Millions of Americans are prescribed opiates for pain such as codeine, hydrocodone and oxycodone on a regular basis. While these drugs offer immediate relief of pain symptoms ranging from moderate to severe they also become physically addictive after long term use.
Of course when most people think about opiate addiction they often think of opium or heroin and hard drug users like they may have seen on television or movies. But with the increasing use of opiates to treat pain, opiate addiction may be closer to home than you think. There is most likely some of your neighbors, friends and even family who are now or in the past experienced opiate addiction of some degree.
I myself was treated for pain with hydrocodone for almost a year. I had severe pain in my foot caused by plantar fascia and my bone collapsing in my foot. This was caused by long hours of physical activity and heavy lifting while on hard concrete floors. Luckily I was finally treated by a podiatrist who got my foot pain under control without the use of opiate pain medication.
Up to that point I had been taking pain medication on a daily basis for almost a year. I abruptly stopped taking it since my pain was at least dulled enough to walk now without it. I then experienced a slew of withdrawal symptoms such as excessive sweats, nausea, irritability and diarrhea. It took my body about a month to feel somewhat normal again. But even then the long term opiate use had caused weight gain due to the fact that it binds up your digestive system and normal bodily functions to a great degree.
Later on I went through a system cleansing treatment which resulted in me dropping a whopping 30lbs in only a month. Yes that’s right, my system was so bound up that i had acquired an excess 30lbs of weight just due to taking my daily pain medication. It was then I decided that no matter how bad of pain I may experience in the future I would not take opiate pain medication ever again. And have not done so in years.
While my opiate withdrawals were a horrible feeling there are many people who have far worse opiate addictions due to larger doses of pain medication or even heroin or other illicit street drugs containing opiates. Many are treated with methadone to alleviate their withdrawal symptoms but there is a great flaw in the treatment that they are merely treating addicts with another opiate that stays in your system even longer than the other ones do. So what happens if they try to stop the methadone? Yes that’s right; methadone withdrawal.
There is only one real solution for opiate addiction.In my opinion the solution is cleansing yourself through a detoxification treatment. It worked for me and I’m now clean and free of opiate addiction for several years now. Remember to take care with your pain management and if/when you receive the procedure(s) needed to alleviate your pain without medication begin cleansing yourself as soon as possible.
Some people have severe pain and may have circumstances where they only have the option to treat their pain and “keep on truckin”. I understand that completely because that was my situation as well. Just remember, opiate addiction is all around you and a very easy addiction to acquire. But you can take steps to make withdrawals a lot easier to go through. I wish everyone the best with their pain problems and hope everyone can find an opiate free way to handle their pain. It’s never too late.
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