Opioids Lab Report

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.

So how do opioids work and what makes them so addictive? We all have millions of pain receptors throughout our body called nociceptors that send information about pain to our brains. These pain receptors are on our skin, within our organs, and our spinal cord. Opioids are given for pain because they block the signals from the nociceptors to our brain. In addition to this, opioids cause a sense of euphoria which is the “high” that accompanies the medication (Healthcare Triage, 2016). Our bodies actually produce their own opioid chemicals that many people know of as endorphins. However, long-term use of opioids can make the body stop producing endorphins which can lead to dependence on medications (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2014). The way people take or abuse these drugs varies as well. Opioid pills such as hydrocodone or oxycodone are taken by mouth while heroin is typically injected. However, people that abuse the drugs are now crushing the pills to snort or inject which increases the intensity of the “high.” This method is also more dangerous because the risk of respiratory

Opioids are drugs that come from opium. Opium is the dried latex which comes from the opium poppy seed. These drugs create an euphoric effect on the brain. They attach to receptors in the brain to release opium. There are four classes of opioids. Endogenous opioids which the body release on its own at moments of joy. Opium alkaloid, semi-synthetic opioids, and fully-synthetic opioid which are all human made chemically in labs.

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

Vivek Murthy, a U.S. Surgeon General, said he wanted to change the way Doctors have been taught to handle pain management for the last twenty to thirty years (824). The reason Murthy wants to do this is because while he was reading a training document for nurses and doctors it claimed , "If your patient is concerned that they may develop dependence on opioids, you can safely reassure them that addiction to opioids is very rare in patients who have pain" (823). This document also reassured doctors they could prescribe opioids as a long-term treatment. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention advises doctors that pain-relieving effects may wear off for long-term users(824). This explains how opioids can be used to deal with pain management, but if used as a long-term treatment it can create an

The opioid crisis has been gradually increasing since the discovery of opioids as pain management medication by pain specialists in the 1980s. If the crisis is not mitigated, more people are likely to suffer the consequence of the effects of addiction and overdosage, given the highly addictive nature of opioids. Mitigating the crisis requires collaborative efforts, particularly from clinical prescribers and drug manufacturers who need to recognize that these drugs are potentially harmful when used repeatedly and misused. Physical therapy is an alternative mitigation measure in handling chronic pain. Evidence shows significant success rates among patients who have chosen the physical therapy route as opposed to the opioid

The issue of pain management has been an ongoing crisis for ages. The need for solutions and methods of avoiding pain is natural, however, as time has passed, misuse of these solutions has gotten out of hand. The abuse of prescription opioids, in particular, must be acknowledged. By prescribing opioids to patients, doctors are inadvertently creating drug addicts and fueling the heroin epidemic. As patients grow tolerant to opioids, they are forced to search for stronger drugs, commit crimes, and ultimately die. Alternate solutions for pain management and regulation of opiates must be implemented in order to prevent the meaningless loss of lives.

There is a growing concern for the use of opiates in pain management and other medical treatments. Due to illegal use and abuse of the opiates, there has been an increase in overdose and dependency throughout the nation and even the world. The use of opiate substances can include pain management and even cough suppression in severe cases; however, the side affects make the drugs appealing to those with substance abuse problems. President Donald Trump has declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency, which has led to the discussions of how to control the abuse of these substances (Merica). Despite the growing concern about opioid use, there are some benefits in the use of opioid substances in pain management. Many argue,

Opioids attach themselves to specific proteins called opioid receptors. These opioid receptors are found throughout the body including the brain, spinal cord, and GI tract. When an opioid attaches to a receptor, it can reduce the perception of pain. Through this coupling with receptors, opioids can also produce drowsiness, mental confusion, nausea, constipation, and, depending upon the amount of drug taken, can stop respiration leading to death (overdosing).

