I believe that anything( either a cigarette or even sugar) that creates an addiction to our body is bad. But when it comes to drugs and especially legally drugs like pills, the things get even worse. Paula Abdul can prove it. Recently she declared that her reliance on painkillers could cause her death.

The 46 years old singer and dancer choose a combination of painkillers -- including regular shots of lidocaine -- and Chinese medicine to be able to perform her routine. But this combination ended up by making her dependent.

"I couldn't cancel my tour. I didn't want anyone to count me out. I tried to keep everything hush-hush. I'm an old school professional. Never let them see you sweat," she declared for Ladies' Home Journal. And because she suffered several incidents (including a cheerleading mishap at 17 that injured a disc in her neck) those pills were a relief for her pain.
Unfortunately in 2005 she was diagnosed with "reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome," a chronic neurological disorder that causes severe pain. It resulted in teeth-chattering and shingles-like lesions.

So she needed something really strong and she took a pain medication about 80 times more potent than morphine and a nerve medication to relieve her symptoms. The pain didn’t go, but become even stronger. So strong that caused her the impossibility to sleep and even acting weird.

In order to put and end to this addiction and pain, last Thanksgiving, she checked into the La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California. "I could have killed myself. Withdrawal – it's the worst thing. I was freezing cold, then sweating hot, then chattering and in so much pain. It was excruciating", she declared.

Luckily now she is fine and she can move on with her life. But her experience should be a sign for other people to let themselves too easy in the hands of addictions.