Painkiller withdrawal symptoms ‘similar to heroin’
Fiona Weldon, clinical director of the Rutland Centre, said they had seen a 6% rise in the number of people seeking treatment for difficulties with pain medication in recent years.
“Five years ago, about 1% of our clients were being treated for addiction to pain medication. Now, that figure is closer to 7%,” Dr Weldon said.
Addiction to Nurofen Plus had shown a “massive” increase, she said, and was the leading over-the-counter medicine with which people were presenting with addiction. It had reached a point in some cases where children were hiding tablets from parents.
“A lot of people we are seeing are using three to four packets a day, that’s between 80 and 100 tablets. There are children going around trying to hide their parents’ tablets, assuming the role of parental responsibility,” Dr Weldon said.
Oxycontin was the main prescribed painkiller where the number seeking treatment for addiction was increasing, particularly members of the medical community, she said.
The opiate-based habit- forming drug is used for pain relief, principally in hospital settings and pain management clinics.
Dr Weldon said some of their patients were so addicted to painkillers they had to undergo detox as hospital inpatients before attending the Rutland Centre for treatment.
Nurofen Plus, like heroin, contains codeine. Too much codeine could, in the long-term, cause gastro-intestinal problems such as internal bleeding, or affect cognitive functions, such as memory, she said.
People who attend the Rutland Centre for treatment take part in therapy sessions to gain an insight into their addiction and are often in denial about it, Dr Weldon said.
Pathways into this type of addiction included being treated for an injury over a period so that addiction crept in over time or, it could occur in a high-stress environment such as a hospital, where painkillers are readily available.
She said it could be a case that a mental health issue went undiagnosed and the medication was used to numb physical and psychological pain.
Addiction to pain medication was greater in women, she said, and among 20 and 30-year-olds in the case of Nurofen Plus. Addiction to Oxycontin featured most in people over 30.
Some referrals came from pain management clinics where people being treated for conditions such as neuropathic pain or fibromyalgia had developed addictions to their medication, she said.
While new rules were introduced in 2010 to restrict the use of codeine — Nurofen Plus can only be supplied under the supervision of a pharmacist, who is asked to question the consumer — Dr Weldon said there was nothing to stop people shopping around.
“It is important to stress that medication should only be taken as directed and if anyone has any concerns they should contact their GP or the prescribing consultant or us, but after that, there is little you can do, an addict is not necessarily going to listen,” she said.
