Physical pain is something that everybody has experienced. It is how your body tells you that something is wrong when you break a leg, burn your finger, or injure your body in some other way. Chronic pain, however, is different. Your body can hurt even when there isn’t an obvious and immediate injury, and it can last for months, sometimes years. It’s not all in your mind. You really do feel pain. However, the fix does not necessarily lie in a pill. In fact, prolonged use of opioids can cause your pain to actually worsen. Read on to learn more about how opioid medications over time can actually make your pain feel worse. If you’re looking for an Orlando treatment center, call Hope Centers of Central Florida today!

How Prescription Painkillers Can Worsen Your Pain

Over a long period of use, opioids can actually cause your pain to feel worse, contrary to what you originally are intended to take them for. Here are some reasons that this can happen:

• Over time, prescription painkillers cause the pain you feel to increase. In the United States we’ve all been taught that when we feel pain, a pill can make you feel better. This may be true after you’ve had surgery or a serious injury that will heal in a few weeks. However, what people aren’t aware of is that if you use opioid pills for 4 or more weeks, it makes you more sensitive to pain and that makes the pain worse. Opioids can provide relief by blocking pain, but then your body reacts by increasing the  amount of receptors in order to get the pain signal through again. This means that when the drug wears off, the patient will experience more pain for about three days.
• Opioids can mask emotional pain and trauma- Pain can be a mixture of physical pain, emotional pain, and other factors. In fact, a majority of patients Orlando treatment center Hope Centers of Central Florida sees has deep emotional pain along with physical ones. Emotional pain can affect the same area of the brain as physical pain, and it can be very difficult for the brain to separate them. Each of these parts, however, necessitates appropriate treatment and care in order to optimize healing. Opioids can mask emotional pain rather than allowing the patient to deal with the root causes of their pain, which could stem from trauma.

Opioid Medications Can Make Pain Worse

• Painkillers don’t build resilience, which is key to feeling better. People have wondered for years why some people become disabled after an injury and some don’t. The answer is that some people are more resilient than others. Resilience is the ability to endure difficult experiences and adapt to challenges, and opioid medication can block us from building resilience since they offer temporary respite for chronic issues.
• Opioid pain medication can make sleep problems worse- Poor sleep is associated with many health problems. Getting enough sleep of the right kind is essential for your body to heal, especially with chronic pain. Pain medication can reduce the kind of sleep that restores our body, which is why it’s essential to get an assessment and treat any sleep problems.

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Opioid medications for prolonged use can make your pain worse in the long run. If you’re looking for an Orlando treatment center, call Hope Centers of Central Florida today.