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Feeling pain is subjective. Each person will perceive pain stimuli of the same intensity slightly differently. It depends on the properties of the organism, i.e. pain threshold and tolerance, previous pain experience, and social and cultural factors.
There are two main sources of pain. Receptor pain arises in damaged tissues. The nervous system then receives information that there has been mechanical, thermal, chemical damage, inflammation, a tumor has developed, etc. Usually the body knows and understands why it hurts. Neuropathic pain, which arises from damage to neurons, informs not that the tissues are damaged, but that the system itself is malfunctioning. Although our consciousness perceives both forms of pain in a similar way, neuropathic pain is considered a disease of the nervous system.
People suffering from pain, especially chronic pain, often turn to painkillers to relieve it. However, if they do it on their own, without agreeing the doses of painkillers with the doctor, they may become addicted to these substances.
Two groups of painkillers
Narcotic (opioid) pain relievers. They work by attaching the active substance to specific opioid receptors in the brain. These drugs take pain away very quickly. The opioid analgesics include, first of all, morphine, which calms the patient and improves his well-being, but – even with short-term use – leads to addiction. However, when administered in appropriate doses, it is a salvation from suffering for patients.
Non-narcotic pain relievers are drugs that can now be purchased even in grocery stores and gas stations, they work by inhibiting cyclooxygenesis, i.e. the secretion of an enzyme needed to secrete prostaglandins, which intensify the sensation of pain. They also often have anti-inflammatory and antipyretic properties. These include paracetamol, naproxen, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, aspirin and diclofenac. Unfortunately, these drugs are the most abused but rarely addictive.
What is addiction?
Drug addiction is a form of toxic addiction, also known as drug addiction. Addiction causes a physical or mental state that leads to behavioral changes, including the need to constantly or intermittently take medications. The more addicted a person becomes, the higher doses of the drug they must take to protect themselves from pain or other sensations resulting from the lack of the drug in the body. Such action may lead to overdose, severe poisoning, but also to more serious consequences, such as liver and kidney damage. In extreme cases, overuse of painkillers can be fatal.
The addiction mechanism is quite simple. The drug, and more precisely the active substance contained in it, interacts with our body, affects individual metabolic processes and, over time, becomes necessary for their course. The drug retunes the mental and physical functions of the body to a great extent. Mental addiction to the drug appears most often and quickly. The addicted person thinks that if they do not take another pill, something bad will happen, such as pain. Physical dependence is found less frequently, but so strongly that sudden discontinuation of the drug may manifest itself in dysfunction of internal organs. The most common symptoms are blood pressure and heart rhythm disturbances, problems with breathing or the digestive system. Pain medications can cause stomach ulcers and cause bronchospasms that are difficult to control in people with asthma.
Among the drugs that we are most often addicted to, there are painkillers, sleeping pills, stimulants and euphoric drugs, i.e. those that put the person taking them into a state of excitement.
Addiction risk
Just as we react differently to pain, the risk of addiction varies from person to person. Researchers say the risk of drug addiction depends on four factors: age over 65, episodes of depression and its course, drug use at an early age, and previous use of psychotropic drugs.
When drug addiction is severe, it becomes an addiction. A milder form of this condition is called “habituation” to taking your painkillers.
Dependence on opioid painkillers (morphine, cocaine) is greater in people who have mutations in chromosome 15.
The problem of addiction to over-the-counter and over-the-counter painkillers is growing worldwide.
According to a report by the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, Americans consume 80 percent of all painkillers produced in the world. With us, the problem has not reached such a sakala yet, but it is getting worse. Annually, Poles buy on average over 120 million packages of over-the-counter painkillers. About 60 percent. are pharmaceuticals containing acetylsalicylic acid, 26 percent. paracetamol, 11 percent ibuprofen, 3 percent other active substances.
Rural residents take painkillers more often than city dwellers. Young people (up to 50 years of age) who take OTC drugs behave in a similar way. Older people, on the other hand, use medications prescribed by a doctor more often. Pharmacists who study the problem of self-medication for pain relief often point out that young people take painkillers not because of specific ailments, but because they treat them as doping. According to the young employees from advertising agencies when asked about it, for example, paracetamol is in high gear.
Regardless of the motives for using painkillers, overusing them is dangerous for the body. It not only leads to addiction, but also delays the moment when we learn the cause of pain, and therefore a specific disease.
It is worth remembering that only the dose distinguishes the drug from the poison. Even vitamin C can harm your health if you take it without moderation.
Tekst: Anna Jarosz