Watch out if you get prescribed opioids. You’ll get lead down the wrong road to a strong addiction. Thousands of people die from opioid overdoses every year. Every year the deaths occurring by opioids increases rapidly. Opioids are way overprescribed by doctors and we need to stop them. Some people believe that doctors only prescribe opioids when necessary. While that may be true, it is still leading to the increase in addiction. The addiction is coming from the dosage being too much and being on them for such a long time. Opioids aren’t meant to be a long-term drug for people to be taking. Dr. Kiang from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) reported that over 660,000 providers write out 8.9 million prescriptions yearly for opioids. While people also say that it makes the pain go away, the pain only goes away temporarily and will come back. The risk of addiction isn’t worth it for a weeks’ worth of pain relief. According to Dr. Kiang studies, there is only 1% of doctors who exceed the recommended prescription dosages. This still has a huge impact onto addiction. Some …show more content…
Opioids give people a rush of sensation to the brain causing them to get pleasure. Addiction from opioids occur from history and length of time you’re on the opioids. Addiction is an irresistible craving. Opioid addiction activates powerful reward systems in the brain. It triggers the release of endorphins which is the brains feel good neurotransmitters according to HHS.gov. HHS.gov also stated that if you are feeling yourself wanting more of them after getting off the drugs, you are most likely starting your road to addiction. Addiction only feels good when the drugs haven’t worn off yet. It affects you mentally in your brain. If you do become addicted to these drugs, do not try to get off them without the help of a doctor or a
The patients may experience less pain and a high, ultimately creating a desire for more medication. After the initial first week, the desire has moved from a simple want to a need. The body begins to crave more, as the patient desires to feel the high again. After the first few weeks of being addicted, the original dosage no longer helps. The desire for a stronger pill or more medication causes patients to crush their pills and snort it.
Availability of opioids puts more and more people at risk for addiction. A simple prescription from the doctor for a migraine or back pain can turn into an addiction. Doctors are faced daily with patients who complain of pain, acute and chronic. It has become a simple solution for them to write out a prescription for pain medication to help their patient. In turn, not helping them at all.
“ Because they produce euphoria in addition to pain relief, they can be misused. Regular use- even as prescribed by a doctor can lead to dependence ,and when misused, opioid pain relievers can lead to overdose incidents and deaths” (Drugabuse.gov/opioids) Prescribing opioids have more dangers to the human than they do
I. Importance: As American deaths from drug overdoses continue to rise in the United States, the nation is faced with a public health crisis so profound that in October 2017, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic to be a national public health emergency (Merica). President Trump’s declaration came after numerous studies indicating the danger opioid addiction posed; for example, a 2016 study entitled “Increases in Drug and Opioid-Involved Overdose Deaths—United States, 2010-2015” claimed that drug overdose deaths “nearly tripled during 1999-2014,” reaching a startling high 52,404 deaths in 2015 (Rudd, et al). These statistics are more than just disturbing revelations regarding the opioid crisis; they are evidence of a serious problem that is rapidly affecting the lives of more and more Americans every year. Death by overdose is not the only public policy concern, however, as millions of Americans are also addicted to prescription opioids.
The key to safer and more effective prescribing is to educate doctors about addiction and alternative approaches to pain management. The State programs cited by CDC include an increased effort to monitor and intervene in areas of high-risk prescribing. The PDMP are tools that have been implemented in most states and these create a central database to enable prescribers and dispensers to see all prescription activity for certain classes of opioids (CDC,
“Every year 214 million prescription for opiods pain killers are given to patients” One of the most prescribed drug that causes overdoses are opioids. a high percentage of the population have issues with the addiction, and not everyone has the possibility to get help, some of them are alone who don't have anyone to help them or they don't have enough income for drug rehabilitation. at the same time rehab is charging thousands of dollars for help. While most people are struggling with money and it's easier and cheaper for them to buy or get drugs prescribed and make the drug help them forget their issues.
Dependence on prescription opioids can stem from treatment of chronic pain and in recent years is the cause of the increased number of opioid overdoses. Opioids are very addictive substances, having serious life threatening consequences in case of intentional or accidental overdose. The euphoria attracts recreational use, and frequent,
However, hospitals have changed the approach to pain management but still haven 't made a change. More hospitals still provide opioids to patients with the dependence on the drug. Overall, the opioid addiction represents a serious issue in American society. The best solution in decreasing the number of overdoses is the low dosages of opioids provided by hospitals and doctors.
The journal “Patient Opioid Education” explains how opioid abuse is better if researched health care providers can better educate their patients on the issue. According to Ms. Costello, research is being done to further educate patients about the drugs they are taking. In fact “a quasi-experimental pretest posttest design was used to evaluate nurses’ knowledge of opioids,” (309). Although, the research reveals that patients have a lack of knowledge about safe opioid use this is because nurses lack the understanding of the addiction. Accordingly, all health care providers should have education on opioid dependence to avoid such addictions.
In the United States alone, more than 36 million people abuse illegal substances, however, most of these are not caused by the prescription of opioids. A drug abuse crisis is overtaking the U.S. Drug abuse kills over 200,000 people worldwide each year, although only .002 percent of these deaths are caused by the prescription of opioids. 117 million people suffer from a chronic illness, many of which need the prescription of opioids to function on a daily basis. Even though many people abuse them, doctors should not stop prescribing opioids because they are necessary for many people to function, most people who abuse them have had problems with other substances, and most opioid-related deaths do not come from doctor prescribed pills.
Too much alteration of brain structure caused by opioids may lead to babies born with abnormalities or even death. Therefore, I maintain prescription medication should stop being used at a drastic amount. In my view, the argument is wrong because addiction can ruin your life. The strongest counter argument is prescription medication helps people with pain, which is suggesting a better quality of life.
Prescription drugs (opiates only) have caused over 165,000 deaths within the last 15 years and is currently on the rise. Over 2 million Americans in 2014 were addicted to Opiate prescription narcotics. The most troubling fact is listed directly on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website: “As many as 1 in 4
As much as we would want to list all the negatives associated with prescription painkillers we have to come to terms that if suppressing pain and helping the patient with recovery wasn’t the main purpose then it wouldn’t be administered. Prescription drugs are needed for the country to have a reliable healthcare system the fact that addiction plagues our hospital s true but with modern medicine and innovation comes change, with this improvement there should be a decline in opioid addiction cases, cheaper medicines and effective medication with a lower risk of addiction. To put this in perspective prescription drugs are essential for a thriving healthcare system to help people deal with pain is like lifting a big burden of them and to have this option is essential as most countries have shortages were the population can’t acquire
In the next hour, 8 more Americans will die of drug overdose. It is an absolute necessity that we do all we can to bring this number down as much as possible. There are many alternatives to opioids including Medical Cannabis, Ketamine, and a mixture of Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen. With the use of these drugs we can not only help wean people off opioids but also keep people off of them in the first place.
People are tricked into this and most do not realize they are trapped in a vicious circle with Big Pharma. Pills are a necessity for most people so they take it as the doctor prescribes but, a lot of the time, it is way more than they actually need. ¨Of the 20.5 million Americans 12 or older that had a substance use disorder in 2015, 2 million had a substance use disorder involving prescription pain relievers and 591,000 had a substance use disorder involving heroin.¨(Opioid Addiction Facts and Figures, 2016). As the amount of pills distributed increases, so does the amount of people addicted to them. Many are not aware of the growing number of drug