Why are painkillers so addicting?

Why are painkillers so addicting? What kinda high do they give you that makes it so addicting? I mean, do they make you feel like you're the best out there and that you're unstoppable? I just don't understand how painkillers are so addicting.

when you say painkillers, im guessing that you mean opiates, and they are addicting because they block dopamine receptors from reuptaking dopamine in the brain, causing for there to be more dopamine released in the brain.
dopamine is your brains reward system and it is released when you do something and feel good about it or do something exciting etc. so this is quite pleasurable.
cocaine and speed make you feel as if youre unstoppable, but opiates make you stop caring about being stopped, or whatever.

theres alot more info on this, if youre realy interested i highly recommend checking out www.drugs-forum.co.uk

the answers int he name "painkillers" they make they hurt go away. they also make people a little wrong in the head

i dont think they are

They make you feel better, and given the chance, many people would take the offer to feel better, physically, emotionally, mentally, etc...

I've been wondering this too. When I had surgery and when I had a baby I was giving pain pills....guess how many are still left after 3 years??? ALL of them....I hate the way they make you feel. I hate the feeling of not doing for myself and just sleeping all day.

When you take a pain killer it has a certain chemical inside of it that makes you want to do more of it. Its sortough like a cigarete or a drug!!! The easiest way to stop doing it is to just take them and flush them down the toilet or give them to a nabor that will need them. like someone who just had surgery...
...you could also use them in a sling-shot to get back at someone that has been mean to you

Because they take the pain away. Then pretty soon you need more to take the pain away. Then all of a sudden you can't function with out it. The worst addiction is something you are prescribed too. That also is number one death of addiction. It is scary! I was so close of having to go to rehab over a pill that took my headaches away. It wasn't even a narcotic.

well i think its becuase poeple don't feel nothing and forget every thing or every problem they will have around them and not face reallity

b/c our bodies start relying on them

One of the main reasons is that they work, they (hence the term, kill the pain) but long term use or prolonged use can cause addiction because your body adapts to the presence of the substance and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced abruptly. Also they can affect regions of the brain that mediate what we perceive as pleasure, resulting in the initial euphoria that many produce.

Because they are derived from the same source as heroin. Percosets and Vicodin are addictive and often abused because they are somewhat easy to obtain. Im not sure they make you feel unstopable because most people I know who eat them are lazy.
Those who abuse Oxycontin have it worse than most. This drug will give you a buzz but will kill you as well.
Everyone I know who abuses percription drugs is miserable in life and they do it to forget what a loser they are. If you use them as percribed than that statement was not aimed at you.

They're mild neurotoxins, so they temporarily numb your nerves until your brains builds up a tolerance to them. Nicotine is an example; it's why people would rather steadily smoke in greater measures than quit and also why nicotine itself kill when administered to, say, populations of rats virgin to potent doses. Yes, painkillers make you feel unstoppable...because they kill every destructive, anxious, and all-around shitty thought in your brain. Of course, they come back with a vengeance and eventually you find that you require a new liver.

I don't know the answer to this question.

However, I thought I'd point out that the word is 'addictive' not addicting.

theyre narcotics