Pain medicine works by rerouting the pain receptors (nerves) of the brain and numbing the responses. Unfortunately, this changes both the chemistry and wiring of the brain at the lowest level. Like any addictive drug, it can affect the decision making process, tinker with the awareness of fear and affect ones sense of reality. One must be very careful when taking pain medicine. Numerous reports have recently found their way across the media stating pain medicine and potential addictions are sweeping across this country reducing our average life expectancy to the fifties.
I recently bruised my ribs. The doctor gave me some medicine to reduce the pain. After reading the accompanying papers, my wife expressed concern about the side effects. On her advice, I took reduced dosages, only as needed. Because I was in the process of writing this book and studying the effects of trauma and drugs on the brain, I was careful to watch for side effects. About the third day in, I noticed that I was becoming irritable, snapping and saying things I have no business saying. I took this as a warning sign and discontinued the drug.
Long ago, a friend had a wife who thought he should be on one of these mood changing drugs. He humored her. After a few months, he was doing things that, to this day he does not understand. When I ask him, he has no clue why he made some of the decisions and said some of the things he said.
My nephew was on the same drug. One day, he suddenly lunged and attacked my mother. Could there be a connection? I think so. Mind altering drugs are mind altering drugs whether under the supervision of a physician or not. Something happens where the brain temporarily switches off the reality and reasoning. Then there is nothing left but an animalistic and destructive response.
Another friend had a brother who hurt his back at work. With uncontrollable back spasms, he was taking injections for the pain. His wife mentioned his personality had changed. He could not stand being apart from her. They planned to spend the next day together. However, she said something that set him off and because of the effects of the drugs, he went to the kitchen and shot himself.
At the lowest level of the brain, the part affected by these drugs and addictions, all thinking and fear is shut down. When extreme trauma and drugs reach this lower level, they change the brain both in the synopses (wiring) and in chemistry (switches). Inhibitions and reasoning are bypassed. Without inhibitions and with a reduction of fear and the lack of thinking, the brain fails to reason. This leads to catastrophic results. Even if this is short lived and temporary, the actions taken in these brief moments have profound effects.
This temporary loss of reality has nothing to do with who we really are. However, this kind of personality change is a common effect of profound trauma as well as drug use. We often hear the excuse, “Well, he was drunk.” Sorry, drunk or not, a wife beater is still a wife beater. A bullet still kills. The brain cannot rebuild itself until the effects of drugs and addictions are eliminated.
Having said all this, there are some diseases where the medical profession needs to use drugs to assist people back to health. These cases need constant monitoring and are beyond the scope of this book. I am talking here about unsupervised addictions. These cases are cases where a doctor prescribed a drug, then said come back in a month or two. This is not the careful supervision of a doctor. I am also talking about illegal drugs, mood and mind altering drugs, nicotine, maybe even caffeine. For that matter, even television is addictive to some and definitely alters ones thinking. One must decide for one’s self: How much of your mind do you want back?
Pornography