How did it start and did you know

[mellie4]

I'm actually a pain management patient and I take many medications for my injury and illness.  But I found this forum when looking into something for someone else. I also was married to an addict and my immediate family has alcohol addiction in it.  I've never been a drinker, and I have a huge fear of addiction and withdrawals.

What I am curious about is how many people found themselves addicted through legitimate means?  I.e., you had an injury, surgery, illness and were given opiates by your doctor.  Do you feel you were warned about the dangers of the medications?  Were you aware when when you crossed the line from dependence to true addiction?  And when you decided to get off the meds, for whatever reason, did you find the doctor to be helpful in getting you off or did they sort of not want to deal with you any longer?

I've always brought up discussions of addiction with my physicians.  My surgeon sort of poo-poos it saying "You'll never get addicted.  Stop worrying about it."  My pain clinic team is more open to talking to me about my worries.  Through my work, I have seen such tragedy come from legitimate prescriptions for legitimate reasons and then somewhere along the way things got out of control.

I'm posting this on this forum because after reading here for many months, I realize there are many people here who never had a problem with anything and then suddenly found themselves fighting a really tough addiction.

Personally, I feel whether someone became addicted through a legitimate script while under a doctor's care or was experimenting with it in some way, there should be better options available to help people through this.  I think this is a great support group, and probably for many, this is all they have.

[narla]

I have had a problem with alcohol from 14,so when I started suffering migraines and was given codeine it didn't take long for me to start abusing that as well,for 20 years I abused codeine on and off,more on than off,In Australia you can get codeine OTC,they are only 10mg but have an added calmative and paracetamol,and when you can get 40 tablets for $10 it's not expensive to take them all in a day,chemists don't keep records that can be accessed by other chemists so it was easy to go to a different chemist every day.That's why it was really hard to quit,but I've done it.

Denise  

[anonymous9264]

Yeah it's a big problem here in Florida. There's a part of Jacksonville with more pain clinics than mcdonalds. It's an all "in house" operation where they diagnose, prescribe, and fill the prescription. They are legal drug dealers and one of the pain clinics recently got busted when a woman with a tape recorder went in and the doctor literally just asked what she needed. "You need like xanax, vicodin, oxies, or what?"

[mellie4]

I personally take them as prescribed and never run out or over use.  If my pain flares up really bad, then I contact pain management and somtimes we up the narcotic temporarily or sometimes we try something else.

It's just sort of shocking to me that so many people start out using them properly and then start abusing them.  I've done a lot of research, and interestingly, the studies state that most people using narcotics for pain management will not get addicted.  Frankly, I'm not sure the study is correct. as it seems to me the majority of people who start on pills start with a legitimate prescription.

I know someone who is in pain management consistently every month runs short of their meds two weeks early and then goes into withdrawals and then gets the script filled yet again when it's due.  It's a sick cycle. But they are convinced they're not addicted.

Right now I feel okay with what I take but I have looked into other pain management techniques ... trying to get the insurance to pay for them is a whole other story.

None of my doctors, though, brought up the possibility of addiction with me.  It was only discussed when I brought it up.  I think it's something that should be gone over in detail before giving a patient any narcotic.

[avisg]

I started out as using because of pain. I also took more them I was supposed to. I also was taking them for more the physical pain and deep down I always new I was an addict. From street drugs.I You are the one one that knows the answer to the question bit deep down i think you know whether you are abusing them and taking them a perscripted

[Danny111]

I think there is a huge difference in the way different doctors handle giving out pain meds.  I used to have a dentist who would give me a prescription for 30 vicodin if I asked for them when he did a filling or something similar.  Obviously that's way more than you would possibly need.  Other doctors are much more careful.

Apparently there are pain clinics in Florida where you can just walk in and say you're in pain and they'll write and fill the prescription for you.  It's a good thing I don't live in Florida or I'd probably be dead.

[ANewLife4Me]

Approx. 7 years ago my then husband was in pain management for a bad knee and he started sharing his pain meds with me and we were addicted for a year and then we both went colt turkey.
We both managed to stay clean until 3 years ago when I had my daughter by c-section.  I was given pain meds and the addiction just took off from there.  I had back problems and got myself into pain management and my then husband went back to pain management as well - we were seeing the same doctor!  
My ex managed to keep his more in control as he went on to have back surgery and really needed them for pain, whereas I really didn't.  Our pain management doctor caught me going through a script of 160 Norco in 4 days and sent me to another doctor to get help and I did, but mostly stayed on them with a few futile attempts to quit all this time, up until 3 months ago when I went back to my original primary doctor for help with withdrawals and ended up taking the Sub route.
I found many of my doctors helpful and I could never blame one for not warning me about the dangers of taking these pills.  I was the one who filled them, got tons of information along with my prescriptions warning me dangers, and put them in my mouth anyway.

[shiningstar500]

Mine started out for hip pain, my doctor did not make me aware of the side effects of long term use. I have been using them for 6 years now, hydrocodone. I don't remember when it went from 3 a day to 6 a day. It took me about 4 years to realize that I was an addict, I had never thought of it before because my doctor did prescibe them and it wasn't hurting anything. I didnt steal or forge prescirptions so it seemed fine. I finally realized a few weeks ago that I need to quit because I am tired of the worry. I have been tapering off and it is great!! I am very excited about it!!! Although, I am not sure how other addicts came to use them. I am finding on here that people started using them because of an injury that required the pills. I would never had started taking them if I would have known what my life would have been like 6 years later!