The Making of a Drug Addict
By Denise Bolds, MSW August 2, 2009
Pharmaceutical drug addiction is not just ascribed to the wealthy and affluent; in fact anyone whom a medical physician writes a prescription for is susceptible. This slippery slope on impropriety is justified by over nine years of college medical education and residency, and by the FDA. Just how accessible are prescribed medications anyway?
One day, I was talking with my neighbor, a college educated woman. I confessed to her that I have been having trouble sleeping. I even looked like I was sleep depraved. My neighbor in her innocence replied: “I have just the thing for you!” She went into her purse and took out a small brown bottle. My neighbor placed a small pill into the palm of my hand; it was smaller than a tic-tac and had a very light peach color. “Take this tonight before going to bed” she instructed “Make sure you can sleep for 8 hours uninterrupted, so turn off your phone – this will put you to sleep and you will feel great after having a good sleep!” My neighbor in all of her benevolent innocence did what millions of other people do: give that helpful little pill to someone else – my neighbor did not ask me if I had any medical conditions or allergies to medications, she did not instruct me not to have any alcohol with this cute little pill – she just gave me some ‘help’ and ADVISED ME TO TURN OFF MY PHONE.
Suppose I did take the pill (I did not, in fact I still have it to this very day) I am a medical nightmare – I am allergic to everything, from tetanus to penicillin and the list grows every year I get older. I have no way of knowing if I am allergic to Ambien or Luniestra; by turning off the phone, family nor friends could not wake me up with an annoying ringing telephone - sounds like a deadly scenario for sure.
The ‘abuse’ of pharmaceuticals occurs thousands of times a day and with the health care crisis resulting in over14 million people in America without health care coverage; you can bet pills are being circulated faster than a twitter on a cell phone. As a medical social worker I have witnessed the extent of Rx addiction – more subtle than Matt Dillon in Drug Store Cowboy. (Which EVERYONE should watch…). Millions upon millions of Americans are addicted to pharmaceutical drugs and there is no relief in sight.
Injuries, surgery and medical complications that are 10, 15, 25 years old are STILL being treated with Vicodin, Oxycodone, Dilaudid, Tylenol #3, Percocet and so on. The American Medical Association (AMA) and the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) produces weak outreach in educating about the high incidents of addiction and medical complications of pain killers. Pain killers kill the pain by killing the body the pain is in. Pain killers block pain receptors – also blocks the body’s ability to respond to respiration and functioning as a whole – EVERYTHING slows down with utilizing pain killers, all metabolic action and respiration as well as eating. There is a loss of appetite, breathing/respiration decreases resulting in fluid accumulating in the lungs, there is a massive absorption of water as a result of taking pain killers, constipation occurs. This waste cannot be eliminated properly so the body becomes toxic and sluggish. All of the things necessary to promote healing after surgery or injury are thrown out of the window. You won’t eat well, eliminate waste well, ambulate well, healing is prolonged and other complications can result. Pain killers and muscle relaxants disorient, sedate and slow body responses. These pills are taken by mothers, machine operators, drivers, teachers, police officers, air pilots, and more resulting in reduced judgment ability, decreased quick responses as well as being lucid – all compromised by a pill.
These medications are highly addictive as indicative by both the AMA and FDA, but these pills are still dispensed at 30-60-90 pills at a time. American health care system has become so Rx dependant that Workman’s Compensation and Social Security Disability all rely upon Rx records to validate how ill or injured a person really is.
The body processes pain as the result of surgery or injury – alerting the brain - too much pain places the body in distress. Remember that surgery, fracture, tooth extraction or sprain does heal – the body does heal. The claim is that you may not be at 100% prior to injury, accidents or surgery – you were not 100% anyway – if you were, you would not need that above. The goal is to have a patient at 100% is totally deceptive and not natural. Every day, the human body ages and dies off; cells at a time. An 89 year old is not at 100% after all he is 89 years old.
Pharmaceuticals are not just regarded to pain, many co morbidities such as hypertension, diabetes , seizure disorders and more require Rx intervention have reactions that are detrimental to being healthy: visual impairment, loss of appetite, insomnia, depression, decreased libido and the most prevalent – obesity!
Americans have been fighting the fat for decades. Many Americans are overweight not because of lifestyle but because of a prescribed medication. It is a double edged sword for many who fight diabetes yet the very insulin prescribed has a counter indication of weight gain. Mental health diagnoses that require Rx maintenance also face this deadly dilemma: many of the very same prescribed medications recommended by physicians have a negative outcome – weight gain. The remedy for weight loss – take another pill!
So why is it that the AMA & FDA continue to support the dispensing of these high addictive mediations that often have serious side effects? Many health care professionals will attest to the belief that “The reaction is milder than the disease itself.” My question: for how long? A diabetic of 20 years relies upon insulin management puts on an average weight gain of 7 pounds a year – a weight gain of 140 pounds from Rx alone – not including weight gain from age, genetic pre-dispositioning or any other co morbidity. There have been investigations in pharmaceutical research that has generated warnings of taking these drugs: For example, OxyContin, a drug used to control pain has been deemed highly addictive and the company, Perdue Pharma LP and its executives have all been charged and prosecuted for “Unleashing a highly abusable, addictive and potentially dangerous drug on an unsuspecting, unknowing public.” Perdue Pharma LP has been ordered to pay $634.5 million in fines for knowingly promoting this highly addictive drug in 2007. (S. Lindsey Associated Press, May 2007).
How can this be stopped? Educate the patient. Pain is a normal body process and cannot be totally diminished. Childbirth and labor is a natural process and yet as soon as a mother leans she is pregnant, she is immediately developing her birth plan to be pain free with lots of pain medication during delivery and yet she wants a healthy baby. Can the research be correlated to the increase in ADD/AHD children in the past 20 years is related to the mother’s use of drugs during delivery? Pain Management is a proactive as well as reactive process. We must educate on the levels of pain and its relationship within the body. We must also embrace that this not a pain free world. Is the pharmaceutical presence in western medicine a systematic dependence that results in profit and job security? That is a question that must be answered. Are the benefits out weighing the risks? How many friends and family are dying from complications of treatment (medications) rather than the actual disease itself?
