The gateway event
Addiction may be biologically driven, but a door must open for the process to begin. When your story starts with a legitimate prescription, say for pain medication, the story can sound familiar: You injure your back and the doctor prescribes you intermittent doses of opiate-based pain medication. (Examples include: percoset, codeine, darvon, demerol, dilaudid, fentanyl, hydrocodone, morphine, oxycontin, tramadol, ultram, and vicodin.)
Dr. Myer explains the most common path to addiction: “Unfortunately, the pain doesn’t go away, and maybe it even gets worse. So, your doctor now prescribes a long-acting opioid. Weeks and months go by, during which you’re throwing in the originally prescribed pills along with the long-acting pills in an attempt to stay ahead of your pain.” At this point, you’re still dealing with pain management—as opposed to addiction—but if this story sounds even vaguely familiar, then you need to be on alert.
