Just for information....there is a difference between being dependent on narcotics & being addicted to them. I have been on narcotics for my migraines (which is unusual treatment for them....but nothing else worked, not even the neck fusion I went through)....have been on the same high dose since 2003 (10 years).....yes, I would go through withdrawal if I went off of them.....but I don't even feel anything but normal while taking them...no high, no down, no nothing just physically able to function again. Addiction is when the person starts to want the medication for the feeling the drug give them not just the ability to function again.

After fracturing my back a couple of years ago, I think the pain medication has helped me with that also, even though it didn't start out being for that. The say that if the narcotics improve your quality of life, that is when they are willing to give them. My new pain specialist had me to to a pain psychologist before he was willing to take me on as a patient who already had been on the medication for 5 years just to make sure I was being up front & honest....but 5 years of being on the same dose without a change was proof that it wasn't an addiction also.