While some people endure the pain stoically, others will do almost anything to rid themselves of the problem. But some major pain medications have tremendous side effects that can bring on trouble if a medical professional does not monitor their use, including an increase in pain.
Some 116 million Americans are estimated to suffer from chronic pain. But how to provide relief is a long-term issue for medical professionals. The risks of treatment include drug tolerance, which calls for increasing the effective dose; addiction, which brings on withdrawal symptoms and its own anxiety; and hyperalgesia, an increased sensitivity to the pain being experienced.
Addiction Concerns
Of those, the fear of addiction is the biggest issue. Estimates of just how many become dependent on the drugs used to combat chronic pain range from an extreme low of 3 percent to as much as 40 percent of people taking the drugs. The wide range is attributed to various factors, including a lack of research on long-term effects, the different ranges in the amounts of treatment, differing populations studied and the research measures used to determine addiction.
The pain relievers with the biggest risk of addiction are so-called opiate pain relievers. Although safe for general use when taken under the care of a doctor, their relaxation of pain also comes with a danger that the warm cocoon of soothing relief they provide and the effect on brain chemicals can lead to a reliance on them to function. This is particularly true for those who have a family history of substance abuse or those who have past drugs or alcohol dependency problems.