Millions of people, from all over, are seriously or gravely injured and are inducted into the healthcare system in a way similar to me. They are given lots of opioid medications and will predictably be on them for weeks or months. And, like me, many of them will plan to be off the medication at some point. The mechanisms of tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal, though, make this exit from opioid therapy more challenging than simply stopping the medication when it’s no longer needed: stopping the medication hurts, because the body has become accustomed to it.
