Hello there. Dr. Brensilver to share a little about pain medications and prescription drug abuse…
Poisoning – death caused by taking too much of a substance – is the second leading cause of accidental death in the United States and more than one-third of all poisonings involve pain medications such as oxycodone (which belongs to a class of medications called opioids).
Over the past couple decades, the enormous health burden of chronic pain has been recognized. As many as 1 in 5 people have significant pain that affects daily living. As doctors became more aggressive in treating pain, there was 10-fold increase in prescriptions written for pain medications. Along with the increased use of these medications, a dramatic increase in the number of opioid-related overdoses has been observed. Although most people start opioid treatment for legitimate medical reasons, signs of substance abuse are present in almost all opioid-related deaths and almost 20% of individuals abusing opioids receive them directly from their physician. The Executive Office of the President recently released a report titled, Epidemic: Responding to America's Precription Drug Abuse Crisis. In that report, a few remedies are proposed, including:
- educating parents, youth, and patients
- educating physicians around issues of medication misuse and addiction
- developing new pain medicines that don’t have any addictive potential
- Monitoring prescribing habits to make sure patients aren’t ‘doctor shopping’ and doctors aren’t running ‘pill mills’
At one of our clinics at UCLA, there is collaboration between the pain medicine department, addiction medicine, and behavioral treatment providers. Although most people who take pain medicine will not become addicted, it is important to have specialists who have expertise in treating addiction. For opioid dependence, there is a medication – buprenorphine (Suboxone, Subutex) – that can be prescribed on an out-patient basis. Behavioral therapies can also help support people in reducing or abstaining from opioids. But it is first important that physicians recognize the risk of prescribing opioids to a particular patient and can monitor ongoing adherence to the treatment plan. When something goes awry, the doctor prescribing the medicine can have a discussion with the patient or seek outside help from addiction specialists. This type of collaboration can help get patients the support they need and make opioid prescribing more safe.
Tags: accidental deaths, matthew brensilver, opioids, overdose, poisoning, prescription drug abuse
That is why it is very important to seek medical help with an addiction specialist to avoid drug abuse. It's alarming to know that a big percentage of death in the United States is due to substance abuse.
ReplyDeleteChoose the medication that suits you. There are various treatment available.
ReplyDeleteClassify the medicine first. You need to make sure it won't affect the health of the individual.
ReplyDelete