Ultra Rapid Detox : Opiate Addiction

Depending on the source, some would term the heroin and opioid problem in the United States a crisis, while others would use the word epidemic. Regardless of which expression is more accurate, the situation regarding heroin and opioid use, abuse and dependence has ignited national, if not global concern. History shows us that pervasive dilemmas have a tendency to cultivate a variety of intervention and the heroin and opioid crisis is no different.

    There has been an increase in heroin and opioid abuse in america. It has been affecting everyone and the incoming generation greatly. The use of pain reliever drugs is often the leading cause to abusing opioids and/or heroin. These pain relievers are often addictive and once people are addicted and cut off from them they begin searching for other ways to satisfy their cravings. The prescription drugs are often easily dispensed to people so it’s easier to access. This easy access makes it easier for people to get a prescription, leading to a higher risk of addiction.

69,000 patients in substance abuse treatment revealed that methadone was fourth for risk of abuse out of 11 opiate based prescription drugs. Worse, after adjustment for prescriptions, methadone advanced to the number one position for abused compounds. Even more startling was a simple random population sample, surveyed by telephone, which reported methadone as the second most used drug. However, Butler et al. cite a major limitation in that the data examined came from subjects who had entered treatment for substance use disorders. Like Plater et al. (2012) aside from the telephone survey, they were unable to examine data for abusers not in treatment (2011).

Besides preventing withdrawal, methadone treats the mom’s opioid addiction. About 70% of pregnant opioid addicts will relapse back to illicit opioid use (heroin or pain pills not prescribed to them) if they are taken off methadone. We also know that women enrolled in a methadone treatment program are much more likely to get prenatal care, and babies born to moms on methadone have higher birth weights than mothers in active addiction. If the mother is dosed with methadone, the baby is much less likely to be exposed to infectious agents like HIV and hepatitis from shared needle use. The baby also won’t be exposed to adulterants that can cause fetal damage, if heroin is being used.

Opioids are making a resurgence in the black market, evident by the rapidly increasing opioid overdose rates in an increasing fatality count for Maryland every year. The state and local governments have been working to alleviate the issue with increased access to counteractive medications and required rehabilitation. This, however, is draining government funds only to stall, if not worsen, the problem. The best approach to stopping the opioid epidemic of Maryland is to take a similar approach to smoking in treating the situation as a matter of addiction instead of one of drug abuse.

When young adults start using opioids, either in the form of heroin or painkillers, they do so without understanding the long-term consequences. By the time those consequences become a reality, those same young adults find themselves wrapped up in an insidious addiction. With any luck, they will find the strength to stop using and seek help from a treatment center that specializes in opioid addiction rehab. If you are a parent, this could be your child.

Living with pain is a daily struggle for many among us. We as a society push our bodies past the breaking point and live to tell the tale through opioid pain relievers. What did the many generations before opioids were created do, how was the pain relieved? That’s easy enough to answer they lived with it, or they didn’t. Medical and pharmaceutical interventions have come a long way in the treatment and management of pain, so much so that now we have run into another problem, the epidemic of opioid addiction and abuse. Out of this problem a far greater problem is being seen and that is the health risks associated with any drug used in a recreational form.

D-This writer met with the patient upon her request to complete the dose change request form to lower her dose as the patient experience she wants to start tapering off methadone as the patient haven't used any illicit drugs for several months. This writer completed the dose change request form with the patient pressence and also, assessed the patient that she has not experience any withdrawals since prior increase based on her order history. The patient denies any cravings and withdrawals. Furthermore, while completing the request, this writer learned that the patient is prescribed with Albuterol inhaler and strongly urges the patient to bring in the RX script tomorrow. The patient complained that no one has ever told her of this and this

The activity attended in the semester was a visit to mental health support. The name of the group of interest was Opioid recovery. The group comprises of individuals who are undergoing Opioid recovery under close monitoring by the social service providers. They are monitored for progress, behavior modification and other aspects of personality development (Ahn et al., 2014). This is done through assessment at different stages of development. The visits were done every Wednesday at 6.00. The group is composed of people recovering from opioid addiction, and many are on methadone medication.

The social effects of opiate addiction are felt by those who may have never even seen more than an image of heroin. For example; “In an early study, for example, Inciardi reported that a cohort of 239 male heroin addicts from Miami committed 80,644 criminal acts during the 12 months before being interviewed (Inciardi, 1979).”. (Strain and Stitzer, 2006) In part, this is due to the problems associated with the severe withdrawal symptoms that begin about 18 hours after the last use, and the result that addicts will do almost anything to avoid them. These include sweating, vomiting, insomnia, cold sweats, pain in the limbs, yawning, sneezing, severe bone and muscle aches, diarrhea, stomach cramps

D-The patient arrived on time for her appointment. Reported stable on her new current dose. Deny craving and withdrawals. According to the patient, her weekend was good and again, happy to have her take home bottles. Then the patient reported, she continues to keep all appointments with her mental health provider and its going very well. This writer then discussed with the patient about the next step to her recovery. The patient reported, she wants to continue with her methadone until she's ready to start tapering off on the methadone. The patient has some fears to tapering off on her methadone because she does not want to experience any craving and have a relapse.

Although opioid withdrawal symptoms are not life-threatening, they can be very uncomfortable and painful. Additionally, some of these symptoms can lead to medical complications. For example, a patient who experiences nausea and vomiting can accidentally inhale vomit into their lungs. This is known as aspiration, and it can result in a specific type of pneumonia called aspiration pneumonia.

Drug abuse and addiction remain large and persistent problems. Nationally, addiction and abuse of all substances costs the economy an estimated $600 billion dollars annually. Indeed, over the past decade, illicit drug use appears to be steady or rising (2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health; DHHS). From this we see that prescription and non-prescription opioid use is particularly problematic. For example, prescription pain reliever misuse has remained consistently high for most of the last decade and makes up the largest portion of misuse of prescription drugs (Figure 1). In addition people who report using heroin within the last year has increased by over 50% since 2001 (Figure 2).

Nurses today are likely to encounter patients who are intravenous drug users at some point in their career. The United States is in the midst of a rampant heroin/opioid epidemic which currently claims 91 lives a day to overdose (CDC, 2016). As nurses we have a unique opportunity to provide compassionate and impactful health care to the most marginalized groups of our society. Harm Reduction is a public health approach to intravenous drug use/opioid addiction which strives to reduce the harm of risky behaviors associated with illicit drug use. Nurses who implement harm reduction into practice have a powerful opportunity to educate patients on preventing the transmission of disease, vein care, and available resources within the community.

If the NP suspects the patient is abusing opiates and sedatives, which class of medication poses the greatest medical threat to the patient and why?