Pain killer addiction is a major problem in the United States and being addicted to pain killers is becoming a household word. More and more each day people are given pain pills for injuries that they may not need pain medication for.�After a period of time being on them they�find themselves addicted and have no idea what to do. This is usually not intentional but sometimes it is the case with adults and seniors. Other times the person using the�pain pills is using them as a means to get high and find themselves addicted after taking them over a period of time as well. Most people who get addicted to an opiate based drug find that the longer�they are on the drug the�harder�it is�to get off them. The old way of getting off of heroin or pain killers used to be a methadone treatment. Usually referred to as a methadone maintenance program, the person is supposed to be weaned off the methadone after being off of the drug they were on. Many time the person just stays on the methadone for long periods of time, never really getting off and this sometimes lasts for�years. Now there’s a new way of treating pain killer addiction that is being used with great success in America. This new process also�involves using a medication that helps the addicted person to get off the pain medication without the painful debilitating withdrawal symptoms. This drug is is sent home with the recovering addict so that there is no costly�inpatient treatment involved. The drug is called Buprenorphine and is an opiate itself, but it is different in that the addicted person doesn’t get high from it. The action of the drug is to fill the receptor sites in the brain that the pain killers used to occupy. This helps to facilitate the person getting off of the pain killers, and onto something less addictive. Buprenorphine is then used for a few weeks or months depending on the persons situation, until at which time the person is also weened off. The process of weening�off Buprenorphine�is much easier than pain killers or methadone. The benefits of Buprenorphine have been called miracle, as the person who starts to use it to get off of pain killers usually has a complete attitude change for the better. Such a change is visible in people around the addicted pereson as well as the addict themselves. Using Buprenorphine helps the person to detox off the other drugs and is usually coupled with some form of addiction therapy

Original Source of Pain Killer Addiction – What You Need to Know to Get Off