Can I become addicted to opioid pain-killing drugs, such as oxycodone?

Many people become addicted due to having medical procedures, such as an operation, or due to some form of pain management need, such as back pain.  Physicians will typically treat the pain with a variety of pain medications that may include the analgesic oxycodone, which is a highly addictive opioid. Under these conditions, many people become medically addicted, and do so without any awareness that dependence has occurred until they try to stop its use. This is where a good patient to doctor communication will help to intervene with, what is often, a very subtle shift toward an addictive relationship with a drug over time. For instance, making your doctor aware that on some occasions you have begun taking the drug because you feel it positively impacts your mood, or simply makes you feel better emotionally, as opposed to using it for pain management, will be an extreme red flag to your physician. Such communications will underscore your chances of interventions by your physician that may decrease your potential for developing a primary substance use disorder, or becoming medically addicted.