No question about it. Jon Capetta has this part figured out. And I’m a multi-faceted addict of the highest order, including some of the dangerous drugs out there, in my repetoire.
I believe the fundamental addiction gene or whatever it is that makes people love stuff too much is a generally misunderstood term, at least in the healthcare space. It’s probably some sort of personality type more than any physically or medically-connected disorder. The problem with opiates for example, is it gets way too physically connected in terms of withdrawal. That’s the part people seem to have the most trouble with. Withdrawal pains either play 2nd fiddle to whatever the real problem is, OR it’s so intense you can’t cope – so you keep doing it to stay out of withdrawal, regardless. Either way, it’s pretty much a non-starter for any sort of normal life.
Managing that mind-body interface is an ongoing challenge for many, patients and doctors alike. VA doctors had me on Tramadol and some other stuff for several years. I’ve seen more than one reference to Tramadol’s high rating for odd and dangerous withdrawal effects. For me, it was just deep-seated pain in the base of my spine. The addiction/withdrawal roller-coaster ride engendered in that fiasco was scary, painful and totally unnecessary. But that’s what you get when the government thinks they know more about drugs than the doctors and people using them.
