Super-moms turn to pain meds to cope with stress

Now more than ever, women are trying to do it all: career, kids, housework and volunteer work.

There’s no time for pain, which is why many of them turn to medications, so they can keep going.

Experts call it ‘superwoman syndrome.‘

Three women, all three are recovering drug addicts, and they started using to numb pain.

Sharon Lutman, a registered nurse, began taking pain medication to cope with injuries she suffered during a rock climbing accident.

She found the drugs had an added benefit; they allowed her to be superwoman, getting by on only two hours sleep.

“I was a scout leader. In the evening I would cook dinner and get everyone ready and then I would work an eight hour shift from midnight until 7:30 in the morning,“ said Lutman.

Shannon too felt like superwoman, thanks to marijuana and vicodin.

“I could get everything done in a day as far as the laundry, I could get the dry cleaning done, I could pick up the kids at school, I could do this, I could do that and not have to worry about such unimportant things as sleeping.“ she said.

Dr. Mary Anne Fifield has been in recovery more than 20 years after getting hooked on codeine and Valium.

“Without them I was not able to cope, I was not able to function,“ said Fifield.

Prescription addiction is a growing problem.

According to the office of national drug policy, the number of people visiting emergency rooms because of painkillers has gone up 163 percent since 1995.

Often women feel they need to take more drugs to maintain what they consider their superwoman status.

The problem is the drugs shut down natural coping mechanisms and soon create an insatiable hunger for more drugs.

At one point, nurse Sharon Lutman was stealing Demerol from her hospital and injecting herself with it as many as twelve times a day.

But Mary Anne Fifield says it wasn’t until she got into recovery and stopped using that she truly became superwoman, getting her doctorate and founding the addiction recovery center in San Jose.

From acupuncture to yoga to carefully managed medications, women can
Manage their pain without losing themselves.

Something all three women have learned.

And while they may not have eliminated the pain, they have regained a sense of self.