3 ms·
Physiological dependence is a treatment complication to be managed. Corticosteroids, hormones, and other nonpsychoactive medications feature this issue too. It
by justinjlynn 8y ago
Physiological dependence is a treatment complication to be managed. Corticosteroids, hormones, and other nonpsychoactive medications feature this issue too. It is part of the risk/benefit calculation.
What's important is the psychological addiction. You can taper off of a medication on which you are physiologically dependent. However, if it makes you psychologically dependent, you can never forget the high.
Turns out not having pain because a medication helps and you experience it when you stop makes people want to keep taking it. Who knew?
It's when people take more than they need to to address their physical pain, that they experience psychological addiction, that they chase the high, that a problem develops.
- DanBC 8y agoThe psychological addictiveness of opioids is well established. Turns out not having pain because a medication helps and you experience it when you stop makes people want to keep taking it. Who knew? That is not what's happening. People take the medication to treat the pain. Their pain still exists. They develop a tolerance to opioids (one of the mechanisms of addiction) and need to increase the dose. Now they're taking very large -dangerously large- doses of opioids but are still in pain.