People with chronic pain will do just about anything for relief including drug abuse and addiction if it means lessening the pain.That's what happened to a 29-year-old man who was born with a tumor on his spine who has had multiple surgeries but not much pain relief. One day he chewed the narcotic oxycodone instead of swallowing it whole as directed. By chewing it, he felt a narcotic rush, a narcotic bliss.
Finding pain relief at last was overwhelming and so was the temptation to abuse.
"Then I realized if I took three or four that I also got high off of it, which ended up being what led to an addiction," Bono said.
Up to 25 percent of chronic pain patients abuse medication at some point; so the pharmaceutical companies are developing new formulations that can't be crushed, chewed, snorted, or injected.
These pills won't stop patients from taking too many of them, but they should help doctors be more aggressive with pain and less worried about abuse.
See: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/20/eveningnews/main3854165.shtml?source=search_story
