Half Life In Drug Delivery

Opioid drugs are some of the most widespread pain medications that we have in this country; indeed, the fact is that opioid analgesic prescriptions have increased by over 300% from 1999 to 2010 (Mitch 989). Consequently, the number of deaths from overdose increased from 4000 to 16,600 a year in the same time frame (Mitch 989). This fact becomes even more frightening when you think about today; the annual number of fatal drug overdoses in the Unites States now surpasses that of motor vehicle deaths (Alexander 1865). Even worse, overdose deaths caused by opioids specifically exceed those attributed to both cocaine and heroin combined (Alexander 1865).

Dosages of the drug vary from one extreme to another based upon the patients needs.

In an emergency situation, the drug would get into the patients’ blood stream faster, which would be advantageous to help the patient faster. Opposed to an oral route which would require the body to absorb the drug preceding going into the blood stream.

After Heroin is injected or inhaled, it crosses the blood brain barrier, and once in the brain, it is converted to morphine and will bind with opioid receptors. This transferring is what gives the user their rush, and the more of the drug, the faster it binds and the stronger the rush. Heroin

Intravenous Naloxone reaches the brain two minutes faster than intranasal Naloxone, which could be the difference between life or death. However, through an I.V., 100% of Naloxone reaches the brain. On the other hand, Strang, McDonald, Tas, and Day discovered that when intranasal Naloxone is not administered at a 90 degree angle or the nasal cavity is blocked with vomit, Naloxone gathers at the back of the throat and is swallowed by the Naloxone recipient (576). This means that when intranasal Naloxone is administered, Naloxone has to be administered repeatedly to fully reverse opioid overdose. Often times, intranasal Naloxone is followed by administration of intravenous or intramuscular Naloxone. While using intravenous and intramuscular administration, there is no way to slow the absorption of Naloxone.

The guideline named opioid cumulative dosing override allows for an override for an opioid product equal to or exceeding the hard-stop threshold (60mg morphine equivalent dose) and a 7 day supply. An override will be provided for patients with one of the following conditions: diagnosis of cancer, palliative care, or sickle cell disease, patients enrolled in hospice care, or patients taking an opiate tapering regimen following an orthopedic procedure with an end date not to exceed 21 days. For all other patients, the prescriber must be aware that all of the following criteria must be met: the diagnosis for use of the opiate and reason for continued use are documented, previous trials of non-drug and/or non-opiate use are documented, the patient does not have concurrent use of benzodiazepines

The over use of opioid has been one of the major public health problem in the United States (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2018). Opioids include prescription medications that are used to treat pain symptoms which includes codeine, morphine, methadone, hydrocodone, and etc., as well as illegal drugs such as heroin and illicit potent on opioids such as fentanyl analogs (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2018). The opioid overdose could happen due to many factors such as when a patient deliberately misuses a prescription, or misuse heroin (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2018). Opioid overdose could happen due to the prescriber miscalculated the opioid dose or when

Today, Naloxone is now being prescribed and dispensed to people at risk of opioid overdose. The number of overdose deaths has quadrupled since 1999. Statistics show that increased availability, relatively low price (compared to prescription opioids), and high purity of heroin in the United States is one of the reasons why death rates are so high. From 2000 to 2015, more than half a million people died from drug overdoses. Every day, approximately 91 Americans die from an opioid overdose. It is a proven fact that most people who are addicted suffer the most overdoses. Anyone taking drugs can suffer an opiate overdose, especially when they take more than prescribed or if they combine opiates with other CNS (Central Nervous System) depressants with alcohol. It's rare for someone to die immediately from an overdose, it's usually a very slow process that takes anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. After you administer the Naloxone, it lasts between 30-90 minutes before the overdose begins to recur. Also, Naloxone can also cause an uncomfortable withdrawal feeling; This is because it blocks the action of opioids in the

Opioid pain medicines can cause side effects. Taking them for more than three days raises your chance of side effects, such as:

Buprenorphine is morphine-like but is 25 to 50 times more potent [15,16]. It is noteworthy that buprenorphine has very low oral bioavailability because it undergoes extensive first-pass metabolism. However, its bioavailability is substantial enough that sublingual (SL) administration makes this a feasible treatment for opioid dependence. The mean time to peak plasma concentration following SL administration varies and can range from 40 minutes to 3.5 hours. Buprenorphine is highly protein bound (96%) and has a large volume of distribution. It is metabolized extensively to norbuprenorphine by N-dealkylation, primarily through cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4. The half-life of buprenorphine is long, and there is considerable variation in reported values of terminal elimination, with mean values ranging from 3 to 44 hours. Most of a dose of buprenorphine is eliminated in the feces, with approximately 10–30% excreted in urine.

In New York City, voluntary guidelines that call for practitioners to prescribe no more than 3 days’ supply of short-acting opioids have been adopted by many hospital emergency departments. Other states have also imposed limits on the days’ supply and dose of prescribed opioids, although these are not nearly as restrictive as what is being considered in Massachusetts.3

enters the blood stream in just a matter of seconds of using this drug. When eating or drinking

Half-life is the amount of time the drug is in your body before it starts to leave. Opioids and benzodiazepines give some the feeling of euphoria, and often a psychological effect, but they leave the body rapidly and cause a withdraw effect. Purdue Pharma first got OxyContin approved by the FDA for a 12-hour pain reliever, but knew that it’s half-life was only more like 8 hours. This would mean that in about 8 hours after one took an OxyContin, one would crave to take another one. The Los Angeles Times, is given credit for probing and uncovering e-mails, memos, meeting minutes, sales reports, FDA records, patent records and journal articles over many years, about how Purdue Pharma knew about OxyContin’s notorious addiction, and did nothing. They did profit around 31 Billion dollars from this drug at the expense of many lives lost, and countless lives forever changed from its

These combination codeine medicines, which is a type of opioid, are produced to provide pain relief for headache, back pain, dental pain and post-surgical pain and for management of cold and flu symptoms. When taken in large dosages above the recommended amount, these drugs can affect the brain similarly to illegal drugs and hence produce relaxation and euphoria (National Institute on Drug abuse 2014). Therefore, there are now growing concerns over abuse and dependency due to increased access and availability of these drugs (Shaheed, Maher & McLachlan

The lesser risk way of taking the drug is to snort (ingestion via the nose). This way does not cause as much shock to the body and carries a lower risk of overdose. The effects come on gradually, peaking at approximately fifteen to thirty minutes after taken.