Philip would stay awake every night, working on the reports he would carry home. Bringing work home was a normal way of life for him. His insomnia added up on the idea. He didn’t fall asleep easily anyways, so it was a good excuse for him to keep awake – work!
The dull headache and the throbbing pain in the joints had become an everyday affair for him. The only way of getting rid of both these intruders and getting some sleep was simple – painkillers. When the time was right for him to hit the bed, Philip would run down to his work bag and hunt through it until he got to what he was looking for. He’d take the pills – 6 of them at a time – and pop them into his mouth. He’d walk back up; get into bed, and wait for the wave of ‘relax’ to come over him. Then before he knew it, he’d be asleep.
Silent Addiction
Philip is one amongst the many in the U.S. who suffers from the silent addiction to everyday painkillers. A number of addicts end up taking around 24-30 tablets in a day, which is like 5 times the allowed number.
Silent addiction isn’t like the other addictions that often get pharmaceutical attention. The victims don’t drink excessively to drown out their sorrows; neither do they indulge in the buying and trading of illegal drugs; but they stick to a different weapon; over-the-counter drugs.
Expert Speak
According to the experts, the brain is an intelligent entity of its own (pun intended). It is capable of learning how to devise headaches; neck and shoulder aches as well. Once the pathway to pain is open, the brain will ensure that the headaches get more common. This entire phenomenon is exacerbated by the consumption of painkillers.
If you take around 6 painkillers every week, you could fall prey to this syndrome. In medical terms, this is dubbed as the medication overuse syndrome. Even the most basic of painkillers could end up having this effect if you continuously abuse your body with excessive intake.
It’s like having an opiate addiction. You get hooked onto the feeling of being in a state of well-being; with heroin, eventually you will need the opiate to come back to your normal state of being. Similarly, when you stop taking the OTC (over-the-counter) painkillers, you will have to deal with the headaches that your brain has learned to fabricate. That gets coupled up with the withdrawal symptoms that you will experience – shivering, constant state of agitation, insomnia and/or disrupted sleep, aching joints.
Many of us are prey to not getting sleep at night, working at night and body aches in the morning..
All I must say is that though its really difficult to wean ourselves from the habit of popping painkillers ; one must become aware that what one is doing will have DISASTROUS long-term consequences..
Better to be SAFE than SORRY!