The primary reason the pain pills are so addictive is because they make not care. They really don’t do much of anything to block the pain, they just block your ability to find the pain annoying, anybody on them that stops to think about it for a bit realizes they’re still in agony, but they don’t mind. Anything that can make excruciating pain a non-issue makes a lot of other things not matter. They’re happy pills. And happy pills get people hooked fast.
When I had oral surgery, they prescribed oxycodone; gall bladder surgery it was hydrocodone. Don’t like either one. Only took a half at a time and only used them a couple of times. I made a point of keeping them away from my other regular meds, just in case someone ever broke in. Had no idea how valuable they are. A few weeks back, had a horrible back ache and took a half of an oxy. Helped with the pain, but hate feeling so goofy. Then again, I do not like pot at all.
I was prescribed Percocet a few years back for an issue I have with severe leg pain. (Percs are like 5% Oxy) It didn't take long for me to tell the doc no dice on the stuff. Yeah, I could deal with the pain but the "high" associated with it was too much and the "down" was miserable. I actually felt worse after taking the pill when it wore off then I did before I took the pill. I took them back to him and told him never again.
I can't imagine what Oxy would be like if Percs are 5% Oxy. The bad part was just after a few days of taking those Percs I was craving the damn things. Now I have a very low level pain pill that I take occasionally when the leg pain gets really bad. It doesn't have me craving it like Percocet did.