I've been addicted to prescription drugs for two decades

Content Warning: This article is about addiction

I will never forget the first time I took codeine. It gave me a feeling of warmth, as if I was floating on a pink and mellow cloud, and all my troubles and worries dissipated.

This week, Public Health England has voiced fears that a large number of people to whom drugs are prescribed become addicts, a study revealing that half of the people who took the drugs have been doing so for more than a year. a year.

As a recovering addict, addicted to prescription drugs for over two decades, I am saddened but not surprised by these numbers.

My experience with prescription opioids began at the age of 18 years.

I suffered from knee growth pains to the point of waking up at night because of it. I saw my local GP, who referred me to a specialist and after a few tests, it was decided that I would undergo a simple arthroscopic procedure to relieve the pain.

As a result of the operation, I was prescribed co-codamol to manage any persistent pain related to the operation. This is done without discussion.

The prescription soon began to run out and I realized that I had started to take more than expected. I went back to see my GP and manipulated the system and told him I was in terrible pain.

Without hesitation, I was issued another codeine prescription.

I enjoyed the feeling that the drugs gave me so much, so that when the effects started to fade, I was nervous and anxious. Some days, I sweated and suffered physically as if I had the flu – at the time, I did not understand that I had opioid withdrawal symptoms.

It was horrible. My body became so tolerant to the medicine that I would take more, just to feel normal.

It was at that point that I started taking the medication to prevent myself from withdrawing, rather than to prevent my knee from hurting me. It was at this point that I became psychologically and physically dependent on painkillers.

Why computer systems do not automatically identify me as an addict or addict.

I've invented countless problems to get the prescription medications I wanted, like having full teeth, sinus problems and I've also opted for an age-selective hysterectomy. age 41, mainly because I knew that I would take painkillers afterwards.

People often find it difficult to understand that it is not because I did not buy heroin from a street vendor that I was not an addict. I was ready to do anything to get the medications I needed.

What happened was no longer my decision; my mind and my body needed it.

When I could not get them from my doctor, I used the internet to buy opioid prescription medications, in "fake" online pharmacies. I knew that the pills might not even be real; I did not know where they were coming from, but opening the door and taking my discreet package was the only thing that made me get out of bed.

In the end, I took such a cocktail of prescription pills that I could not even do it. I took codamol, codeine, tramadol and zopiclone every day.

I was annihilated. I missed the very important milestones in my children's life, such as sports days and parents' parties, but I could not do anything mentally or physically.

Fortunately, my friends organized an intervention and took me to see a psychiatrist, who even told me that I was addict. I went into rehab, where I finally got the help I needed and have not taken any pain medication since.

GPs are stuck between the hammer and the place; they have a job to do and they only have 10 minutes to do it, and if a patient tells them that they have excruciating pain, then they have to help them manage that.

However, I now realize that even though I exaggerated the level of pain following my operation, my doctor never asked why I would continue to feel pain because of such a fundamental procedure. pain more naturally.

Physicians can not be allowed to deliver dangerous addictive pills for years and years after the initial problem, without investigating further.

Why their computer systems do not automatically report me as a potential drug addict or addict overwhelms me.