From injury to addiction: Ant McPartlin and Tiger Woods aren’t the only ones struggling

Ant McPartlin and Tiger Woods aren’t the only ones struggling

Ant McPartlin revealed that he had become addicted to Tramadol after a knee operation. Tiger Woods was arrested in the US after police found him asleep at the wheel, having taken Vicodin and Xanax.

‘If it can happen to someone like me, it can happen to anyone.’ That was the message from Anthony McPartlin, one half of the TV presenting duo Ant and Dec. When he revealed last weekend that he had become addicted to prescription drugs.

McPartlin has checked into rehab for addiction to the opioid prescription painkiller Tramadol, as well as alcohol abuse issues. Depression, along with chronic pain following a knee operation, left him hooked on the medication which was prescribed to him by his doctor.

Like anyone else, McPartlin would have presumed that the drugs he was prescribed were perfectly safe. But Tramadol is an opioid, and opioids are notorious for their addictive nature. Opioid pain medication is processed in the body in much the same way as heroin, which is derived from the dried milk of the opium poppy.

There are many different types of painkillers in this particular group, ranging in strength from over-the-counter medications like codeine, right up to extremely strong drugs which can only be prescribed by a doctor. But all work in essentially the same way, by depressing the nervous system.

Not Alone:

McPartlin isn’t the only high-profile figure to struggle with a prescription drug problem. Golfer Tiger Woods was recently charged by police in the US with being asleep at the wheel of his car while under the influence of the opioid Vicodin and the benzodiazepine Xanax.

TV presenter Lorraine Kelly also recently spoke about her experiences with Tramadol, which she was prescribed after a horse riding accident in 2012. “It’s seductive. I actually came off it before. I actually wanted the pain. Honestly, it makes everything fantastic,” she said. “But your head is full of cotton wool, it’s just horrible and it’s not real.”

The actress Jamie Lee Curtis, meanwhile, described painkillers as “the warm bath from which to escape painful reality” in a blog post about her addiction. “My recovery from drug addiction is the single greatest accomplishment of my life, but it takes work. Hard, painful work,” she wrote.

According to the Health Research Board, as of August 2016, there were 9,652 patients receiving treatment for opioid use in Ireland. Many of these people are those who were prescribed these drugs.

Growing Problem

Dr. Colin O’Gara, consultant psychiatrist and clinical associate professor in the School of Medicine at UCD. Notes that the abuse of prescription medication has been a growing problem here for the past 10 years. “Prior to that, illicit drug use was the main issue in Ireland. Drugs like heroin primarily, ecstasy, cocaine, more recently ketamine and illicit head shop drugs bought over the internet,” he explains.

“But over the past 10 years, there has been a slow and gradual increase in the number of people abusing prescription drugs. It’s now an issue at the clinical front line. We are increasingly seeing people presenting with addictions to drugs like Tramadol.”

O’Gara says opioid drugs are a particular problem. Heroin is the natural form of this drug. The prescription versions, which are derived from morphine, have the side effect of producing euphoria.

“People are frequently prescribed them after operations. They are increasingly available in the illicit market, and a growing number of people are getting introduced to them that way. In addition, there are over-the-counter products containing another opioid medication, codeine, which are also a significant problem,” he says.

“It’s hard to get exact figures on the number of people who have problems with these drugs. What we do know is that they are designed to be used for a short period of time in low doses. When they’re used in large doses over a long period of time, people can become very dependent on them.”

Jenny’s Story

Jenny (not her real name) believes pressures of work led to an addiction to over-the-counter opioid-based painkillers. “I’ve worked in a high-pressure job for many years and entertaining clients was a regular and essential part of it,” she says. “There were long lunches followed by drinks. I’d be expected to be at my desk at 9am the next day. A colleague swore by an over-the-counter medication with codeine in it to get them going the morning after. Soon I never went anywhere without a box in my handbag.”

But fairly quickly she went from taking two to get rid of a hangover to taking two just to get going in the morning. Then another two if she felt a bit tired during the afternoon. “I’d even take them preventatively before I went out for a night . I convinced myself that if I took them in advance, I wouldn’t suffer the next day. “I loved the fact that they made me feel nice and relaxed, and if I’m honest. I also liked the fact that they helped me stay out longer.” It got to the point that she would get rebound headaches if she tried to stop taking the tablets. “I had no idea codeine could cause problems like that, as well as other complications like constipation,” she says.

This is particularly worrying because these products tend to also include Paracetamol, which is very dangerous to consume in large quantities. “The stomach, kidneys and liver can really suffer. Perforations of the stomach and small bowel are not uncommon with this addiction, not to mention serious liver damage,” he says.

“Codeine addiction can be very serious and can require substitution therapy. Some people manage to detox and come off it entirely. Others need the help of other drugs like methadone or buprenorphine. That can come as a shock to people who don’t think of these drugs as being serious.”

THE ROAD TO RECOVERY McPartlin

If you have an unhealthy relationship with a drug, the good news is that if you’re aware that you have a problem then you’re already on a path that can lead to recovery.

“If you’re developing some insight into the issue. You’re already ahead. Often addicts don’t believe that they have a problem, even if the people around them can see that they do,”

Click Here To Read Full Story in Irish Independent

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