In 'hidden epidemic,' senior citizens getting hooked on painkillers

In “Take as Prescribed,” Fault Lines explores why so many elderly Americans are becoming addicted to painkillers—and what’s being done to stop it. The film premieres on Monday, Aug. 31, at 10 p.m. Eastern time/7 p.m. Pacific on Al Jazeera America. | Click here to find Al Jazeera in your area.

In early July, 70-year-old Carol Billker traveled two hours from her home in Rockledge, Florida, to Hanley Center, an in-patient substance abuse treatment facility in West Palm Beach, to attend a support group for recovering drug addicts.

With her silver hair, soft-spoken voice and sweet demeanor, she looked out of place in a circle that included former alcoholics and drug abusers, many of whom were in their 20s and 30s. As she addressed the group, Carol described the impact that being hooked on powerful opioid painkillers had on her life.

“You never realize how foggy you are until you go through the recovery and get off the drugs,” she said.

Three years ago, Billker came to Hanley to seek treatment for her addiction. She had been taking opioids—drugs like hydrocodone and oxycodone—to treat pain she experienced from frequent migraine headaches. She was on a pain regimen involving the drugs Percocet and Demerol.

“I think back and I realize how much my husband wanted to do, and I would say, ‘Oh no, not tonight. Not today. I don't want to go to the movies today. I have a headache and I've taken medication,’” she said in an interview with “Fault Lines.” “We missed going out to a lot of activities and fun things because I had a headache and I had taken medication. My neighbors hardly knew me because I didn't leave the house very much. I stayed at home. I slept a lot.”

In treating her migraines, Billker became one of a growing number of elderly Americans addicted to opioids. More than 16,000 Americans die each year after overdosing on opioid painkillers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—a number that exceeds those who die from cocaine and heroin overdoses combined.

While the image of the typical opioid addict is still that of a young or middle-aged drug abuser, that perception is slowly changing.

“When you look at the groups that have had the greatest increase in problems associated with prescription opioids—for example, visits to hospital emergency rooms because of opioid misuse—it’s Americans over 65,” said Andrew Kolodny, the executive director of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing.

He explained that cultural assumptions about addiction contribute to a lack of knowledge about the problem.

“We think that someone with the white hair and the long beard, the grandpa, Santa Claus-looking person, is less likely to be addicted to drugs,” said Dyben. “If you assume that the symptoms you see are just from aging, then you’re not going to look for the problem. And if you don't look for the problem of addiction, you're not going to find it.”

Larry Moore, 67, attended Hanley’s recovery program in 2009, after his family held an intervention to urge him to get treatment for his opioid addiction. At the time, his wife, Dinah, even threatened to leave him because she did not like the side effects of his medication: anger, volatility and depression.

Moore said the drugs transformed his personality, from an easy-going, reasonable person to someone who was angry, impatient and had loud, frequent outbursts.

“On the drugs,” he said, “I would confront you in a heartbeat and didn't care of the outcome. I learned that my grandchildren were afraid to be around me, which to this day breaks my heart.”

Moore told “Fault Lines” that he was an “accidental addict,” becoming hooked despite taking the proper dosage of medication—primarily OxyContin and hydrocodone—which he used for 10 years to treat back pain.

“It was taking exactly what the doctor prescribed, when the doctor prescribed, how the doctor prescribed," he said.