Withdrawals happens when you STOP taking all narcotic drugs without tapering off (also happens with some AD's & benzo's). That's just a fact of how those kind of drugs act. Dr's are able to minimize the withdrawal effect....but like my pain specialist says.....withdrawal won't kill you....it just feels horrible.

My pain specialist explained the terms regarding the use of narcotics.

Everyone who uses narcotics for pain relief become DEPENDENT on them.....that means that when you stop taking them suddenly without tapering off, they cause the body to deal with the withdrawal symptoms.

Being Dependent on a med doesn't mean you are ADDICTED.

Being ADDICTED means that you want increasingly higher doses for the FEELING YOU GET FROM THE MED that goes beyond pain relief. You end up seeking the high, or the relaxed feeling, or whatever other feeling you may get from taking the drug. My pain specialist told me that when you are given the right dose that takes care of the pain then you don't end up getting any sensation other than the pain relief & that's exactly what I have experienced.....it's like I can just function like an absolutely NORMAL person again.

Building up a TOLERANCE doesn't mean you are ADDICTED either....it just means that your body had built up to the point where you need to have a higher dose in order to get the pain relief that you originally received from the drug (without the desire of getting high off the drug or getting some feeling other than pain relief which is what defined ADDICTION).

Know the terminology in dealing with narcotics can be such a problem because so many people don't know the proper terminology that is used is actually dealing with these types of drugs & will end up wrongly saying they are addicted when they are only dependent or when they have become tolerant to the level they were taking.

It's always important to help us understand our situation better when we know the appropriate terminology that's used by the professionals that are treating us.