It is estimated that around 2.1 million Americans are addicted to prescription painkillers. Addiction of all kinds can lead to tensions in a relationship as the problem can come between the two people. There is a way forward to help a loved one withdraw – through using a little known herb called kratom.

Prescription pain pills addiction

The National Institute for Drug Abuse (NIDA) reckons that up to 2.1 million Americans are addicted to opiate painkillers at any one time: “an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012.” With this comes the risk of overdose as people accidentally kill themselves with a drug originally given to them by their doctors to combat pain.

NIDA also blame pharmaceutical opiates for the rise in heroin addiction: “The emergence of chemical tolerance toward prescribed opioids, perhaps combined in a smaller number of cases with an increasing difficulty in obtaining these medications illegally, may in some instances explain the transition to abuse of heroin, which is cheaper and in some communities easier to obtain than prescription opioids.”

Relationships and addiction

Chemical addiction has well documented impacts on someone’s relationships. For those hopelessly lost to addiction the only thing that matters is the next hit. People can lose their marriages, homes, children and jobs unless someone they love intervenes. This can be an extremely hard task given the side effects associated with opiate addiction. One website describes the symptoms that people feel when they come off opiates:

“Low energy, Irritability, Anxiety, Agitation, Insomnia

Runny nose, Teary eyes

Hot and cold sweats, Goose bumps

Yawning

Muscle aches and pains

Abdominal cramping, Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea”

The person may suffer for up to a month – a dreadful experience to have for so long. The people who love them go through this too, and may have to help them time and time again as they give in to their addiction and relapse.

Kratom – a way forward

The South East Asian herb kratom has been shown to be a way out of opiate addiction for millions of people for more than a hundred years. It is a bush related to coffee that is drunk like a tea, and while killing pain has been proven by scientists to tackle opiate addiction.

One scientific paper described what they found in a patient who used kratom to come off his painkiller addiction: “One striking finding of this report is the extent to which kratom attenuates potentially severe opioid withdrawal, yet cessation of kratom administration itself appears to be associated with modest abstinence symptoms.”

You can order kratom in the US legally and without the cost associated with intensive medical care that your family doctor may otherwise prescribe.

If you can help your loved one come off their pain pill addiction you could go back to realising the dreams you once had together and once again live with the one you love as they were when you got together. Not a bad way forward, that!