Ms.TimmyV

Can someone tell me the difference?

I've been clean and sober for going on five years and I still can't figure this out...

Threshold

That's a tricky question,one I've tumbled around in my head plenty.


Many people are physically addicted to a particular substance, their body has become chemically hooked onit and if they stop there are painful even dangerous physical withdrawal, plus the emotional withdrawals.

I consider abuse to be using something in a manner or for a reason that it's not intended for.

If the dr gave me an Rx for one pill a day, and I save them up for a week and get wasted on Sat on them, I'm abusing them.

If I can't function without them, physically OR mentally. I'm addicted.

Captain1

Well I just went to detox for opiods. so I guess I will repeat there words. In my condition I took them for back surgery. I took them as perscribed. I lived in horrible pain (still am) taking them for almost two years.The dr's believed that I was searching for drugs because they could find the problem after surgery. Plus a lot of shots in the back. So they decided without council to tear my down rapidly. Couldn't do it failed and took more to keep me from dope sickness. This is addiction ( dependency) my body was chemicaly wired to have it.

Abuse is no self-control. Going for the high.....

My beliefs only. I'm sure others may feel different.

efftheox

I agree with u cap about the chem dependance
I started out using as prescribed bc I have had the same issues, cortisone injections, pt, and opiates and didnt use to get effed up before i knew what they did.
So basically my addiction didnt come from prescription it came from trying to get high, but it stemmed from pain. Now NOTHING will touch my pain bc I have built such a tolerance to opiates.
I think it boils down to addiction being a NEED that will otherwise affect your body, and abuse being the use to get high that ultimately leads to addiction.

Ms.TimmyV

Humph....ok. I've seen the term used here and there and I've always lumped them all together with the exception of chemical dependence. For instance, I took Zoloft for a few years. When I decided I didn't want to take it anymore, my body wasn't having it. Mentally, I couldn't care less if I took another one or not. I suffered for a week or two and then it was all over.

Now, with my DOC I felt that I couldn't go to work without it, have a good time without it, find some entertainment without it...now, to me, that's an addiction.

Ms.TimmyV

Hey there. There isn't anything else you can do for your pain? My spine is a little crooked and it leans on my sciatic nerve. I also have a condition where my bones break very easily. I've probably broken over 20 bones in my life and I'm 36. There are a bunch of things I HAVE to do in order to keep the pain to a minimum. I've also come to terms with the fact that I'm going to live with some pain, all the time, for the rest of my life. What is your condition?

The weird thing is my DOC was never opiates

suki44883

There is "physical" addiction and then there is "psychological" addiction. Physical withdrawal is what happens when your body is not getting what it is used to getting. That can be dangerous, depending on what substance you are withdrawing from. That withdrawal can last for a few days to a few weeks. Psychological addiction can take longer to get over. That is the little voice, the beast, the addictive voice, etc. that you hear about. Learning to control that takes time and sometimes therapy or peer support.

Abuse can occur without there being a true addiction. Lots of people abuse alcohol but aren't really alcoholics. That isn't to say that if they continue to abuse alcohol they won't become alcoholics (i.e., physically addicted), but that the abuse is temporary or sporadic.

CleanBreeze

I think abuse and addiction are basically the same thing, it's abuse/addiction & physical dependence that are 2 different things.

efftheox

There ar holistic treatments, and physical therapy (coupled with daily stretches which i sometimes neglect)
I got on the opiates to quell the pain, but dont want any more "drugs". I want to deal with it soberly. My condition i guess is degenerative disc disease. Ive had a suregery on l5-s1. and keep slipping discs. Im also calcium and vit D deficient so I too have fairly brittle bones (11 breaks) I just want to live with the pan and manage the best I can. Heat pad, icy hot, and exercise is my new DOC! (corny i know)

Captain1

Broken both arms twice leg ect.. L4-l5 l5-s1. Surgery with every injection possible been to two teaching hospitals that won't touch me. Pills or injections I'm done with bandages that's all dr want to do with me.
I'm in my 30' s I just want to heal. No pill no shot. Just tell me what's wrong not who's fault it's is I will deal with Dr's! Now possibly an infection in my sacrom causing the inflammation In my hips,groin,lower back lol.

Stride34

Abuse is simply the misuse of a substance. Using it not for it's intended purpose, such as getting high. You don't have to be addicted to abuse.

Addiction is being dependent, either psychologically or physically, so that if you stopped using it would cause discomfort.