If someone has a chronic pain disease and requires pain medication just to function at times, what are they supposed to do to avoid becoming addicted to their pain meds? Does switching between types of medication help?
I think switching between medicines would be a good idea so that the body isn't exposed to one type of drug only.There idea here is to relieve the pain without getting addicted to any drug without which you'll endure constant pain.
Yeah, that's the whole idea, to avoid getting addicted. It can be difficult when you have to take medication. Prescription addictions aren't any better than street drugs.
The fact of the matter is that a simple method for preventing addiction involves following the recommended dosage or even utilizing a smaller dosage than the daily allotment. This won't work for everyone, but some people do well keeping that tactic in their mind at all times. Still, preventing addiction while on prescription drugs isn't always possible, despite a person's best efforts. It's a tight rope situation that isn't always easy to walk.
Well, sticking to the appropriate dosage doesn't guarantee you won't become addicted. Even if you take it as prescribed, it can take its toll over the long term. It is definitely a tight rope.
You might want to try a healthy diet to improve your immune system. By doing so you might be able to let your body heal itself and not depend on the pharmacy to make you numb. Remember now, their sole purpose is to make money. So they will numb you and not cure you. Educate yourself and heal yourself on your own terms.
Pumping your body full of drugs is not a healthy way to fight pain. However, for some people it is necessary. In this case I suggest trying methods to improve your overall health in order to help your body as much as possible. Diet is very important for this. This should hopefully allow your body to better manage what is causing your pain, thus reducing the reliance on the pain medications.
Well I think that the best way is to only take what you need. Getting past a certain point with pain. I mean you take it in full dose in the beginning and then baby steps to get away from it. Skip a dose or cut it in half. Ween yourself off of it and see how you feel. Slight discomfort or being a little sore is ok. Whatever the issue is. If that pain really bothers you take what you need. You just have to test the waters. If there is no pain it is a good time to begin to stop taking it in smaller amounts or less. Better that you don't finish a bottle of pain killers than needing more. There are plenty of natural alternatives to help you get off of something. Like chamomile or ginger which are both anti-inflamatories. They work for basic aches and pains. Magnesium is a pain killer it will alleviate and relax you.
Self control, self control, self control. Hard for a person with an addictive personality but absolutely neccessary in a situation like this. Accountability and support as well. I have fibromyalgia. At this current time I am taking Mobic in the a.m. and Norco in the p.m. I have not had any urges to abuse the drug yet and have been on pain management for 8 months. I have an awesome doctor, they do pill counts and keep line of communication and checks on me. I have a great family that supports and loves me. Not everyone is so lucky and that's where the tons of self control comes into play.
To some extent it helps, but I also think that if you vary your medication, the chances of succumbing to addiction are lesser. For instance, you can explore alternative medication like herbs, acupuncture, ayurveda and whatnot. Some people start taking in fruits for bowel cleansing. If you don't stick to a single method, you are less likely to feel isolated. Variety keeps your mind alert and enlightened.
I heard that not using more doses than you should helps. I know someone who needs to take morphine in order to make it thru the day, she said she will try not to exceed her recommended doses out of fear to get addicted to morphine. Her doctor told her the risk wasn't so big if she followed all his instructions and his guidance, so once we could walk more she could lose the weight and hopefully get some relief.
I think it's honestly hard, and there's no perfect approach that's going to work for everyone. I know a person that is the last person you'd think would have an addictive personality, who found it incredibly hard to wean off prescription pain meds after a nasty sporting injury. I think the best thing to do is always, always keep those lines of communication open with your medical professional. Let them know if you're concerned about addiction, have a schedule in which you'll check in with your doctor to express any concerns - things like that are helpful, in my opinion.
I also think that trying to have healthier lifestyle might help. Also just take the dosage prescribed and do not go over that. If it seems not helpful, consult the doctor or an expert for advise.
Switching between medications is known to help. I've never had first hand experience or anyone else within my family or social circle that can confirm this. Often, pharmacists will recommend a change of medicine to chronic users because that particular drug is considered ineffective, after a certain period of time. Perhaps a similar logic applies here as well, but in inverse.
The only way I could think of is natural alternatives. Of course you would want something to help deal with the pain. If you don't want to get hooked on pain medication you have to find a alternative. I always look on the web for holistic healing sites, and I'm pretty sure there are recommendations there. There's really no other way to avoid using pain medication besides using natural stuff that I know of.
There are some natural alternatives that can be used instead of addicting pain medications. I think the Chinese uses this alternative method of healing Cancer and other diseases. I have heard some people have been cured through this alternative natural method. Maybe try this method if the usual medicines can be risky.
I'm also leaning towards the holistic approach, since herbal remedies will certainly not make a person addicted to it in the long run. In fact, more and more people are now going that route, and I think that it's cheaper too as compared to the usual synthetic medicines.
It is very easy to get addicted to prescription drugs when it comes to pain. I know what pain can do to somebody. It is so difficult to feel pain and then resist the drug that can take away the pain. I think that one way out is to reduce the quantity of drugs you take, skip dosage, and then skip days. I also believe that it is very important to get educated on healthy diets so that your system can naturally be strong and fight the disease naturally. If you are a God-fearing person, then prayers can be of vital importance. If you truly know God, you can always pray and ask him to help you out of the addiction or the pain. When I almost got addicted to prescription drugs, I remember that prayers was the biggest weapon that helped me out of it. I believe that this is a very difficult situation, but there is always a way out.
I'm actually going down the homeopathic route I'm taking a treatment to help me with my PCOS, I'll have a sonogram done in a few months to see how everything is going. I think this homeopathic treatment is indeed working, I was feeling a bit hormonal yesterday, my belly hurts a bit... I hope hoping this treatment can actually help regulated my periods, if it does I'll surely start using homeopathy more and more.