OxyContin is a painkiller available in America by prescription for moderate or severe pain and is short for the full names of this narcotic, which is oxycodone hydrochloride (justice.gov, 2003). Serious illnesses and conditions like bursitis, neuralgia, arthritis, and cancer are generally reasons why this drug is prescribed; it also has a controlled release factor which means the pill, when swallowed keeps pain at bay for hours in a gentle, continuous manner when taken every 12 hours (justice.gov, 2003). For drug addicts and those who abuse the OxyContin, a euphoric effect is produced and maintained, when individuals find a way around the controlled release formula, through crushing the pills and snorting them or by dissolving the pills in water and injecting them with a needle. The euphoria produced by OxyContin is euphoric and is compared to heroin (justice.gov, 2003).

Synthetic and semi-synthetic opioids are widely used for their analgesic actions. There are endogenous opiods that are naturally occruing compounds that are found in plants and produced in the body as mentioned prior. They have variable potency most likely bound by different opioate receptors. They help in the modulation of pain and have effects in the cardiovascular (CV) system, but have no role clinically.

associated with MI (p. 719). The mechanism of action of the drug is opioids act by binding to opioid receptors located in the central nervous system (mu receptors) and opioid receptors present in the peripheral nervous system which mediates an analgesic response and alters the awareness of and response to painful stimuli. Therefore, the therapeutic response to the body will be the decrease in the level of pain. Ciccone (2016), pointed out that morphine can be absorbed orally, which is the preferred route of administration. If patient experiences vomiting or nausea, then it can be administered as a suppository. The drug can also be administered via IV and with intrathecal infusion which is both absorbed rapidly into the body, and subcutaneous administration consumed in 20 minutes. Morphine can ingest into the body via epidural injection which takes 6-30 minutes to absorb into the body and via intramuscular injection which will absorb in 30 minutes. Concurring to Ciccone (2013), morphine is widely distributed in the system, in pregnant women, it crosses the placenta and deposits through breast milk in small amounts. Metabolism is done primary by the liver and morphine is excreted in the urine. The half-life of the drug is 2-4 hours in adults

OxyContin is the brand name for a formula of oxycodone, first developed in 1995. It is an opioid pain medication, which is also known as a narcotic. OxyContin can prescribed to dull severe pain that is expected to last for an extended period of time. It is typically given to patients with arthritis, cancer, or for post-operative pain. OxyContin is not to be used as an as needed drug; it is used for around the clock treatment. OxyContin contains between 10 and 80 milligrams of oxycodone. Because it is a time release formula, OxyContin allows up to 12 hours of relief. Originally it was just a blessing for patients who needed round the clock relief. Soon it began being abused. What was once just helpful to one became detrimental to another.

In the United States, the number one prescribed medication in physician office visits, hospital outpatient visits, and hospital emergency departments visits are analgesic medications. Some of these visits are in regards to extended pain management with opiate drugs. Hydrocodone is one of the most common medications prescribed for pain control after the use of non-opioid medication treatment failed (CDC, 2014). On October 25, 2013, a new form of hydrocodone was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, Zohydro ER, an opioid agonist. This new drug became commercially available with a physician’s prescription in March 2014 and is to be prescribed for chronic or severe around the clock pain for users with long

Opioids are medications that bind to opioid receptors in the nervous system; they are strong analgesics, reserved for severe chronic pain. Narcotics are utilized for chronic or extreme pain. The dose level and severity of the pain are big facts that weigh heavy on the doctor’s dosage amount. To use opioids, the patient is surveyed for their own benefit versus risks (Eustice). Opioids consist of morphine, cocaine, and oxycodone; opioids crafted in a lab include meperidine, methadone, fentanyl, and tramadol. Natural made opioids include heroin, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and oxymorphone. Another category is opium alkaloids, which is morphine, codeine, and thebaine. There is also opioids that are produced in the body, called endogenous opioids peptides, such as endorphins, dynorphins, and enkephalins. Common side effects of opioid usage are nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, constipation, dry mouth, urinary retention, and orthostatic hypotension (Eustice). Orthostatic hypotension is a form of low blood pressure that happens when you stand up or are lying down, and then feel lightheaded, dizzy, or even faint. This condition is only serious if it occurs frequently and is associated with the loss of consciousness