help me understand addiction

[rudder]

A serious inquiry. I have had multiple surgeries in the last 4 years. Two were very painful long term rehabilitation type (back to back rotator cuff surgeries). So I consumed quite a few pain pills.

Why do some people feel such a strong need for pain medication? When the doctor stopped prescribing pain pills I was like oh well. Granted this was an attentive doctor. Over time the scripts went from percocet, to lortab 10's, to lortab 7.5's, to lortab 5's.

Do people know they are addicted? What would lead someone to consciously get multiple credit cards, buy TV's and then sell them for cash to obtain pain pills? Does logic get thrown out the window? Is going to the doctor explaining the situation not cross an addicts mind?

Maybe it is because for me pain pills don't do anything. I still feel the pain... just in too good of a mood to give a shit.

I just ask because someone I know who seemed like a good person for whatever reason starting take pain pills and got addicted. They failed a drug test, got fired, and starting maxing out credit cards for cash. Of course he kept this all hidden from the spouse as long as he could.

I wish I would have known.... could have gotten a cheap 4K tv!

Kidding about the last part.

 

[clamum]

It sounds like you lack the "gene" or whatever it is for addiction. If it would've been me taking those pills, I would've gobbled those fuckers down as long as I could get them.

There's probably some environmental factors in addiction (nuture vs nuture), but the majority is due to the lottery of genetics, and we're finding more and more that it's due to that (as opposed to environment/nuture). That's what an addiction specialist and psychiatrist told me, anyway.

 

[CraKaJaX]

While I can't answer that question, I must also lack the 'gene' that makes you addicted to things. Back in Feb I had surgery on my wrist and was prescribed with hydrocodone. I took -maybe- 10? I still have the entire thing sitting in my medicine cabinet. Either I have the tolerance of a 15 year old meth-head or I lack the 'gene' - I'll go with the latter. The stories I've heard about pill addiction (one is a very close friend of my dad) are terrible. Seems like the person you know of had it much worse though.... yikes.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Addiction is immune to logic. You sit anyone in the world down and ask them to explain taking out enormous debts to buy painkillers and you won't find a single person who says it's a good idea; that doesn't mean people won't do exactly that when confronted with an overwhelming desire that tells them "you need this thing at the expense of anything else in your life." The human brain is good at coming up with justifications for anything, even stuff that doesn't make any sense.

-EDIT- And I'm with you on painkillers. I've never, ever, ever enjoyed the experience of being on them in the slightest; I'm much more likely to stop taking them before the prescription is up than to get a jonesin' for that sweet feeling of living death. Fuck that noise. If I want to deaden my brain, I've got Scotch.

 

[Kaido]

help me understand addiction

/eyeballs the average postcount in this thread

There you go

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Addiction is so weird. I've fought an on-going battle with nicotine addiction (and, to a lesser extent, caffeine) for most of my life. Wearing my nicoderm patch right now.

The weirdness is when you try to quit and you experience withdrawal symptoms. For me, it is always an interesting lesson in how much our own internal mental state affects external reality -- or at least, colors the way I perceive it to the extent that it seems like "the universe is conspiring against me," or somesuch. I know intellectually that the universe isn't really working against me, but I get so grouchy and irritable (I know... sweet little ol' ME??) that it actually seems that way sometimes, and I have to actively talk myself out of it.

 

[swanysto]

People who get addicted to pain medication typically do so because it numbs them to their problems or it makes them feel good(high). For instance, people who are depressed get addicted to drugs,alcohols, and foods(sugars, salts, fats, etc) much easier. And a lot of people get addicted to them cause it makes them feel high.

Once theirs brains tell them that what they are taking is good, the receptors in your brain start to "crave". At that point it becomes much more chemical, and much less mental.

It is how your brain perceives the pain medication. It is the same way for cough syrup, or anything else really. If your brain perceives them for what they are, you are not likely to get addicted.

 

[tcsenter]

Addiction is not a disease: A neuroscientist argues that it’s time to change our minds on the roots of substance abuse

 

[tcsenter]

Back in Feb I had surgery on my wrist and was prescribed with hydrocodone. I took -maybe- 10? I still have the entire thing sitting in my medicine cabinet.

Oh?? YGPM!

 

[SlitheryDee]

I think what you're experiencing is the difference between addiction and dependency. Someone who is not an addict can still become dependent on a drug, meaning that they condition their body chemistry to it's presence to the extent that they feel negative effects when it is no longer there. Addiction goes far beyond physical dependency though.

