Posted by emmanuel98 on August 23, 2010, at 21:35:49
In reply to Re: Meds: Addiction vs. Medical Dependence » simcha, posted by Phillipa on August 23, 2010, at 20:33:11
The medical literature differentiates between dependence and addiction, even for addictive substances like benzos and stimulants and opiates. All cause dependence. Unlike SSRIs or syntrhoid, people become habituated and need higher and higher dosages to achieve the same effect. For example, people who are on opiates for chronic cancer pain might start out with 20mg oxycontin and end up with 80mg twice a day.
Addicts, on the other hand, usually self-prescribe and do not take the drug for a medically recognized problem. Opiate addicts, for example, suffer no physical pain (unless they try to stop the opiates), do not obtain the drugs legally, but buy them on the street or doctor-shop or forge prescriptions.
I am dependent on parnate for depression and ativan and trazadone for sleep, but I don't use higher dosages than prescribed, don't sneak around behind my doc's back to get more. The ativan causes physical dependence such that attempts with withdraw suddenly can be life-threatening. But I am not addicted.
I was addicted, however, to opiates. I started out using them as prescribed for a legitimate medical reason. The pain condition ended, but I lied to my doctor about it, bought them on the street and over the internet, got habituated and needed higher and higher dosages to obtain the same "high", was using them for the euphoria rather than for pain relief. That's addiction in a nutshell.
poster:emmanuel98
thread:959454
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100821/msgs/959558.html