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>> I personally knew three people in my life that died as a result of drug use, all were in chronic pain for a variety of reasons and all were the result of prescription main meds. Â I also watched one of my bosses lose his job over his addiction due to chronic back pain. Â I really felt for all of these folks because for them it was not as simple as getting to rehab and cleaning yourself up (as if that is really that simple itself) the pain still has to be managed.Sad deal all the way around. Â When my boss was travelling with me it always blew my mind how easy it was for him to find pills in a different city.
@ForeCPA90: Â I lost my mother and younger sister to painkiller abuse. Â My mother had back surgery when I was a teenager. Â She was an RN and knew what to tell the family QUACK doctor so she could get more/stronger medicine. Â At the end, my father had to put her in a hospice because he couldn't take care of her. Â One of the nurses went to his house and explained that my mother was taking enough pain medication that it would kill an average person. Â They tried to lower her dose and put her on some different medicine and she died two days later. Â I think she just gave up. Â I don't doubt that my mother had some pain, but painkillers trick your mind into thinking the pain is worse so you'll take more.My younger sister had been using a variety of drugs for a long time. Â She drank alcohol while using pain medicine. Â She vomited in her sleep and chocked to death on her vomit. Â She had some minor injuries from a car wreck but nothing to justify continuing to take painkillers years later.I could have gone down similar paths after my motorcycle accident. Â The nurses could give me an injection (morphine?) every four hours. Â I got so I would watch the clock and at exactly four hours, I hit the buzzer and asked for another shot. Â The injection put me in la-la land. Â I had friends and family that came to visit and I realized that I was so wasted that I didn't remember their previous visit(s). Â The next day, I told the doctor not to let me have pain shots any more. Â He agreed only if he could give me pain pills. Â I took pills for two days then stopped them altogether. Â To this day, I don't like taking painkillers.I use the word painkiller literally as a reminder that they can kill.
@Retired_Engineer: It's interesting how people can have different reactions to painkillers too. Some love how they feel and become addicted while others can't stand it. I know when I had morphine after surgery I just felt sick and not able to gather my thoughts and hated it. I only stayed on it because it helped with the pain enough so I could get some sleep, but could not wait to get off that stuff. I was also prescribed some Xanex once a long time ago. I took one pill and did not like it's effect at all and never took another. Yet others can have one try of painkillers or other controlled substances and get addicted. It's like alcohol - how can so many drink it with no problem yet others get addicted. Maybe there is something in some people that makes them more likely to have an addiction to certain substances than others.
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