New Medicine Addiction

[Catlady]

So I'm sick and my doctor prescribed me pain medication and I'm in A LOT of pain. But Is there a chance I will get addicted to it? I have never taken OxyContin before... I hear you can easily get addicted to it. So I don't know anything about it. Just I tend to develop addictions to stuff easily so I'm worried. Should I be worried about this? Should I just not take it?

[Kate*]

If you need the medication, you should take it or if you're concerned about becoming addicted, you can talk to your doctor about other non-addictive options. If you do take it, follow the instructions and dosing information and call your doctor if you find yourself taking more or more often than that.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Kate*

If you need the medication, you should take it or if you're concerned about becoming addicted, you can talk to your doctor about other non-addictive options. If you do take it, follow the instructions and dosing information and call your doctor if you find yourself taking more or more often than that.

Thank you! I just took it so we should see. I followed all the instructions and my parents have the medication and are giving it to me when I need it so hopefully that helps!

[Proud90sKid]

Addiction is not a well defined concept. Anyone who takes oxycontin for an extended period of time- medically or not- will develop physical dependence and maybe even a psychological craving when stopping. Its just the nature of opioids. Not only can they cause withdrawal when stopping, but they work by activating beta-endorphin receptors in the brain--which can produce feelings of pleasure. So you are right in saying that there is a risk of addiction even for medical use.

But as far as full blown addiction- you'd need to take it for a long enough time and you'd have to probably start abusing it/start trying to get higher doses. It seems that since you are concerned about not getting addicted- then that automatically puts you into a lower risk group---much lower than the people who are taking it to get high; because for one, you are being cautious about it.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Proud90sKid

Addiction is not a well defined concept. Anyone who takes oxycontin for an extended period of time- medically or not- will develop physical dependence and maybe even a psychological craving when stopping. Its just the nature of opioids. Not only can they cause withdrawal when stopping, but they work by activating beta-endorphin receptors in the brain--which can produce feelings of pleasure. So you are right in saying that there is a risk of addiction even for medical use.

But as far as full blown addiction- you'd need to take it for a long enough time and you'd have to probably start abusing it/start trying to get higher doses. It seems that since you are concerned about not getting addicted- then that automatically puts you into a lower risk group---much lower than the people who are taking it to get high; because for one, you are being cautious about it.

Ohhhh ok, thank you for really explaining this to me. I have never taken it before and so I really didn't know how it worked. Just that it was addictive. I definitely don't want to develop an addiction that's why I wanted to see how high the risk of having one was before I took it. Thank you again!