Agencies
Services
September is Pain Awareness Month
Opioid Misuse: What You Need to Know
Opioids are a type of drug used to reduce pain. For cancer patients and others living with chronic pain, they can be helpful. But it is dangerously easy for a person to become dependent on opioids, without ever meaning to use them to get high. Once a person becomes opioid dependent, withdrawal symptoms make it hard to stop using the drugs.
Opioids are usually prescribed by doctors for pain relief after surgery or an injury. They are also used to treat pain from cancer or osteoarthritis. Some common prescription opioids include:
- Hydrocodone
- Oxycodone
- Morphine
- Codeine
Side effects of these medications – even when they’re taken as directed – can include:
- Being more sensitive to pain
- Needing more medication for the same level of pain relief or developing a tolerance to the drug
- Depression
- Drowsiness
- Feeling dizzy
- Feeling sick to your stomach or vomiting
- Lack of energy
- Low sex drive
- Withdrawal when you stop taking the drug or as you build up a tolerance to it
When you build up a tolerance to an opioid, you can have withdrawal-type symptoms while you’re still taking it. Withdrawal symptoms include feeling like you have the flu, coughing, muscle aches, runny or stuffy nose, stomach cramps, diarrhea and trouble sleeping.
A person’s tolerance for an opioid builds as they take it. At the same time, their body is becoming dependent on the drug. They start to take more pills than their doctor prescribed, just to get the same level of pain relief they had at first. When they run out of pills, they go to other doctors and hospitals to get new opioid prescriptions.
A person who is abusing opioids may:
- Avoid other people and social situations
- Seem anxious
- Not be able to focus or remember things
- Seem to move slowly or be slow to react
- Have mood swings
- Seem depressed or like they don’t care about anything
- Be drowsy more often
For information about opioid dependence, visit here.
Brought to you by:
