Joeleen Koszyk’s partner and family noticed her dependence on painkillers long before she could acknowledge it herself.
What started with a prescription after back surgery in September 2014 had become a crippling habit. At the peak of her dependence, the Queensland mother was taking 35-40 tablets each day. Her loved ones watched as she swallowed pill after pill, and noted her panic if she left the house without them.
“Everyone was really worried, but I kept taking them and I kept having fights over it. I’d insist that I could stop,” Joeleen, 26, told Mamamia. “I was like, ‘OK, well, this is my last painkiller; I’m just going to stop and prove you all wrong. I’ll show you.’”
On a Friday night, mid 2016, Joeleen took that last tablet. By the Saturday she was in so much agony, she couldn’t move from the couch. She was vomiting, had diarrhoea, her whole body was shaking; “I wanted to die. I told my partner I wanted to die.” By the Sunday afternoon she turned the house upside down to find her prescription.
“I found it. I got in my car drove straight down to the chemist where they gave me the medication. I didn’t even wait ’til I got home. I got back in the car and took the medication right there in the car park,” she said. “Then instead of going home to my partner at the time and my son, I drove to my parents’ house. I just sat on the floor in their kitchen, and just cried. I cried my eyes out, because I realised that I had a problem.”
How to help a friend or loved one who might be dependant on pharmaceutical drugs. (Post continues.)
Top Comments
Having experienced crippling back pain for years it wasn't until I saw an orthopedic surgeon was it found to be a bone chip in the ankle hitting the sciatic nerve. Until then I was told it was osteo arthritus and that I would have to live with it but my body responsed in a way that left me with bulging L4 and L5 disks. Having had a short burst of Tramadol and experiencing bizzare hallucinations I avoided pain killers because I had seen numerous friends take them and aggravate the injjury because they felt better. Day surgery fixed the back pain. But and there is always a but. I began to experience mind numbing back pain getting out of bed and it vanished mid morning.
My partner was seeing an allergy specialist and while attending their visits to the specialist he was discussing allergic reactions to the polyurethane fumes generated by our body heat and the foam within the mattress and the suggestion was made to try a wool mattress given the benefits of shifting to wool pillows and mattress protector. More money given we had already had bought two new mattresses in quick succession at considerable expense. The first morning after sleeping on the wool mattress I expected to experience the usual pain that took me half an hour to slowly stand upright and dress with difficulty to not experiencing any pain at all then and till now except when I lift something incorrectly and then it is discomfort rather than being incapacitated.
But I find now when shopping that if I go into the aisle with the cleaning products there is something in those aisles that within twenty minutes I havea sore lower back and an hour later it is gone. From the allergy specialist we discovered the use of phthalates to fix the fragrances and perfumes in our personal care products and the fact they are endocrine disruptors and can trigger physiological responses.
Now we are both very conscious of exposure to these substances because my partner experiences significant muscular pain when they encounter fragrances whether natural or synthetic and realise the pain which can be so debilitating as to feel nauseous that it for us often has a clear cause that often is no longer or even injury related.
I'm sorry for your experience, I have to say this, unfortunately because people taking advantage of the system to support their addiction people like me who actually use it according to the prescription are suffering. The rules surrounding painkillers are getting more and more stringent. I have been denied painkillers (Panadeine forte) for a really serious painful back injury due to the doctor believing it was unnessary even though I was struggling to walk. I attend physio therapy and take natural remedies but unfortunately sometimes I do need painkillers. It really annoys me that I'm genuine and I suffer because of these people.