As for not becoming addicted? I know from my own experience that if I take a pain medication when I don't really need it I get headaches and feel sick to my stomach. It doesn't matter what drug it is. But if I am having lots of pain I don't get the headaches or nausea at all.
Just my observations.
-- Karla>----- Original Message ----- From: "cathy:-" <anonymous@medispecialty.com> To: "Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS" <adhesions@mail.medispecialty.com> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 10:53 PM Subject: Ok, you can tell me if I'm paranoid or not...
> I read through both of the recent links that Helen Dynda about addiction > and chronic pain. (Yes, I read them all, Helen -- you are one of my > personal heros for tracking down all of this fabulous info!) I must say > that both of them raised the hair on the back of my neck. > > "Risk Of Addiction To Pain Relief Is Small, Expert Says" Then the > article goes on to simply repeat this as a bald-faced assertion over and > over. It gave NO explanations, NO reasons, simply stated that it is > true. Well, you know, I'm not believing doctors simply because they > ascend their thrones and proclaim things to be true! (ESPECIALLY things > that they so sincerely WANT to be true!) > > I can think of several plausible scientific explanations for why it > might be true that people who are in pain and take narcotics are > unlikely to become addicted. For example we know that pain is a > chemical reaction in the brain, and we know that drugs work by causing > chemical reactions in the brain. It would be completely plausible if > the brain scientists find out that pain chemicals interfere with the > chemical process of addiction. Or maybe there is only a tiny fraction > of the human population whose brains are wired up to become addicted and > so among chronic pain sufferers there is only a tiny fraction who are at > a risk for addiction. Or maybe it is some other reason. Or maybe in > that study of pain patients and addiction they manipulated the data and > said that anyone who needed the pain relief wasn't addicted when many of > them actually were. > > But the point is that these Lords of Medicine do not deign to actually > give us stupid little patients any information like that. Instead they > pat us on the head and chuck us under the chin and tell us not to worry > our pretty little heads about addiction and if we are in pain we DESERVE > those narcotics. There are just so many things wrong with that > attitude. First of all, I've heard enough "don't worry your little > head" statements to know that I SHOULD worry. Don't worry nothing bad > could happen from this c-section or tubal and that hysterectomy is a > triviality and adhesions don't hurt. Secondly, I don't give a horse's > patooie what anybody else thinks I DESERVE in the way of pain relief. > It's not just that I have the right to pain relief, I have ALL the > rights. I have the right to decide how much pain I can stand. I have > the right to decide whether or not the benefits that any particular drug > gives to me are worth the side effects that the particular drug has on > me. Those are MY rights. MINE! MINE! MINE! > > Ok, I finished ranting, I'll stop now. If ya'all think I'm out of my > mind, well, alright you wouldn't be the first ones! > > -- > cathy :-) >