Globe and Mail: Dr. D. Juurlink on tramadol, dependence vs. addiction, etc.

This is an excellent article from Dr. David Juurlink, Toronto-based toxicologist, pharmacologist, professor, which appears in today's Globe and Mail.

This section is so important and adds weight to many of the discussions on physical dependence vs. addiction around BB:

"In hindsight, what happened to my patient is clear. His body became accustomed to the presence of tramadol. Without it, he became sick; with it, he felt well again. Put bluntly, he no longer needed tramadol for pain; he needed it simply because he'd been taking it. This phenomenon is known as physical dependence and it's distinct from addiction, which includes behavioural elements and harm despite continued drug use."

"In some ways, this man's story is unexceptional. Millions of North Americans are physically dependent on drugs prescribed for pain, anxiety and depression. When the drugs are tapered too quickly, withdrawal symptoms ensue, but they resolve with continued treatment. It's not hard to see how this can sometimes fuel the perception that a drug is effective or even essential, even when it's not really helping."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/why-health-canada-must-reclassify-tramadol-as-an-opioid/article37089174/ 

This is an excellent article from Dr. David Juurlink, Toronto-based toxicologist, pharmacologist, professor, which appears in today's Globe and Mail.

 

This section is so important and adds weight to many of the discussions on physical dependence vs. addiction around BB:

 

"In hindsight, what happened to my patient is clear. His body became accustomed to the presence of tramadol. Without it, he became sick; with it, he felt well again. Put bluntly, he no longer needed tramadol for pain; he needed it simply because he'd been taking it. This phenomenon is known as physical dependence and it's distinct from addiction, which includes behavioural elements and harm despite continued drug use."

 

"In some ways, this man's story is unexceptional. Millions of North Americans are physically dependent on drugs prescribed for pain, anxiety and depression. When the drugs are tapered too quickly, withdrawal symptoms ensue, but they resolve with continued treatment. It's not hard to see how this can sometimes fuel the perception that a drug is effective or even essential, even when it's not really helping."

 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/why-health-canada-must-reclassify-tramadol-as-an-opioid/article37089174/

Great article, great guy.  Thanks, Lapsy! 

Thanks again for a great article Lapis!

SS

You're welcome! Glad to share a good find like this one. This man knows whereof he speaks -- or writes, in this case.

Aside from making the delineation between dependence and addiction, there's the section where Dr. Juurlink shows the genetically different responses that people have to the same medication. This obviously happens with other medications, and it must be kept in mind when trying to understand why comparing ourselves to one another can be problematic.