Originally posted by Rupert Addicted to codeine or dead from hacking....take your pick...not hard for me!
It is only defined as addiction if a person endures severe consequences to get the drug. Like a heroin addict stealing from friends and family to get another fix, or serves jail time for committing robbery to get money for a fix.
It is dependence when you take it long enough that your body gets used to taking it, and suddenly stopping would lead to withdrawal. As long as the pain is genuine, and you only take for the pain, you are not an addict, but you do depend on the drug to make life more livable.
I was dependent on Oxycontin to treat chronic neck and back pain for nearly 20 years. I rarely, if ever, felt a 'high' from the drug, and it did a fantastic job of making daily life livable.
But in the last few years I depended on it, the stigma that went with trying to fill the prescriptions, the monthly visits to the doctor to get another prescription written (I like my doctor, but it was getting old making the monthly visit to his office for a slip of paper), and the continuing decay of attitudes toward chronic pain paitients overall started to bug me.
Then after all the years of using it without any of the bad side effects, the constipation started to become an issue. Adding more fiber to my diet didn't help, and over the counter softeners were unpredictable. The doctor wanted to write me a prescription for it, and that is when I decided it was time to find a different way to deal with the pain. I told him there was no way I was going to start taking a drug to counteract the side effects of another, and he needed to send me to a physiatrist (a doc that specializes with dependence and addiction).
This coming Christmas marks 2 years that I have been done with dependence on narcotics to treat chronic pain.
I have been exercising more, losing weight, and eating better. I eat foods that are know to have anti inflammatory benefit in our diet, the weight loss has helped reduce the load on my worn out spine and joints and the improved fitness is helping the muscles to provide better support and flexibility.
I also learned self hypnosis some years back. It is not a panacea, but it helps. Another tool in my box to make living tolerable.
My birthday is coming up, marking my 61st year. I feel better today than I did 10 years ago, and when people find out my age they are surprised, and many take me for 51.
4 years.
1 week.
4 days.
I'll make it, and feel better than ever when I do.