If the dose keeps climbing

Are you managing chronic pain on a prescription opioid, and noticing the same dose does less than it used to? Have you tried to cut back and been knocked down by withdrawal symptoms? Have you watched someone you love slowly take more and more, and now you are worried that careful use has turned into dependence or addiction? This post is for you.

Scope of the problem

Opioid addiction has been a serious national issue for years and is not going away. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that roughly 130 people in the United States die from an opioid overdose every single day. Prescription rates for opioids climbed by roughly 300 percent over ten years, and a lot of that climb has been tied to the rise in chronic pain.

More than a third of Americans live with some form of chronic pain. Millions of prescriptions are written every year to manage it. Studies suggest that roughly one in four people prescribed an opioid will become psychologically and physiologically addicted to the drug. That is a hard number to sit with, and it explains a lot about what families have been living through.

Why the body catches up

Over time, the body adjusts to pain medication. That adjustment is called tolerance. More of the drug is required to get the same effect, which is not a moral failure, it is biology.

Opioids also create oversensitivity to pain in some people, which is called opioid-induced hyperalgesia. That sets up a loop where the original pain never fully leaves and a second kind of pain, created by the medication, shows up on top. People can end up chasing pain that the drug itself is helping cause.

Dependency and withdrawal

Continued use creates both physical and psychological dependence. Withdrawal from opioids can be severe enough that the fear of it is its own reason to keep taking the pills. Many people try to come off on their own, feel awful, and end up right back where they started. That is not weakness. That is a medical condition that needs medical support.

Opioids also work on the nucleus accumbens, the pleasure center of the brain associated with addiction. When that system is activated consistently for long enough, the mental, emotional, physical, relational, social, and financial consequences all compound.

Kagey can help

There are alternatives to opioids for pain management, and there are safe ways to reduce or stop their use when dependence has set in. If you are worried about your own use or a loved one's, call us. We offer alcohol counseling, drug counseling, and online counseling for people across the country who cannot get to a Houston office.

Call 832-928-0211 to schedule an initial appointment or a phone consultation. The earlier the conversation, the more options you have.