If you’re suffering from chronic pain, you may have to walk a very fine line when taking pain management drugs. On the one hand, you need the medication to alleviate your symptoms as part of a doctor-prescribed pain management routine. On the other hand, all effective prescription pain management drugs have addictive properties, and some have very addictive properties. Be careful to always monitor your intake and not exceed the recommended dosage as established by your doctor. It’s also important to remember that the stronger and more effective the pain management drug is, the more addictive it usually is. In reality, very few patients who strictly follow the recommended dosage as per their doctor become addicted to pain management drugs. The far more common reason people become addicted to pain management drugs is their decision to ignore their doctors prescribed dosage guidelines and exceed and extend their use of the prescribed pain management drug. If you believe you or your loved one may have developed an addiction to a pain management drug we are here to get you the help you will need.

Types of Pain Management Drugs

The family of pain management drugs to which patients most commonly become addicted are opioids. Chronic pain sufferers will often take opioids as part of their pain management routine. While they’re often a necessary part of the pain management process, every effort should be made to monitor the patient’s dosage, especially long-term chronic pain sufferers, and cease use as soon as possible when the pain subsides to avoid developing drug addiction. This is why the best choice for minor pain treatment should always be a over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug such as Advil, Tylenol, etc. that does not contain any addictive substance like codeine or morphine. 

How to Tell If You’re Addicted to Pain Management Drugs

The most immediate way to tell if you’re in danger of becoming addicted to pain management drugs is whether or not you experience physical withdrawal symptoms. Another way to tell is to examine the presence of any severe cravings that you may have after you have completed your doctor-prescribed course of intake. Other behavioral signs are not as telling due to the relative accessibility of pain management drugs—it’s not as if you have to steal money from your family to get them. However if you do something like drive a car, operate heavy machinery, care for a child, or undertake any other task where sobriety is an absolute must while taking pain management drugs, that’s usually an adequate indicator of the size and scope of your problem.

How to Avoid Becoming Addicted to Pain Management Drugs

The best way to avoid any danger of pain management drug addiction is to listen to your doctor about the use of your prescribed pain management drug and to be absolutely honest about what you’re feeling. Remember the fastest way to addiction is to use these drugs outside the guidelines of a doctor’s orders. If you are taking any opioid pain management drug you should also check with your doctor if any over-the-counter medications are safe to take in combination with your prescribed opioid drug.

The National Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Information Center (NASAIC) maintains a continuously updated national database of pain management drug drug rehab centers in your local area, as well as the leading recommended pain management drug treatment centers in the United States and around the world.