An addict doesn't feel physical withdrawal any worse than someone who is simply dependent, but the mental desire to continue using is immensely greater. Not having the drug in their system feels intolerable on a level that may not have that much to do with simple chemical dependency in the end.

A normal person would simply take the drug while it was prescribed and then view their mild withdrawal symptoms as a minor inconvenience that didn't necessitate taking more of the drug as they moved on to other unrelated interests in life. An addict would be absolutely ravenous for more of the drug. There would not be a moment in the day that they weren't thinking about it, worrying over how they didn't have it, brainstorming for ways to get more of it. They would be preoccupied with it to the extent that they could not become interested in anything else long after the withdrawal symptoms had passed.

It's quite literally a different kind of brain we're talking about here.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Some people take one puff of a cigarette and becomes a smoker. Me I can go out drinking and smoking (and a variety of other things) for a weekend and never touch that stuff again until my next Vegas trip.

 

[zCypher]

Various complex set of conditions lead to addiction. You're asking a simple question to which there isn't one simple blanket answer that can apply to everyone.

In my case, giving up smoking was a piece of cake. Ask me to give up beer on the other hand... hells no.

 

[blackdogdeek]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/the-real-cause-of-addicti_b_6506936.html

But in fact some 95 percent of the addicted soldiers -- according to the same study -- simply stopped. Very few had rehab. They shifted from a terrifying cage back to a pleasant one, so didn't want the drug any more.

After the first phase of Rat Park, Professor Alexander then took this test further. He reran the early experiments, where the rats were left alone, and became compulsive users of the drug. He let them use for fifty-seven days -- if anything can hook you, it's that. Then he took them out of isolation, and placed them in Rat Park. He wanted to know, if you fall into that state of addiction, is your brain hijacked, so you can't recover? Do the drugs take you over? What happened is -- again -- striking. The rats seemed to have a few twitches of withdrawal, but they soon stopped their heavy use, and went back to having a normal life. The good cage saved them.

 

[rudder]

It sounds like you lack the "gene" or whatever it is for addiction. If it would've been me taking those pills, I would've gobbled those fuckers down as long as I could get them.

There's probably some environmental factors in addiction (nuture vs nuture), but the majority is due to the lottery of genetics, and we're finding more and more that it's due to that (as opposed to environment/nuture). That's what an addiction specialist and psychiatrist told me, anyway.

I suppose. I am just trying to figure out the thought process of an addict... if there is one. A few years ago the Sheriff in our county got busted for selling oxycontin to support his drug habit. You know the one elected to uphold the law. At what point would he not realize that he was doing something stupid. Rather than talk with a doctor he gets involved in selling pills.

I guess I should be fortunate I don't have that gene.

 

[TheVrolok]

Addiction is not a disease: A neuroscientist argues that it’s time to change our minds on the roots of substance abuse

Skimmed the article. The fellow is really just playing a semantics game with the word "disease." He's not offering anything that seems to run contrary to the contemporary understanding of addiction processes.

 

[IronWing]

Addiction is a moral failure, a character flaw, a sin against one's self.

 

[mmntech]

This is how it was explained to me so feel free to point out any inaccuracies.

Addiction is, simply put, a hijacking of your brain's reward system. Our brains evolved to motivate us to seek out behaviour that continued our survival. Things like food, sex, love, and friendship.

Addictive substances work by essentially mimicking a lot of the same chemicals behind this process. Specifically endorphin, the feel good neurotransmitter. It blocks pain receptors and give us a sense of euphoria.

Endorphin is an opioid. Chemically similar substances can also latch on to its receptors in the brain. Namely opium based drugs like morphine.

When we do something enjoyable, ie that releases endorphins, it also triggers a release of dopamine. This neurotransmitter is responsible for reward-seeking. The higher the pleasure stimulus, the more dopamine gets released. This was beneficial to our primitive ancestors, since dopamine motivated them to keep mating and seeking out calorie dense foods. Artificial stimuli illicit such a strong pleasure response that our brains think we've hit the survival jackpot. So a ton of dopamine gets released with each "hit".

Over time, this wears out our dopamine receptors. They become more desensitized to the stimuli, so you need more of it to get the same response. Another brain chemical called DeltaFosB starts to build up. It activates genes responsible for addiction, and rewires the brain to crave "it" more and more, whatever "it" is.

