Vicodin Addiction

Vicodin addiction can be a real problem for some people because they slowly develop a dependency on the painkiller without realizing that their tolerance is building so quickly.  In a lot of cases what happens is that people will start increasing their dose and taking extra pills in order to try and control their pain.  This can lead to an increase in tolerance in some people and eventually they have to keep taking the pills just to feel normal.

Anyone who lives long enough will eventually experience some illness or injury that will put them in a position where they might take painkillers. This is inevitable given enough time and it will happen to everyone. If you decide to follow your doctors recommendation and take the painkillers as prescribed then you should be OK as long as you do not deviate. But those who take an extra pill here or there when they cannot seem to get the pain under control run the risk of becoming addicted. Sometimes people who seemingly have no predisposition to addiction can get caught up in taking too many painkillers and then it gets out of control.

Understand also that Vicodin is an opiate medication that does not really do anything to make physical pain go down at all. Instead what it does is to simply dope the brain with a flood of "feel good" chemicals and make the brain forget about the pain. Essentially what opiates do is to cloud the mind enough so that it no longer cares about the pain signals that are screaming at it. It is a bit like sticking a rag in a ringing alarm clock. It simply dulls things. Real painkillers such as Nsaid drugs like Ibuprofen actually reduce swelling and inflammation right at the source of the pain. In other words, they actually do reduce pain right at the source.

So you can see how trying to medicate certain types of pain with Vicodin will be a losing battle. Eventually, if you are taking more than prescribed and it is not controlling the pain, then you are building up tolerance and eventually the medication will not work at all. In fact you will reach a point where you have to take lots of pills just to avoid withdrawal and feel halfway normal. Actually medicating away the pain will be very difficult to do at this point. Therefore it makes sense to find alternative ways to manage the pain that are more sustainable.

Another thing to keep in mind is that many people will stop doing this drug and start using others thinking they can handle it; for example they may start out taking one or two fioricet for a headache and keep using them until they now have a fioricet addiction.

Some of the symptoms of Vicodin addiction include:

1) Taking more than prescribed. Running out of a prescription early.

2) Buying more pills off the street or visiting different doctors to try and get more pills.

3) Hiding a pill supply or stashing them where others cannot find them.

4) Lying about how much Vicodin has been taken.

People who have taken a lot of Vicodin will generally just appear drowsy or drugged.

If you or someone you know is addicted to Vicodin and stops taking it abruptly, they are not in any physical danger, though they will generally have some uncomfortable vicodin withdrawal symptoms. These might include:

1) Restless or irritable. Anxious or nervous.

2) Naseous, stomach cramping, or diarhea.

3) Tremors or shaking.

4) Gooseflesh or piloerection of the skin

5) Dialated pupils.

6) Cold sweats and chills.

7) Body aches and pains.

If you want to avoid some or all of these withdrawal symptoms, your best bet is to get some sort of drug treatment or drug rehab. Try to find a treatment facility with a full medical detox unit in it so that they can treat your specific withdrawal symptoms.

Most vicodin addiction treatment centers will use 2 types of drugs to treat opiate withdrawal. Most use Buprenorphine, which is a partial synthetic opiate, to help control the withdrawal symptoms. Then they will also combine this approach with other medications to try and treat the specific symptoms. For example, they would give either Ibuprofen or Tylenol to treat body aches and pains. The combination of both of these approaches will generally keep most people relatively comfortable through their withdrawal. There will still be some discomfort but it will be significantly reduced.

Some people use these medications long term in order to stay off of opiate drugs, but in most cases this is not necessary. Most people can get completely off of opiates and go back to living a normal, full life in recovery.