Pain killer abuse/addiction in Wisconsin

During the past decade, doctors have found new techniques to manage and relive pain. Painkiller sales have tripled since 1996 and for some it is like a blessing, whereas for some it is a nightmare. Wisconsin is also not exempted from this vicious cycle of pain killer abuse or addiction.

Painkiller addiction starts innocently without anyone’s knowledge. Some patients consume prescribed painkillers to seek relieve from a throbbing headache or body ache like for example migraine. People don’t realize that migraine tends to worsen as day passes and then becomes unbearable. This is the devastating side effect of the painkiller, but the patient without realizing, keeps consuming painkiller to find relief and thus begins the vicious trap of addiction. People tend to get so addicted to painkillers that they cannot survive without them and they start increasing the doses or commit fraud to avail of them.

History- Americans are addicted to painkillers and they consider them blessings. Cancer patients consume it to get relief from their agony and senior patients who are suffering from arthritis consume it to remain active and lead a normal life. Youngsters consume to seek relief from the stressful headaches etc. Realizing these beneficial effects, many doctors have neglected to include pain management in patient care. Medical centers have recently adapted a more aggressive approach to treat pain. According to the statistics, 4 million Americans are addicted to pain relievers and for non-medical reasons. According to research, most of the painkillers include hydrocodone and oxycodone, which are actually addictive opiods. Emergency room data suggests that in recent years there have been many cases reported of pain killer addiction.

Prevalence- Painkiller abuse caught general public eye when the abuse was detected in Hollywood and some stars acknowledged it publicly. Drugs like opiods are often prescribed as painkillers and if used wrongly they can prove fatal. Over the past 15 years opiod drug sales has increased tremendously and the death rate has increased too. In 2004, 16,000 people in USA died due to drug abuse and most of these deaths were caused due to overdose of opiods, heroin and cocaine. This situation seems to keep accelerating and the death rate is also increasing constantly by an average of 5.3% every year.

Frequency- Drug abuse is initiated when a person consumes more than what is prescribed. Methadone was one of the original substitute painkillers created by chemists during World War II in Germany and this drug has the same analgesic strength as morphine. This drug produces tolerance in the central nervous system and thus induces insensitivity to pain. This drug also slows the respiratory system.

Incarcerations- Painkiller abuse can ruin life and hence one should adapt drug deaddiction and adapt healthy habits to live a normal life. Drug treatment helps an individual lead a normal drug free life and drug abuse addiction treatment programs cater to many kinds of addictions. Wisconsin with a population of 5,536,201 is the most populated state of US, but this beautiful state is diverse and largely affected by drug abuse. The percentage of whites has reduced considerably in Wisconsin, thus increasing the percentage of Hispanics, Asians and African Amercians.

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Information on this page last updated on 09/17/2007