Addiction to prescription strength painkillers is becoming all too commonplace today. As most people have access to high quality medical care, more and more are being put on some sort of pain management program which includes strong pain medication. Whenever this occurs and Demerol is the chosen drug, there is a severe risk for the development of a debilitating Demerol addiction.
There are a few different reasons that Demerol addiction tends to be more troubling than addictions to most other types of painkillers:
·It takes less than six hours for withdrawal symptoms to start occurring with this drug.
·These withdrawal symptoms are usually so uncomfortable and painful that users think they need to take more Demerol, which keeps the cycle going.
·The more of the drug that is taken, the more tolerance to it is build up within the body.
·The higher the tolerance, the higher the dosage must go to get the desired pain relief.
From that, you can probably see how a vicious cycle is formed which ultimately leads to a Demerol addiction. Every time a dose is taken, it will start to wear off and lead to immediate withdrawal symptoms. Those symptoms prompt the user to take another dose, which increases the tolerance within the body and the amount of the drug needed to gain the desired relief.
Before long, the user is completely entrenched in a serious Demerol addiction that will take a lot of hard work to overcome.
It is difficult to lay out signs for loved ones to watch for when they are concerned about the possibility of a Demerol addiction. Someone who does not have a legitimate reason to be taking a serious painkiller will show all of the typical signs of drug abuse, but in many cases the user is openly taking the drug for legitimate pain management and the signs of drug abuse are not so alarming or concerning.
The best advice for anyone watching a loved one battle with debilitating pain and a possible Demerol addiction is to talk with a professional about the situation to see if intervention is really necessary at this time. In some cases, it will never become clear whether a serious Demerol addiction is occurring until the doctor who prescribed the medication decides it is no longer needed for effective pain medication and stops the prescriptions.
At that point, loved ones need to be watching for some very specific signs of Demerol addiction:
·Remaining bottles that empty faster than they should, hinting that the user is taking more than the prescribed dosage.
·Bottles that refill magically after a prescription has been stopped.
·New bottles popping up with a different doctor’s name on the front.
·Hidden medication or signs that the user is taking medication secretly.
It is not uncommon for patients who have developed a Demerol addiction to see a number of different doctors in attempt to get them each to prescribe the medication. They may routinely lie about their level of pain or seriously be in denial because they do not want to be taken off the medication.
