Opioid Induced Hyperalgesia ( Oih )

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.

Although opioids are legal when prescribed by a doctor or dentist, there is a chance of exemplary people with moderate to severe pain unintentionally becoming hooked on this extremely addictive drug. People who become addicted to drugs feel guilt, embarrassment, and

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.

Mike Alstott knows first-hand how opioids, when used correctly, can play an important role in managing pain and helping people to function, but he is also keenly aware of the growing crisis of opioid misuse and overdose. More American adults are dying from misusing prescription narcotics than ever before. An estimated 35 people die every day in the U.S. from accidental prescription painkiller overdoses resulting from things like not taking a medication as directed or not understanding how multiple

Considerable cautions have been obtained throughout the United States to decrease the misuse of prescription opioids and helps to minimize opioid overdoses and related complications. Even though the pain medications have a significant part in the treatment of acute and chronic pain situations, it sometimes happen that the high dose prescription or the prescribed medications, without having enough monitoring, can create bad outcomes. It is always a dilemma for the providers to find who is really in need of pain medications and to identify those who are questionably misusing opioids.

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

Addressing the people exposed to opioids may reduce the number of people starting and continuing to abuse drugs in the long term. In addition to this suggestion, data found from 2006-2015, the duration of opioids increased by a third suggesting fewer patients choose to start using opioids for pain management, however, patients already on medication continue to do so. This is because once long term opioid users, even when taking their medication as directed by their doctor, eventually develop a tolerance to the drug. A tolerance to pain medication can cause patients to up their dose or take too many medications in a small time frame in order to alleviate the same amount of pain that a smaller dose would have fixed in the past. The risk of developing tolerance is an important conversation to have with a health care professional because in addiction to pain, patients go on to develop a physical dependence to the drug. Physically patients feel pain, illness, and other symptoms; in some cases they are unable to give up the drug. This is when their dependence is classified as an

Correspondingly, pharmaceutical opioids are not the only narcotics consumers can get their hands on. It is said that heroin, an illegal but natural opiate, “... scheduled 1 controlled substance in the United States…” (AmericanAddictionCenters) Taking heroin puts consumers at a high risk for addiction and abuse. Although heroin is a very dangerous drug it does dull pain, impair cognition and the senses, increase sedation, and slow functions of central nervous system. It is stated that “... heroin is the fastest-acting opiate.” (AmericanAddictionCenters). Heroin is described as a brown, or white powder or sticky substance that may be snorted, smoked, or injected, giving consumers a sense of “rush” or “high” that comes very rapid and very intense. Due to the fact that prescription opioids are becoming more expensive and less accessible many people turn to heroin, a much cheaper opiate. Not to mention, but three out four consumers who first started off by taking prescription medication who then became abusive of them now look towards the “high” of heroin. It's no coincidence that opioids, illegal or not can cause severe damage to the consumer that may even lead to deaths due to overdose. Above all, “heroin and other opioid drugs interact with the dopamine levels in the brain,which is what causes the burst of pleasure associated with their use.” (AmericanAddictionCenters) Clearly the abuse of any drug leads to drug tolerance, dependence, and last but foremost addiction.

Opioids, otherwise known as prescription pain medication, are used to treat acute and chronic pain. They are the most powerful pain relievers known. When taken as directed they can be safe and effective at managing pain, however, opioids can be highly addictive. Ease of access helps people get pain medications through their physician or by having friends and family get the medication for them. With their ease of access and being highly addictive the use and misuse of opioids have become a growing epidemic. Patients should be well educated on the affects opioid use can have. More importantly instead of the use of opioids, physicians should look into alternative solutions for pain management. While pain medication is helpful with chronic pain, it is also highly addictive, doctors should be more stringent to whom and how often they prescribe pain medication.

Base on the sales representatives instructions, physicians started prescribing “opioids”. Shortly after, it was discovered that patient’s pain was relieved only for a small span of time, and when the pain came back it was more intense. Users had developed a resistance to “opioids”. Physicians then kept increasing their patient’s dose of medication, until the drug no longer had any effect on their bodies’ nervous system. Patients become accustomed to the fast release of endorphins cause by “opioids” (a chemical in the brain that naturally diminishes pain perception, and also acts like a sedative). Users began to notice the “rush” of the pain medication, like oxicodone (a fast relieve but short acting drug), oxicontine (extended relieve form of oxicodone) the most addicting form of “opioids”. By now they were not looking to ease their pain other that supply their dependency on the drugs. When Patients were no longer able to get enough medication from doctors, they either bought pills illegally or turned to a cheaper street drug, heroin, (a euphoric drug). “Heroin” affects the same brain receptors and provides the same “rush” effects like “oxicodone” enabling their

Traditionally, doctors prescribed opioid treatments for pain-related medical conditions. Chronic pain in particular is difficult to treat. While the search for a cure is underway, the best most patients can hope for is effective management of their condition.

Prescription opioid abuse is the intentional use of prescribed pain medication, or analgesics, for uses other than or beyond the time limits of, what the prescription is written for. It has become a widespread problem in the United States and is growing quickly. Unfortunately, most of the blame falls on our healthcare system, which tends to take the “band aid” approach to health issues. Oftentimes, pain medications are overprescribed and undermanaged without addressing the origin of the medical ailment that is causing the pain. Due to the misconception that taking these FDA prescribed drugs are safe, rates of abuse with these drugs is on the rise. Accidental deaths due to prescription opioid overdose have increased dramatically since 1999, and surpass those caused by cocaine and heroin. Prescription opioid abuse has a tremendous negative impact on the individual, the healthcare system, and society in general. This paper will explore the trends, history, mechanisms, individual impact, societal costs, and the management and treatment of prescription opioid use and abuse.

Opiates, otherwise known as prescription painkillers, have become an enormous problem in the United States. Addiction, overdoses, and death are only a few of the problems caused by opiates. Painkillers can be prescribed to help lessen chronic pain, pain from surgery, pain from serious accidents, or pain from terminal diseases. Opiates are highly addicting and have become highly abused in the United States in the past few years. Prescription painkillers need to be banned in the United States because of the dangers they bring to the patients to whom they are being prescribed. The FDA needs to become more involved in the awareness of how dangerous these drugs are and place a ban on them.

In the United States alone it has been estimated that nearly 50 million people suffer from chronic pain. However, chronic pain continues to be undermanaged with as many as 41% of patients reporting uncontrolled pain 1. Poor pain management outcomes are due in large part to a lack of a pharmacological intervention that is both efficacious for moderate-to-severe chronic pain and widely tolerable. Currently, the most efficacious treatment for moderate-to-severe chronic pain is the use of opioid agonists. Despite the efficacy of opioid therapy, in one survey 68% of physicians cited concerns about adverse events as a barrier to prescription of opioids for the maintenance of chronic pain1. Systemically delivered opioid agonists

Those doctors who swear upon the use of drugs like oxycontin and morphine seem to have very little evidence to attribute to their argument regarding the safety of the medication. Some doctors claim that the medication is the most readily available of pain killers, and they would be correct. America is the largest consumer of opioid products, legal and otherwise. The US owns nearly 81% of the world’s supply of oxycodone, and it helps generate a billion dollar industry. (INC, 2012) These statistics alone give it the advantage in comparison to the safer alternatives listed within this article. It has become a culturally accepted phenomenon, which likely attributes to its 76 million script popularity. (UNODC, World Drug Report 2012.) These may look like potential advantages, however, doctors fail to truly analyze the effects the drug has upon the patients who consume it.