Jamie Lee Curtis health: The 10-year addiction to opioids – bigger than anything

Jamie Lee Curtis on being a part of film franchise ‘Halloween’

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For more than a decade of her life, Jamie Lee Curtis was addicted to Vicodin – an opioid pain reliever. One she got hooked on after recovering from plastic surgery. “I had a routine plastic surgery because of a cameraman,” Jamie began. “Naturally, [I] had puffy eyes… and we were shooting a scene in a courtroom with that kind of high, nasty fluorescent light…

“It came around to my coverage in the scene, and [the cameraman] said, ‘I’m not shooting her today. Her eyes are too puffy.'”

In the candid interview with Variety, Jamie continued: “I was so mortified and so embarrassed [so] I went and had routine plastic surgery to remove the puffiness.”

Prescribed Vicodin to soothe the pain, Jamie began taking the opioid long after her recovery period was up.

“I like to refer to it as the warm, bath feeling of an opiate,” Jamie added.

“It’s like the way you naturally feel when your body is cool, and you step into a warm bath, and you sink into it.

“That’s the feeling for me, what an opiate gave me, and I chased that feeling for a long time.”

The mother-of-two told People magazine: “I was ahead of the curve of the opiate epidemic.

“I had a 10-year run, stealing, conniving. No one knew. No one.”

Seeking support, Jamie has been sober for more than 20 years.

“Getting sober remains my single greatest accomplishment,” she said.

“Bigger than my husband, bigger than both of my children and bigger than any work, success, failure. Anything.”

Addiction

The Priory, a mental health and addiction rehab clinic, details the different types of prescription drug addiction.

“The misuse of prescription painkillers has become increasingly prevalent,” The Priory stated.

Prescription opioids, for example (akin to what Jamie became addicted to), are the most commonly misused prescription drugs.

Examples include: codeine, co-codamol, tramadol, fentanyl, hydrocodone (Vicodin), and oxycodone (OxyContin and Percocet).

People are usually prescribed opioid medication to ease moderate to severe pain following an injury, surgery, or a chronic condition.

Benzodiazepines are also another type of prescription medication that is widely abused.

These are usually prescribe to treat anxiety, panic attacks, seizures, and other psychiatric and medical conditions.

Examples include: diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), and zolpidem (Ambien).

The Priory offers a free addiction assessment and has information on drug addiction treatment on 0808 271 1607.

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