Pain Addiction - Pain Killers Can Help And Hurt If Abused
Pain Killers can be life-saving or life-taking!
They are used for all sorts of ailments from headaches and insect bites to chronic arthritis and post-surgical pain. Commonly known as analgesics, pain relievers are drugs used to suppress pain mechanism; there are basically two categories in pain killers: Narcotic and Non-narcotic.
Non-narcotic drugs are mostly sold over the counter, the most familiar examples would be aspirin and ibuprofen which we use for everyday headaches and fevers. These medicines however have a major side effect of thinning the blood; which can cause clotting hazards!
The other kind that is the Narcotic drugs are the stronger kind and should be taken with a doctor prescription as they directly affect the brain and central nervous system. These medicines contain highly addictive drugs like opium, morphine and heroin; as such patients put on these medicines should be carefully monitored to check for early signs of addiction and drug seeking. Some examples of Narcotic drugs are Valium which is used for treating anxiety, insomnia, seizures and muscle spasms; and Celebrex which is used to treat osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and acute pain. Though these pain killers help a lot to ease pain but they have a negative side as well.
Pain relievers can be taken orally as tablets, syrups etc. or injected directly into the body; in whichever way they are consumed, it should be ensured that they are taken in the right dosage and in no circumstance should they lead to addiction, as withdrawing symptoms are much more painful and agonising than the pain itself. Pain killers have been known to pave the way to serious drug addiction especially with patients consuming narcotic drugs, anything taken in the right measure is beneficial and the same thing in excess is poison.
Let medical science be a boon and help to save lives - avoid pain addiction.
