If pain killers are taken exactly as prescribed, they are harmless and will hardly ever lead to addiction. And yet addiction to prescription pain killers is increasing. Opiods (sometimes called narcotics) are the most common medicines that can cause this. They contain morphine, codeine and others in the same group.

Examination displays that every year, approximately 2 million Americans use prescription opiod painkillers. In some countries, addiction to painkillers has now overtaken the use of cocaine and marijuana. 9% of the population admits to having used pain killers unlawfully.

Morphine is often used after surgical procedure for the control and mitigation of severe pain. Codeine is more widespread and can cope with milder pain. Opiods work by attaching to proteins in the brain, spine and digestive tract. These proteins are called opiod receptors. When an opiod attaches to a receptor, they can modify the way a person feels pain.

So How do People get Addicted to Them?
They can also affect how pleasure is experienced and that’s why many opiods provoke a feeling of euphoria when they are used.

People who become addicted begin by taking pain killers for longer than they should do, to get this initial euphoria. The trouble is that if pain killers are taken for a long time, the body can become lenient to that medicine. This stands for that higher and higher doses must be taken to achieve the same effect. It also means that the body has adjusted to operating normally with that level of pain killers, and so if the pain killers are ended, or reduced, withdrawal symptoms can arise.

Cold Turkey
Signs of drug withdrawal are very unpleasant and can engage restlessness, pain in the bones and muscles, diarrhea, insomnia, vomiting and unconscious leg movements. Withdrawal is called “cold turkey” because another main signs is cold flashes with goose bumps on the skin.