Opioid Case Study

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.

For over a decade, acute and chronic back pain has been treated with opioid analgesics also known as opiates or narcotics (such as Percocet or Oxycontin), and nonopioid analgesic, including NSAID’s (such as Naproxen and Ibuprofen). On average, 182,727,272 opioid analgesic prescriptions are dispensed annually (Dal Pan, 2016). Unfortunately, each of which is accompanied by potentially serious adverse effects. Opioids serious side effects including respiratory depression, drowsiness, nausea, constipation, addiction, and ultimately death. Although constipation does not sound like a serious side effect, it does pose the potential for serious consequences. Because of the depressed peristalsis of the gastrointestinal tract or ileus the patient can develop constipation or

The opium poppy plant produces substances that act as a pain reliever. Most opioid drugs like morphine and hydrocodone that treat severe pain, contain the products of these poppy plants. Opioids are powerful narcotics that have over the years been taken advantage of but should exclusively be for medical purposes only prescribed by physicians. Nabarun Dasgupta is a pharmaceutical epidemiologist who has a Ph.D. in pharmacy from the University of North Carolina. Nabarun wrote a peer-reviewed article about the opioid crisis and how economic factors intensify the epidemic. He reports, it is false to say that overprescription is the only cause of this national crisis. Dasgupta claims that some of the blame must also go to structural components like

Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Opioids are also frequently used non-medically for their euphoric effects or to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Examples of opioids are morphine, heroin, oxycodone, and methadone. Opioid overdose is an acute and serious condition due to excessive opioids use. 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,

“Hill Billy Heroin,” “Poor Man’s Heroin,” or “Oxy” all refer to the pharmaceutical drug oxycodone. First introduced in 1917 in Germany, oxycodone was created to treat chronic or severe short-term pain. It is available in a pill form with several different potencies. In the pill form, it is designed to be swallowed whole; the formula is designed to release slowly into the bodies system to prevent over-dosing. What begins as a simple prescription for a patient, has the potential to become habit forming. It takes between five to seven days for one to become addicted and experience withdrawal symptoms comparable to heroin users. Oxycodone is a class II drug because of its high dependency rate. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates all

Opioids come in many forms, both licit and illicit drugs. Licit drugs would be considered pharmaceuticals, since they are prescribed by doctors and usually come in pill forms. Some examples of licit opioids are: OxyContin®, Vicodin®, codeine, morphine, methadone, and fentanyl. The illicit drugs would be heroin and can come in many different forms. Both forms must be consumed with caution due to their addictive nature.

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.

According to Michael Klein, “The most prescription drugs that are commonly misused are opioids, tranquillizers, sedatives, and hypnotics.” Unintentional overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers have quadrupled since 1999 and have outnumbered those involving heroin and cocaine since 2002. (Klein). The reason some people abuse opioids is just to “get high”.

Opioids are a prescription medication involving various forms of drugs, it can benefit patients as little as a few minutes, however, it can be extremely dangerous to patients without self-control.

These pills, such as xanax and oxycodone allow people for short periods of time to withdraw from the harsh reality faced today. “Between 1997 and 2002, sales of oxycodone and methadone nearly quadrupled” (Okie). Around 15 years later and the prescription pill problem is continuing to skyrocket. Since prescription pills are dispersed out to anyone by doctors, many people do not realize that it is as much of an illicit drug as cocaine and heroin is. “Misinformation about the addictive properties of prescription opioids and the perception that prescription drugs are less harmful than illicit drugs are other possible contributors to the problem” (NIDA).

The CIWA evaluation tool is sometimes replaced with the Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale (RASS) and Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) assessment tools when patients reside in the ICU.24 These are well validated tools that evaluate the level of a patient’s agitation versus sedation and presence or absence of

we are living through the worst epidemic of addiction in american history, and the drugs causing the most deaths are legal prescription opioids like oxycontin, percocet, and vicodin. How did so many of us get addicted to painkillers? and why are so many americans dying from drug overdoses? to find out you have to go back to the early 90s. Before that time doctors generally considered opioids dangerous but in 1996 a company called purdue pharma released a new drug ,oxycontin. purdue spent hundreds of millions of dollars to convince doctors that oxycontin was safe and not addictive. there marketing strategy worked, their prescriptions for oxycontin skyrocketed but purdue 's claim that oxycontin was safe and not addictive just wasn 't true. as sales skyrocketed so did addiction, overdoses, and death.

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. The supply chain is short in the use and misuse of opioids. This runs from the prescribing physician to the patient and the prescription drug abuser, which is often the same person. The vast majority of illicitly used prescription opioids are obtained from physicians, not drug dealers. People are seeking out pain medication through their primary physicians

What is Oxycodone Oxycodone can be prescribed to help with moderate to severe pain. It is an opioid and belongs to the class of narcotic analgesics. It works as a depressant, slowing down the pain signals travelling from our body to our brain, and altering the way your brain responds to pain. This makes your body feel and respond to pain in a different manner as well. Doctors most commonly prescribe Oxycodone to help relieve the patient from moderate to severe pain.

The Methadone Train Addictions to opiates, and opiate derivatives, are some of the most prevalent and long-standing drug abuse issues known. These abuses have also contributed to other social problems such as the spread of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C due to needle injection being a popular method of delivery. In the 1960s, methadone, a synthetic opiate substitute, was introduced as the preferred medical treatment for opiate abuse and addiction and remains so today. Reduction of disease distribution is only one of its heralded benefits. Methadone is commonly used in management of withdrawal symptoms related to addiction to heroin and other opiate drugs, both prescription and non-prescription.