Abdul Kicks Painkiller Addiction

The strange behavior of "American Idol" judge Paula Abdul may have been due to her addiction to painkillers, according to Dr. Jennifer Ashton, Early Show medical correspondent.

"There's multiple factors at play here," Ashton told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "One is just living with that kind of pain every single second, day-to-day, hour-to-hour is very difficult, and can have psychological and physical consequences. Also, narcotic pain medication ... really can have some significant effects both when you're on it and when you're coming off of it."

The 46-year-old star says in the June issue of Ladies' Home Journal she could have killed herself after years of dependence on painkillers she took for a chronic, painful nerve condition, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSD).

Abdul told the magazine she checked herself into the La Costa Resort and Spa, in Carlsbad, Calif., last Thanksgiving to help beat her use of medication.

She told the magazine withdrawal is "the worst thing."

"I was freezing cold, then sweating hot, then chattering and in so much pain, it was excruciating," she says in the article. "But at my very core, I did not like existing the way I had been."

Abdul also told the magazine she started taking painkillers as a dancer -- starting when she had a back injury at age 17 -- and continued to take them after a plane crash neck injury in 1993.

Abdul was diagnosed with RSD in 2005.

Abdul says in the the article that she's feeling 96 percent better after rehab treatment.

But becoming addicted to painkillers when you have a chronic condition isn't just for celebrities, Ashton said.

"This is a huge problem and we have these oftentimes misconceptions about who this affects," Ashton said. "It can affect everyone from the housewife to the celebrity."

According to estimates by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the number of people who have received in-patient treatment for substance abuse from chronic pain syndromes has skyrocketed 155 percent in the past 10 years.

Some of the warning signs for people whose treatment may be heading for addiction, Ashton said, are feeling ill when the drug wears off, needing more medication to treat the same pain and spending a lot of time thinking about the drug.

Ashton said that if you notice these signs, you should see a pain specialist.

According to the magazine, Abdul is trying to resume her singing career with a new single, "I'm Just (Here for the Music)."