~ The Truth about Addiction ~
Just saw a commercial on television about Opioid addiction (addiction to pain medications) and a treatment that is being offered...the link that the ad gives is:
http://turntohelp.com/starting_treatment/#find_treatment_resources
Their byline is this:
"Opioid dependence is a real medical condition. It’s very common, and can happen to anyone. You are not alone."
The site goes over the meaning of addiction, the many medications that one can become addicted to and several ways they are offering to help from the doctors office to in patient treatment to everything in between.
While I am really glad to see that the health system and doctors are finally seeing that addiction to opioids is a everyday persons issue and that its real, I am frustrated with the doctors who give these pain meds like candy then become judgmental and rip their patients off of it when they have the gull to become addicted. Very few people take medications looking to become addicted. As anyone who has suffered a terrible injury or who has had surgery knows, pain medications like oxycodone and vicodin used to be given out very easily. After a surgery you may be off your feet for anywhere from a week to many, many months and to calm your pain doctors will give prescriptions for high doses of these pain medications. For some, the lucky ones, they will become sick, vomit after taking the medications and feel very dizzy. Taking the medication for them has an undesired affect. For others who take the meds, the pain will subside a bit, an overall feeling of euphoria will replace the pain and boredom (and often depression at being suddenly idle and not able to go about ones normal life). There are too many doctors out there who give out the pain medications in such high doses and for lengths of times that any human being will inevitably become addicted.... When these patients start getting used to the pain meds they need more and more. They go back to their doctors to get more of the medication just to keep their pain at bay but suddenly the same doctor who was throwing the meds at their patients for weeks and months decide that their patients are "drug seekers and abusers". They judge them for becoming addicted to the very opiods they themselves gave them...They treat their patients as drug seekers instead of humans who are simply trying to maintain a feeling of normalcy that they medications were giving them.
Now they have treatments and call it a disease...Finally, the health world is taking some responsibility for their mess...even if it is without saying so specifically. Granted, there are people who may go outside their doctors prescription to use more than are prescribed and others truly seeking the high will find new and inventive ways to take these meds (like Oxycotin) to get around the time released chemical make up but for those taking them as prescribed, its still difficult not to become addicted...That euphoria and calm that these pain meds can give overtake even the most wise and realistic minds and draw them into a place that is so very difficult to escape on ones own...While I can not imagine what would be better to treat people with horrible and constant pain, I know pain medications aren't it. We need to find a medication made up of something that doesn't heighten the pleasure points of our brain...And of course pain medications are blocking the pain receptors so the appearance of such euphoria makes perfect sense.
Addiction is not a "poor" or "uneducated" or even a "bad" persons disease. If you think you are immune then you are wrong. Try having a surgery that keeps you on bed rest for a few months, throw in some pills that make you feel like a million bucks that your mind and body need after only after a few weeks and see who you judge and call an addict. Addiction is not a disease that weak people get..Its not only to cocaine or street drugs and it certainly not only sold on dark corners. Grandparents trying to pay their bills sell them...People you look up to are addicted to them and doctors we trust have over used them for too long. The judgment has to stop because the sad truth of it is that most anyone in any position in life can become addicted...Just go to an AA or NA meeting and you will see all "kinds" of people from different neighborhoods, social and economical back grounds ~Rich, poor, low education, college graduates, doctors, lawyers, teachers, kids, sports figures and entertainers, Moms, Dads, Grandparents and on and on and on. When you see them going to AA and NA meetings or calling this new program above, be proud of them and NOT JUDGMENTAL! If they had any other disease like diabetes, for example, you wouldn't ridicule them, would you? How many of us overeat, shop too much, spend too much money....its all addiction and the way so many of us unfairly treat each other about our weaknesses has to stop here.
~Stacy Roosa
http://turntohelp.com/starting_treatment/#find_treatment_resources
Their byline is this:
"Opioid dependence is a real medical condition. It’s very common, and can happen to anyone. You are not alone."
The site goes over the meaning of addiction, the many medications that one can become addicted to and several ways they are offering to help from the doctors office to in patient treatment to everything in between.
While I am really glad to see that the health system and doctors are finally seeing that addiction to opioids is a everyday persons issue and that its real, I am frustrated with the doctors who give these pain meds like candy then become judgmental and rip their patients off of it when they have the gull to become addicted. Very few people take medications looking to become addicted. As anyone who has suffered a terrible injury or who has had surgery knows, pain medications like oxycodone and vicodin used to be given out very easily. After a surgery you may be off your feet for anywhere from a week to many, many months and to calm your pain doctors will give prescriptions for high doses of these pain medications. For some, the lucky ones, they will become sick, vomit after taking the medications and feel very dizzy. Taking the medication for them has an undesired affect. For others who take the meds, the pain will subside a bit, an overall feeling of euphoria will replace the pain and boredom (and often depression at being suddenly idle and not able to go about ones normal life). There are too many doctors out there who give out the pain medications in such high doses and for lengths of times that any human being will inevitably become addicted.... When these patients start getting used to the pain meds they need more and more. They go back to their doctors to get more of the medication just to keep their pain at bay but suddenly the same doctor who was throwing the meds at their patients for weeks and months decide that their patients are "drug seekers and abusers". They judge them for becoming addicted to the very opiods they themselves gave them...They treat their patients as drug seekers instead of humans who are simply trying to maintain a feeling of normalcy that they medications were giving them.
Now they have treatments and call it a disease...Finally, the health world is taking some responsibility for their mess...even if it is without saying so specifically. Granted, there are people who may go outside their doctors prescription to use more than are prescribed and others truly seeking the high will find new and inventive ways to take these meds (like Oxycotin) to get around the time released chemical make up but for those taking them as prescribed, its still difficult not to become addicted...That euphoria and calm that these pain meds can give overtake even the most wise and realistic minds and draw them into a place that is so very difficult to escape on ones own...While I can not imagine what would be better to treat people with horrible and constant pain, I know pain medications aren't it. We need to find a medication made up of something that doesn't heighten the pleasure points of our brain...And of course pain medications are blocking the pain receptors so the appearance of such euphoria makes perfect sense.
Addiction is not a "poor" or "uneducated" or even a "bad" persons disease. If you think you are immune then you are wrong. Try having a surgery that keeps you on bed rest for a few months, throw in some pills that make you feel like a million bucks that your mind and body need after only after a few weeks and see who you judge and call an addict. Addiction is not a disease that weak people get..Its not only to cocaine or street drugs and it certainly not only sold on dark corners. Grandparents trying to pay their bills sell them...People you look up to are addicted to them and doctors we trust have over used them for too long. The judgment has to stop because the sad truth of it is that most anyone in any position in life can become addicted...Just go to an AA or NA meeting and you will see all "kinds" of people from different neighborhoods, social and economical back grounds ~Rich, poor, low education, college graduates, doctors, lawyers, teachers, kids, sports figures and entertainers, Moms, Dads, Grandparents and on and on and on. When you see them going to AA and NA meetings or calling this new program above, be proud of them and NOT JUDGMENTAL! If they had any other disease like diabetes, for example, you wouldn't ridicule them, would you? How many of us overeat, shop too much, spend too much money....its all addiction and the way so many of us unfairly treat each other about our weaknesses has to stop here.
~Stacy Roosa
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