looked the other way, according to court papers. From 1996 to 2001, Purdue claimed that the "miracle drug" was safer than rival medications despite repeated studies that suggested patients had developed a risk of abuse and had serious trouble withdrawing from OxyContin. Purdue collected $2.8 billion through sales of OxyContin during that time, court papers said.
In one instance, supervisors decided against sharing information about difficult OxyContin withdrawal out of fear that it would "add to the current negative press," according to documents presented in an Abingdon, Va., courtroom yesterday.
"Purdue put its desire to sell OxyContin above the interests of the public," Assistant U.S. Attorney General Peter D. Keisler said.
__________
to read the rest of this available article please copy and paste the link below into a new browser window to read it... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/10/AR2007051000892.html?hpid=moreheadlines
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