OTC Painkiller Addiction

[ilm0325]

My mother has been addicted to pain pills for about the past 17yrs.  She has recently been in some financial trouble and doesn't have the means to buy them from suppliers.  All along during the addiction she has also taken massive amounts of BC Powder and Goody Powder.  Since not having the means for the real meds, her doses of these powders has picked up greatly.  She consumed 61 powders plus a prescription of 30 pills of Mobic (arthritis med)in 6 days.  She is currently living with me and my husband and when I confront her she gets very mad and tells me I only want to control her.  Does she get the same "high" from the powders as a hydro or something similar?  Is the addiction to caffiene or just medication in general.  She has a very addictive personality (cigs, meds, people, etc..)  About 2 years ago she was admitted to the hospital for blood loss through bowels and has had elevated liver enzyme tests in the past.  I'm very curious about the addiction to OTC meds and would like to find out how to show her what she's doing to herself.

[Snail57]

is it the pain meds, aspirin and acetometiphen, however it is spelled, that is the addictive part, like has built up a tolerence or, is there something else in it besides caffeine. I take Excedrin type pain meds that have the same ingredients, but,  cannot understand the addiction to it.

[ImInAwe]

When a person usually takes pain pills and runs out, whether an addict or not, your body sends extra pain signals as a way of saying it needs more of that medicine. The otc meds aren't what her body is wanting, that's why she takes so many, because her body continues to send out pain signals for the 'good stuff'. She really needs to stop taking so many otc, they cause real damage to internal organs in those amounts and they wont solve the pain issue. When I quit pain pills, I was amazed when one goody powder actually worked.

[anjel75]

Are you sure she is just not in a lot of pain? When my pain meds run out I have to go heavy on the OTC's as well. That is really hard because they have so many side effects. That is the reason they make narcotics. Some people have to take so much OTC to get it to work that the side effects then outweigh the good. 61 BC's is a lot just on its own. I would have so much chest pain that I would not be able to stand it. Does she have arthritis? Her pain may not being treated very well. She needs to see a doc...