Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
Addiction: Social Community
|
the difference
by scaredmom330, Nov 28, 2008 05:34PM
what is the difference in something being addictive and it be dependency? does it have to be a narcotic to be addictive? and if it is just a habit it is dependency? see old age has already got a hold on me...lol
Post Comment
When something is addictive, it is something that makes you WANT it...often putting all else aside just to get it. A med that is addictive will constantly be on your mind, you will very much like the way you feel while you're taking it.
Dependency occurs with lots of kinds of meds, not just pain-killers or street drugs...Dependency is when your body REQUIRES the med or will otherwise go into w/d without it. You could care less if you take the med, but your body has gotten used to being on it and your brain's receptors yell for it when you don't have it in your system anymore....addictive substances can cause dependency also.
Some meds are both addictive and dependency causing.
One could be on a steroid for example, to treat certain diseases. When the doctor says it's time to be off of the med., they have to be weaned off because being on such a high dose for a long period of time has caused the patient's body to stop making the steroid...So, as the med is weaned off, the body gets a chance to recognize the slightly lower dose each time and start to make up for it and make the steroid on it's own again.
There are many meds that cause dependency and you can be on a pain med too, without addiction, but only dependency. Dependency occurs with most pain medications after even just a short period of regular usage. Meaning, just that one won't feel the same effects they did when first using the med at some point and the dose will have to be increased...or that when they stop the med, let's say, after 2 weeks, they may have some w/d, whether or not they felt a high on the med.
Addiction usually applies a behavior or mindset....One enjoys the way they feel on a med (which is fine and not addiction) but THEN decides to take more of it, or take it when they don't need it, just to get high, or higher...One who is addicted to a med has a hard time stopping not just because of w/d or any dependency, but also because of this high feeling, this euphoric feeling they get when they use their DOC.
I only typed this out fast, so I hope it makes sense...if not, I'll try again...
before i quit i wanted to make sure that i would not relapse after going through the hell of quitting.
made a list of all the reasons i liked to take a few pills besides for pain
some were really stupid- like to stay warm. hah, they really did warm me up.
so then i dealt with each reason and came up with something else to deal with it.
i quit chasing the high 2 years before i quit. that one is a biggie. ended up with wanting a dirvorce. guess i had been just putting up with everything and settling by taking some pills all the time and believing everything was alright. had to deal with it. it was no good and time to get out.
honestly hope that is not one of your reasons but maybe a job, family, certain friends???
Nauaty