Pain medication addiction is often more difficult to recognize than addiction to other drugs. The main reason for this is the painkillers have been prescribed by your doctor. You may believe they are safe, and could not possibly be harmful. This is why you should be alert to the early warning signs of painkiller addiction.
Warning signs of prescription pain medication addiction
1. One warning sign is using more medication than is specified in the instructions. As examples, you may take two pills instead of one, or take them every two hours rather than every four hours. These habits are signs of prescription drug abuse. If you are not adhering to the dosage and schedule on the label, you should consider the possibility that you have developed an addiction.
2. Some pain medications are meant to be taken only when needed. A second sign of addiction is taking medication when the pain is minimal or nonexistent. You may be afraid your pain will worsen, and take more medication even when it does not. Taking medication when it is not truly needed shows a problem exists.
3. A third sign of pain medication addiction is hoarding pills. You can be so afraid of running out of pills that you obtain more than one prescription, even if it means going to a number of doctors. You may even go to numerous pharmacies to have the prescriptions filled, thinking no one will discover you are acquiring more pills than you legitimately need. If hoarding has become an issue, you probably go out of your way to hide the problem from your family and friends.
Ways to overcome painkiller addiction
Whether you are taking more than you need, taking them when they are not necessary, or hoarding medication, these are all clear signs that you should seek help. Painkiller addiction will undermine your general health, and have the potential to be deadly. Many people have overdosed, simply by misusing medications prescribed by their own physicians. If you recognize any of these signs, it is in your best interest to speak with your physician immediately. Addiction is easiest to treat when you recognize signs early, and do not hesitate in asking for help.
How to help a loved one who is addicted to pain pills
If you are a loved one is experiencing any of these pain pill addiction symptoms I would suggest that you look into going to an opiate addiction treatment center. Many people that do have an addiction to prescription pain pills will not seek help. They use some of the most insane sort of nonsense to justify there using and one of there favorites is they are legal my doctor prescribed them to me. I’ll bet their physician did not know about the pain pill abuse.
If you do not get help one day your Dr. will cut you off and then you will have to go to the streets to get your drugs. This can be very dangerous especially if you have never had to do this. Many things could actually happen; for instance, you may get busted for purchasing them or you could get robbed or even shot.
If you can not afford to go to rehab then there are plenty of Narcotics Anonymous meetings which one can find in many countries all over the world. NA helped me to get clean and sober and is still helping to keep me sober. I no longer have rent a buddies like I did when I was using who only came around when I had drugs or money. Now I have real friends that actually care about me.
Good luck
My name is Art. I help people to recover.