Actually, pain medications are not as horrible as the reputation that they're painted with to start out; yes, many of them are habit forming and some even cause damage to your body. But that is when you abuse them.

Abuse, of course, is when you take a prescribed drug beyond what its prescription calls for, often to the point of not just taking them to prevent pain, but to feel nothing but the narcotic high that they bring. There's more to it, but I'm not exactly writing a psychological thesis here.

My recent bout with pain medication came from my post knee surgery recovery. I won't lie, I was very grateful to have pain medication. Not only did my knee hurt like hell, but my entire body was just torn to pieces for the weeks following. I'm still using one crutch, a knee brace and visiting physical therapy thrice a week, but I'm doing better.

However, I had noticed that my body had developed a physical dependence to my pain medication. I was sweaty and unable to sleep at night, had stomach pains and aching muscles during the day, and the only time I felt remotely productive at work was the few hours after taking my pain medicine. In fact, it practically had a 'Lazarus' effect on me, as I was near dead asleep at my desk the moment before, then completely alert and energetic the moment after.

So yeah, I'm cutting back heavily on my pain meds. Thankfully, I caught this before it got any worse.