How Do You Know If You Are Addicted To Pain Pills?

Often, legitimate pain requires medical intervention. Sometimes, medical intervention includes prescription pain medication. While prescription pain pills provide relief from pain, they can be addictive. Once a person becomes addicted to pain medication, it is very difficult to undergo drug detox on his or her own.

The experience of drug detox can be very painful and uncomfortable, and without supervision from a substance abuse treatment center, the person may be unable to abstain from using again. Medically supervised drug detox is highly recommended for people who have unwillingly become addicted to pain medication. There are many medically supervised drug detox centers and substance abuse treatment centers that offer services to those suffering from pain pill addiction. These substance abuse treatment centers offer a way out of the vicious cycle of addiction for people who are dependent upon pain pills.

Sometimes, a person who is prescribed pain pills for chronic pain may be unaware that they are addicted to their medication.

Dr. Adam Bianchini, a leading medical doctor at a substance abuse treatment center has provided the following warning signs to look for if you believe you or a loved one has a problem with prescription drug dependency.

 

1. You experience withdrawal symptoms (specific for each medication) upon decrease or discontinuation of the medication　 --　 PHYSICAL DEPENDENCY.

 

 

2. You need more and more of the medication to avoid withdrawal or to elicit the same effect, thus you run out of the medication prior to refill time　 --　 TOLERANCE

 

 

3. The symptoms for which you are taking the medication worsen despite what used to be adequate treatment　 --　 "NEGATVE FEEDBACK"

 

 

4. You need to supplement the prescription with other medications (legal or otherwise) to prevent withdrawal or improve efficacy　 --　 POLYPHARMACY

 

 

5. You utilize more than one doctor or source to obtain more of the same medication　 --　 DOCTOR SHOPPING