Opiate Addiction : Opiate Abuse And Addiction

Opioid addiction is so prevalent in the healthcare system because of the countless number of hospital patients being treated for chronic pain. While opioid analgesics have beneficial painkilling properties, they also yield detrimental dependence and addiction. There is a legitimate need for the health care system to provide powerful medications because prolonged pain limits activities of daily living, work productivity, quality of life, etc. (Taylor, 2015). Patients need to receive appropriate pain treatment, however, opioids need to be prescribed after careful consideration of the benefits and risks.

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.

Opioids are a class of drugs used to help an individual’s pain perception. They include prescriptive and nonprescriptive medications: morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, and fentanyl. Heroin is also an opioid, but it is a classified Schedule 1 illegal drug.

      As well as killing pain, moderate doses of pure opioids produce a range of mild effects. They depress the activity of the nervous system, including such reflexes as coughing, breathing and heart rate. They also cause widening of the blood vessels, which gives a feeling of warmth and reduces bowel activity, which causes constipation.

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

The use of opioid-based prescription medications to treat non-terminal chronic pain can cause side effects from short term use, and is overly common and ineffective. Firstly, opioid usage can induce negative short-term effects. According to William A. Darity, Jr., short-term opioid usage causes negative effects such as “euphoria, drowsiness, and impaired motor and cognitive functioning” (“Drugs”). The short term effects of the opioids may cause the patient to isolate him or herself socially due to being self-conscious about his or her friends and peers seeing the individual in their current condition. Due to his or her fragile emotional state, however, if the patient isolates him or herself during a time in which he or she should have increased

Opiate addiction can cause many negative changes in the brain. This leads to the structure and functioning of the brain to perform lower than usual. As a result of constant consumption of the opiate medications, addicts lose most of their ability to cope with pain naturally without taking use of pain medication (Torres, 2014). This low tolerance of pain leads to the addict experiencing a higher level of pain since they consistently have high levels of opiates in their system (Torres, 2014). Opiates have the ability to produce withdrawal symptoms in a few hours after the last dose (Opiate Withdrawal Timelines, Symptoms and

Opioid use disorders are directly linked to major consequences for individuals as well as society. Opioids include drugs such as Vicodin, oxycodone, morphine, and heroin among others (CITE). Currently, estimates show there are about 20 million people abusing or addicted to opioids countrywide (Bell, 2014). Opioid use can cause decrease quality of life as it is a common cause of familial conflict, homelessness, incarceration, life threatening illness, and death by overdose.

Opioids are highly addictive and dangerous drugs, but have some medicinal use. The most common clinical use of opioid narcotics is as an analgesic to relieve pain (Fleckenstein, Hanson, & Venturelli, 2015, p. 276.). Opioid narcotics are used for pain relief. Once consumed, opioids activate receptors that are controlled by endorphins (Fleckenstein, et al., 2015, p. 277.). Endorphins are proteins that are released into the brain when one

Chemically related and interact with opioid receptors on nerve cells in the body and brain

In the alleviation of pain in chronic conditions such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, opioids are used. The codeine that falls under opioids is ten times less efficient compared to morphine. Some opioid analgesics such as hydromorphone are more potent compared to morphine, reports Rxlist. The opioid drugs act by binding to opioid receptors in the central nervous system. Unlike other analgesics that inhibits cyclooxygenase enzymes involved in mediating the

Opiates imitate physical chemicals in the body that are expected to calm individuals during times of stress and also help to overcome pain at times of injury or illness. When a person takes an opiate the drug links with the brain’s opiate receptors, causing a calming effect that relaxes and eases physical pain. When taken at doses higher than medically necessary, opiates produce a strong feeling of euphoria, overflowing the brain with feel-good neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which activate the reward and pleasure pathways in the brain. This makes the use of opiates pleasurable while also reinforced the behavior, causing the individual to associate the taking of high doses of opiates with strong feelings of physical pleasure. Just

Opioids are the most widely used and effective of analgesics for the treatment of severe pain. They act by binding to specific proteins called opioid receptors, which are found in the central nervous system. There are four known receptors mu, delta, kappa and opiate like receptor. The most common pain management receptor is the mu, it is also involved with mood enhancers and causes activation of dopamine that is associated with euphoria. When these drugs attach to their receptors, they drastically reduce the amount of pain. Opioids can also produce other effects such as, drowsiness, nausea, lowering of blood pressure and reducing respiration. Opioids can also produce a euphoric feeling for some users, as it is interferes with the reward pathways.

The term Opioid is derived from the opium poppy. It is an annual herb that contains about eight capsules with different color flowers. The seeds are cut out from the stem and used for different purposes. Descriptions from the Egyptians shows the opium seeds to be used to prevent excessive crying while the Greeks used it for a sleep inducing substance. (Khademi, 2015, p.870) Opium is the starting material for an array of medications. It is synthesized and then is an opioid used for mainly the treatment of pain in anesthesia, cancer, acute pain, osteoarthritis, limb pain, sickle cell anemia, and more. (Khademi, 2015, p870)

The purpose of this paper is to give insight into a specific drug class, known as opiates, that have been a source for abuse in society for various decades. Opiates are used to aid in the relief of pain, allowing the user to feel a sense of toleration in regards to what they are consuming the substance for. For many years now, opiates have been misused by individuals resulting in a dangerous addiction, and ultimately, an unstable lifestyle. The effects that opiates can have on an individual varies from person to person, depending upon the ways in which they choose to intake the substance. When a controlled substance is in one’s possession, it is important to be aware of the possible side effects that come along with it; such side effects can