Well, this thread is about someone who got better, found themselves dependent on the medication their doctor prescribed, and their doctor not believing them, or that it is even possible.

But it's a good/valid question. There are millions of people in daily chronic pain who need relief from that pain—at least 50 million if the figures are correct.

chronic pain facts

http://www.mtsu.edu/healthpro/docume...ronic_pain.pdf (50 million)
http://www.pain-research.org/intro.html (86 million)
http://www.painmed.org/patientcenter...aspx#incidence (100 million)

Many are reluctant to take (narcotic) medications that may relieve that pain out of fear because of misconceptions and misinformation—much of it centered around the confusion about terminology.

Some take medications (like gabapentin and pregabalin) they believe to be "safe"(er) because they're told they're "non-narcotic" only to find that they are more dependent on them (as hard or harder to discontinue or reduce) than narcotic medications. I think it's important that these medications have this potential, and doctors don't know/acknowledge the fact, or believe patients who report it, despite the abundance of evidence.

This is especially significant with these two medications because for some reason, for a number of people, they just stop working, and then some find that not only are they still in pain, but they cannot discontinue high doses of a medication that no longer has any therapeutic purpose/value.

Why is the difference between addiction and dependence important?

I can't/won't speak for anyone else, but I'm trying to clear up some of the misconceptions and misinformation so that people can make better educated decisions about their health care based on facts/science.

Doc