The wisest course is definitely never to try cigarettes. It’s rare, if not unheard-of, to be a “social smoker.” Plenty of people are social drinkers without an alcohol problem, but for people with alcoholics in the family it’s wisest never to try alcohol.
Another heartbreaking obituary on the same page! https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/obituary-brian-costello-1983-2018/Content?oid=20691488
My point with the broccoli is that what if it turned out that for some people it was addicting. Wouldn’t you wonder about what feeling it was it was giving them? I think very few people get pleasure from one dose, one time of opioids. Thus i am stunned when something like this is reported.
I guess like some posted above, people have different reactions and addiction levels. The way I view this difference from the evolution perspective is that if the environment changes, some humans who are not addictive can survive. If we are all very addictive to one chemical, the human species will get wiped out.
For me, not many things are as addictive as British detective series or a good morning cup of coffee.
Even if opioids don’t add a specific high, merely the removal of pain can bring great pleasure. If you’re anguished or stressed and taking something softened those edges, then it can exert quite a pull. I could see how that alone could be seductive and compelling.
Opioids are medications that act on the brain, as do many other controlled substances. They impact people in different ways - ask anyone who has needed psychotropic medications, and they will tell you the same is true of those drugs as well. While antidepressants often help people feel better, they cause some people to become suicidal - and others with a particular brain chemistry become manic. I hated Percocet when I had a C-section, and consider myself fortunate that my kids all hated the meds they were given after having wisdom teeth removed, the youngest to the point that she refused all pain killers and just dealt with the pain. Other people become euphoric, just as some really enjoy the buzz they get from alcohol.
No, we shouldn’t avoid everything, but yes we should avoid those things that are known to be addictive for some people. I have not heard of anyone becoming addicted after the first try, but for some only a few days is enough, even when used appropriately to treat acute pain.
I think there is often something missing between the “tried it once at a party” and “became an addict.” If you didn’t have any subsequent access after the first time, I doubt whether you would become an addict. I think it goes more like, “Tried it at party, really liked it, made plans to do it again, etc., then became an addict.” The problem is not only how strong the pills are but how readily available they are.
Tangentially, I’ve always found it interesting how pain thresholds can vary so much from one person to the next. I’ll admit to being a real weenie when it comes to pain - I have a very, very low pain threshold.
I’ve been prescribed oxycontin once. For a powerful drug, it did NOTHING to relieve the pain I was in.
Don’t take Vicodin after a bad experience which made me very loopy, anxious, and jumpy.
“The problem is not only how strong the pills are but how readily available they are.”
I think your point about easy access is valid but I think it is the combo of both things that causes the situation our country is in. One or the other wouldn’t cause such a big problem.
@CheddarcheeseMN is spot on. “Tried once and addicted” is just a way of expression. She probably wasn’t aware of dangers of addiction. About genetic susceptibility;My doctor thinks I can’t never get addicted since narcotics makes me sick before it gets me high. My D has a friend who got out of rehabilitation for addiction. When he needed dental procedure he went through it without narcotics fearing he will get addicted again. The pain must have been unimaginable.
Part of the problem with oxy is that the Sackler family lied about it’s addictive nature and it became prevalent because people assumed it was “safe” or at least safer than regular opiods. A drug that was the last one you would reach for, because of its dangerous addictive nature, was suddenly going home with kids who just got their wisdom teeth taken out.
The feds were planning a criminal case against the manufacturer and the Sacklers but they were stopped by political appointees and lobbyists for their drug company (not naming names, but he lost a case once to Bess Myerson). The feds instead just fined the company and the drug stayed on the market. That was in 2005 or 2006! Imagine if it had stopped being manufactured back then?
I’ve seen obituaries of young people that don’t mention the cause of death and I figure this was it. My friends even went to a funeral and never found out how the young person died. SMH…
Really? I know of several people who are not addicts, but who remark that they had an opioid painkiller once for surgery or for some other legitimate use, loved the high, and would love to use it recreationally if that weren’t a terrible idea (so for example, if they were dying anyway or something of that nature.) Lots of people say they like the opioid high.
I remember having one pill of that stuff after a wisdom tooth removal and thinking it would help with the pain. It made me so miserable I swore I would never touch that stuff. Yes, having that personal experience does make it hard to believe that it makes people want to take it…
Opioids block anxiety as well as pain. Whatever you were worried about goes away. Everything is fine. In fact, you never felt this good, this alive, this relaxed. For many people that feeling is seductive. From what I’m reading here some people don’t feel it. But many (most?) of those who do feel it realize that that feeling could cost their relationships, their jobs, their lives, and don’t pursue it. But some are so miserable, so unhappy or so unaware that they do pursue it and follow it down the rabbit hole.
I don’t think that’s how addiction works. I don’t think people like the feeling of being on a drug; they just hate the feeling of being off it. Their bodies crave it. The symptoms probably differ, but I believe it includes things like headaches, anxiety, nausea, and whatever other symptoms you might have during a withdrawal. Taking the drug stops the symptoms.
If you get a migraine and take a migraine medication, you’re not taking it because it makes you feel good. You take it because it makes your head stop feeling bad. I think addiction is like that. Taking the drug lessens the awful symptoms that are created by being without it.
@maya54 , to respond to your question about what makes opiates such a draw for some people, my addicted niece said that, prior to full blown addiction, using opiates was the only time she felt that she was not in pain (emotional pain, in her case). That might have been an exaggeration, but perhaps not too far off. Now, as an addict, she says she uses to avoid being very sick. Methadone maintenance and suboxone have been helpful off and on, but not helpful enough.
“don’t think that’s how addiction works. I don’t think people like the feeling of being on a drug; they just hate the feeling of being off it. Their bodies crave it. The symptoms probably differ, but I believe it includes things like headaches, anxiety, nausea, and whatever other symptoms you might have during a withdrawal. Taking the drug stops the symptoms.”
This is always what I’ve heard before and it’s exactly why I found myself utterly perplexed when I read the obituary. While what you say could be true of those who originally took the drug for a prescription, If this were always the case then people like the young woman about whom the obituary was written would never have taken another dose after the one at the party that her family say started her on the road to addiction.
I think those who say that for some their is a feelin of intense pleasure when they take the drug ( at least initially) have it correct.
Side issue (apologies if this has been mentioned) - I didn’t watch (I am a fan of The Voice) but saw on the morning shows that in the new episode of the Conners, they thought that Roseanne (the character) first died of an MI but it was later revealed on autopsy to be and opioid OD.
That was a beautiful obituary and my heart breaks for the family. (And all those going through the same thing.) I am glad to see more people talking openly about this epidemic. My adult step-niece died of an opiod OD a few years ago. and it’s like everyone tries to pretend it didn’t happen.
@maya54 What you’re really asking is “Why do people want this since it causes me to have a headache?” And the answer is that it doesn’t affect other people as negatively as it affects you. That is, until it’s too late and kills them.
My understanding is that for some people, opioids induce a sense of euphoria. By the time they experience the unpleasant side effects (constipation, etc.), their brains are already craving that high, so they seek it again and again. While everyone experiences the constipation (which takes a few days to notice, of course), plenty of people do not get the headache and nausea that you experienced. And for others, the pain they are trying to relieve is chronic and intense, and the opioid really does a good job relieving it, but eventually, the person requires a higher dose to do the same thing.