You're addicted when you can no longer control the seeking behaviour.

 

[William Gaatjes]

Addiction is a moral failure, a character flaw, a sin against one's self.

That is true in a way, but it is more better way to say it like this :

Addiction is an acquired moral failure. Addiction is an acquired character flaw.
Some people may have genes that put them in risk. I would know, because i seem to be one of those people. But self knowledge is the only cure and the only way to control ones weaknesses. Turn that weakness into a strength.
Then it is no longer a sin.
It is not easy, because in the free world all forbidden fruits hang low and are easy to get. But saying no is the best way.
As written in the bible somewhere, a moderate amount of alcoholic beverages is sufficient to step out of the every day life every once in a while.

And now : De la soul : say no go.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

What, seriously? Have you ever lost a loved one? How often do you jerk-off? Ever try stopping for an extended period?

I love when people tell me they don't have an addictive personality. But then tell me about their collection of 10 million stamps. Or how they've bought every single iPhone the day it came out. Everybody has an addictive personality -- just a question of to what and how serious.

 

[Imp]

I have hardcore OCD and can see the influence of genetic and environmental factors.

I almost became an alcoholic last year but the logical part of my brain took over, thank goodness. Other times, the logical part just gets pushed aside. Mental issues are very complicated.

P.S. I'm going to start buying opiates and opioids like Tic Tacs the second they become legal.

 

[SMOGZINN]

You didn't get addicted to pain pills because you needed them to be somewhere near normal and your doctor was good enough to rotate you through different drugs to keep you from forming chemical dependence on one of them. As you healed you took less and less pills in order to keep you near a normal state. If instead of doing this you had kept taking the pills like you did the day after the surgery you would have developed an addiction to them.

You would have come to accept the feeling you have when you are on the pills as your normal state and your body would seek a return to that state, it would be your new level of homeostasis. Failing to have those drugs in your system would make you feel physically ill.

Imagine having the flu and knowing that if you just take this one little pill your flu will go away. Now imaging that flu lasting years. How long before something important came up or something bad happened and you decide, 'I'll take the pill just to get me through today'.

That is addiction.

 

[William Gaatjes]

I have hardcore OCD and can see the influence of genetic and environmental factors.

I almost became an alcoholic last year but the logical part of my brain took over, thank goodness. Other times, the logical part just gets pushed aside. Mental issues are very complicated.

P.S. I'm going to start buying opiates and opioids like Tic Tacs the second they become legal.

Sometimes what helps is to remember that all people have habits. and i think the line between a habit and addiction is not that thick. When i do not drink alcohol for a while, and i have an alcoholic beverage, then the buzz i get is amazing and i do like to sustain that buzz for the evening. And when i only drink moderately once every month or so or less, i can sustain that buzz and feeling pleasant. However, when i drink often because of holiday, the buzz is gone and i do desire to drink more to get that buzz again. But the alcohol works against me. I do have to say it is easy to let it become a habit of drinking daily but then it is no more enjoyable. Every time larger quantities for the same effect until the point that i am sick the next day and have a big hangover. it turns into a habit. But the real addictive part of alcohol, that buzz is no longer there. Yet i long for it. Only logic helps out. The pleasurable feeling is only there for a while. It is not meant to be there all the time.
I have a very mild form of autism, and i know how strong that desire is to feel good but also to fit in. Because having autism in a normal world, often creates a desire to flee that normal world, being tired of it.

So, i guess i can understand very well what you mean.

 

[boomerang]

My mother while pregnant with her second child, my sister, asked her OB/GYN if there was something she could do to avoid the weight gain she experienced while carrying me. Her Doctor told her that there was a new drug out for weight loss that he thought would be worth trying. He prescribed amphetamines. My sister was born addicted to speed. And boy, has it affected her life in a negative way.

The very short version of her story is that she came close to going to prison for stealing to support her meth habit. She kicked her habit but has relapsed from time to time. She is not right in the head and will never be right in the head. She is diagnosed as bipolar because I guess that's as close as they can get from the perspective of diagnosis.

She was 'born that way'.

 

[Ns1]

Your doctor prescribed you shit 1 step above tylenol. Start getting prescribed fentanyl / oxy and the formula changes dramatically.

 

[ninaholic37]

You all have like 18000 posts, therefore you are all Anandtech forum addicts.