Daily Mail - Why even painkilling drugs can be highly addictive

[edgarshade]

By Dr Ellie Cannon

Last updated at 10:45 PM on 11th February 2012

With reader comments

The idea of being addicted to headache tablets or nasal decongestants sounds far-fetched – but many over-the-counter medicines are, in fact, quite easy to become dependent upon. Most at risk are those people who need to take these drugs for chronic long-term conditions – and often, patients will self-medicate for years, or even decades, before consulting their doctor. In the long term, the damage to the body can be significant so the situation needs to be tackled head-on.

I thought over-the-counter medicines were quite safe. Is it possible to become addicted to them?

Codeine, a common component of strong over-the-counter medication, is in the same family of drugs as morphine and shares its addictive quality. People become addicted to the codeine-containing ones rather than those containing paracetamol. These painkillers are safe to take in the short term – the problem arises when people take them for extended periods.

More...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/a...N-Why-painkilling-drugs-highly-addictive.html

 

[shishigami]

The title of this article is very misleading.

And I believe that a pure opiate taken every day is probably pretty damn safe as far as long term damage goes. The addiction aspect is an issue but the likelihood of an overdose from a pharmaceutical opiate is lower and there won't be any unsafe cuts.

 

[Newbierock]

At first I thought this was going to be about people addicted to paracetomol & ibuprofen...
Then I see that codeine is being likened to morphine..

Actually would have preffered a story about people addicted to NSAIDs.

 

[Mercc96]

How long would people addicted to NSAIDs last before their stomachs and liver packed in?

 

[Crankinit]

seek help from your gp at an early stage. Doctors are used to dealing with addiction in a non-judgmental way

lol

 

[Pjkt2501]

lol

fo real.

"Oh you're 22? You're not actually in pain! /slaps knee" - the fucks.

 

[skillet]

People become addicted to the codeine-containing ones rather than those containing paracetamol.

Codeine addiction often causes chronic headaches.

I've heard of people taking grams of paracetamol a day for years, seems it's actually fairly common, eg:

1% of the general population suffer from chronic daily headache due to medication misuse. (In israel, seen similar figure for spain)

we evaluated 26 children (19 girls and 7 boys) with chronic daily or near-daily headache related to daily analgesic intake. The mean age of the group was 14.2 years (range, 12-18), and the mean headache history duration was 1.6 years (range, 3 months to 4 1/2 years). The mean number of headache days per month was 28.1 (range, 19-31). All patients had no history of migraine prior to the chronic headache phase according to the International Headache Society criteria. They were using at least one dose of analgesic drug for each headache, whereas 16 were using analgesic drugs daily. The weekly analgesic intake averaged 28.1 tablets (range, 19-41). The majority abused simple analgesics. Twenty-one took acetaminophen alone. Five took a combination; four took a compound containing acetaminophen, caffeine, and codeine; and the fifth patient took a compound containing aspirin, caffeine, and codeine.

Withdrawal led to complete cessation of all headaches in 20 patients.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11417614

No codeine required. And I'd have thought if you're addicted to the codeine in 10/500 pills, and don't CWE, you're going to have bigger problems than the codeine addiction.

 

[Mercc96]

Doctors are terrible when it comes to pain, unless your over the age of 40 or have cancer they just don't want to know

 

[itglowsblue]

Codeine, a common component of strong over-the-counter medication, is in the same family of drugs as morphine and shares its addictive quality.

Actually about 10% of it even becomes morphine via metabolization in the liver. Not breaking news, realy.

I've heard of people taking grams of paracetamol a day for years, seems it's actually fairly common, eg: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11417614

Holy crap... why don't these people switch to Ibuprofen or just get drunk instead? I'd rather kill my pain & liver with ethanol if i was them.