Kratom Effects

The use of opioids and other drugs continues to gradually increase in the United State. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of overdose deaths involving opioids has quadrupled since 1999” (CDC website). Individuals are abusing prescription opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone. Prescriptions opioids that are supposed to be used as pain relievers, cough suppressants and for withdrawal symptoms are being use by individuals in order to feel relaxed or for the overwhelming effect of euphoria. These types of drugs are to be taken orally, but people are snorting, smoking, and injecting them in order to get a better high. I have personal encounters with opioid drugs and opioid abuser on a regular

Analysis: Opioids are a class of drug that are medically used as very effective painkillers, like fentanyl and morphine, however, they are highly addictive and produce a feeling of euphoria (“Opioids”). This combination leads do a lot of abuse and dependency, where people take more than prescribed in order to feel better. People start off taking the opioid painkillers in order to not feel pain as prescribed by their doctors. Then, they end up getting addicted to them. There are also illicit opioids, such as heroin, that are also highly addictive and also lead to dependency and death (“Opioids”). These illicit versions are taken for recreational reasons, and are also often mixed with other drugs. The combination of taking an unregulated drug in conjunction with other drugs leads to a lot of overdoses.

There are a variety of treatment modalities, both conservative and emerging, that clinicians, therapists, and doctors use to treat heroin and opioid dependence. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing (MI), 12 step programs, and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) are just a few that have been used in the past, and even today, in the treatment of substance dependence. Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is yet another form of therapy; particularly for opioid and heroin dependence, that has been around for decades. However, it has recently begun to spark interest and controversy in light of the growing epidemic.

Almost one hundred years ago, prescription drugs like morphine were available at almost any general store. Women carried bottles of very addictive potent opiate based pain killers in their purse. Many individuals like Edgar Allen Poe died from such addictions. Since that time through various federal, state and local laws, drugs like morphine are now prescription drugs; however, this has not stopped the addiction to opiate based pain killers. Today’s society combats an ever increasing number of very deadly addictive drugs from designer drugs to narcotics to the less potent but equally destructive alcohol and marijuana. With all of these new and old drugs going in and out of vogue with addicts, it appears that the increase of misuse and

“In 1949, Isbell and Vogel, working at the U.S. Public Health Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, showed methadone to be the most effective medication for withdrawing addicts from heroin (Joseph, Stancliff, & Landgord, 2000, p. 347). Further studies revealed that administering methadone to an addict for seven to ten days had a relapse rate of more than 90% when treatment ceased. “By 1998, the number of methadone patients in the United States had increased from the original six research patients in 1964 to about 44,000 patients in New York Stated and 179,000 patients worldwide” (Joseph, Stancliff, & Landgord, 2000, p. 347). The number of individuals enrolled in MMT continues to increase as the methadone clinics and the overall effectiveness of MMT gains

Post World War II New York City was faced with a major heroin epidemic with over 151,000 names listed in the Narcotics Register (Herman). As a medical response, methadone was developed to treat heroin addiction (Herman). Today methadone maintenance treatment has grown to become a popular therapy for drug addiction as well as pain management. Methadone has helped many people to create new lives for themselves, yet there is still debate over the success of this program. Methadone assisted treatment should be seen as an effective program in combating opioid addiction due to its health and social benefits for both users and the community.

The opioid epidemic in America continues to grow at an alarming rate with no end in sight. All narcotics are derived from the opium poppy plant and then manufactured into different forms of drugs such as morphine, heroin, and other pharmaceutical and synthetic opioid drugs sold on the market for pain. Opium derived drugs block and suppress pain by binding to and stimulating the natural receptor sites for endorphins found in the central nervous system of a user’s brain. Patients who are prescribed narcotic drugs can quickly become addicted to the drugs because their body’s will stop producing endorphins and instead

I agree that the withdrawal process makes opioid addiction debilitating. It takes time for the bodies of addicts to adjust when the opiods are not in their system. During withdrawal addicts experience many negative symptoms varing in severity. A form of treatment to reduce withdrawal symptoms and helping with detox is methadone which is also an opiod. When addicts are first put on methadone they take the instructed dosage, then over time the dosage slowly decreases. Methadone decreases the cravings of opioids and helps in maintaining to be free from other substances. Although I do not completly agree with taking medication to stop drug addiction, methadone has shown to be effective in treating drug addiction.

Substance abuse disorders have been considered a major epidemic by public health authorities during this century. Most recently, those who use, and abuse opioids have been in the spotlight. The growing number of overdoses, deaths, and individuals who are identified as opioid abusers has, of late, been the subject of media attention. Now coined “The Opioid

As better and more comprehensive education is provided both to the general public and practicing clinicians the hope is to reduce the negativity surrounding the users of opioids, and to eliminate demeaning language coupled to them as well. This could improve patient morale and help the needless continuation of physical suffering within patients, as they would be more comfortable approaching and using opioids for therapeutic purposes1. That being said there are those within our communities who do abuse these substances and pharmacists must recognize the signs of abusers, it is important for them to reach out, without comment, to help those suffering from opioid abuse once they have been

As we all have researched and found out the devastating numbers to the opioid epidemic “the abuse of prescription and non-prescription opioids is one of the greatest threats facing public health in the United States today. It is estimated that as many as 2.5 million people in the US are suffering from opioid addiction related to prescriptions, and an additional 467,000 are addicted to heroin”(2017).

In the current health trends, complimentary alternative medicine has been used to control musculoskeletal pain such as back and neck pain, joint pain and arthritis. The Department of Veteran Affairs has been exploring different alternatives for the veterans with controlling noncancerous chronic pain versus the frequent use of opioids drugs. Complimentary alternative medicine practices have become more apparent and useful within the healthcare system. First, this paper will discuss the significance of complimentary alternative medicines among the veterans with chronic pain. Secondly, there will be a discussion of the three themes identified in the literature review. Thirdly, there will be a discussion with the synthesis on two

Because I wanted to avoid studies that specifically looked at opioid addiction in context of chronic pain management, I decided to extend my search to PsychINFO. PsychINFO provided me with my second article, a retrospective study that compared effectiveness of methadone, Subutex, and Suboxone head-to-head. When I widened my search terms, on PsychINFO the list was cumbersome and none addressed my topic specifically. It’s also notable that when going through trials from Cochrane, Medline, and PsychINFO, I examined pertinent articles with buprenorphine in the title because some articles refer to Suboxone (buprenorphine-naloxone) as buprenorphine.

Individuals who use Opioids are Addicts. The history of this very debatable topic is very educational and

Individuals who use Opioids are Addicts. The history of this very debatable topic is very educational and interesting. Opioids are drugs that are prescribed for severe to chronic pain, some examples of opioids are: morphine,?methadone, Buprenorphine,?hydrocodone, and?oxycodone.?Heroin?is also an opioid and is illegal. Opioid drugs sold under brand names include: OxyContin?,?Percocet?, Palladone?(taken off the market 7/2005),Vicodin?, Percodan?, Tylox? and?Demerol? among others. These drugs are also classified as a schedule II drug. Substances in this schedule have a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. Substances are placed in their respective schedules based on whether they have a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, their relative abuse potential, and likelihood