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The following article was published in our article directory on May 19, 2018.
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Prescription Pain Medication Addiction Risk Still Understated

Article Category: Medicines and Remedies

Author Name: Matt Nilsen

The deluge of news reports on the epidemic of prescription pain medication addiction leads some Americans to believe that these drugs are irresistibly powerful. Some alarmist rhetoric dramatizes the risk, leading audiences to wonder if, sooner or later, we will all end up either getting hooked or living in a perpetually anxious state fearing addiction. Both patients suffering from chronic pain, as well as their doctors, are left in the middle of a dilemma. They must weigh the need for pain relief drugs to alleviate suffering while considering the dissonant concern over the much-publicized fear of addiction.

Physicians prescribe narcotic pain relievers to ease the suffering caused by chronic illness, surgeries, injuries or accidents. These opiate-based medications act upon specific receptors in the brain and spinal cord to alleviate pain and reduce the emotional response to discomfort. Prescription drug addiction, specifically to narcotic painkillers, can shift from habitual to devastating in weeks or months. Left unchecked, the dependence can destroy the lives of people who would never fathom using an illicit substance. Many experts, however, believe that this widely publicized fear of addiction is depriving deserving of patients from getting the painkillers they need to function. In most cases, the benefits of narcotic pain relief far outweigh the risks. That being said, let's keep talking about the risks.

For decades, prescription drug addiction has been a problem. The three main classes of prescriptions drugs people abused include:

Opioid narcotics - used to treat pain or relieve coughs or diarrhea. Opiate-based medications attach to opioid receptors in the central nervous system, preventing the brain from receiving pain messages.

Sedatives - used to treat anxiety, panic attacks, and sleep disorders. Benzodiazepines and other modulate specific brain functions by increasing the activity of the GABA neurotransmitter. The calming and sedation effect often help people break cycles of sleeplessness and disquiet agitation and tension.

Stimulants - used to treat conditions like narcolepsy, ADHD, obesity, asthma and depression. Stimulants increase brain activity, resulting in higher alertness, energy, and attention.

While there has been a growth in the number of people abusing narcotic pain reliefs, there's also a remarkable increase in the number of people who are using the drugs responsibly and benefiting from them. Doctors, pharmacists, and neuroscientists believe that it's not just the drugs that cause addiction. The dependence develops from many physiological, psychological, and social factors.

Most people who experience a back pain episode are not at risk of prescription drug addiction because they never treat their problem with potentially addictive painkillers. More than 80 percent of all back pain episodes resolve on their own with the over-the-counter analgesics.

While doctors can also prescribe steroids for pain due to swelling and inflammation, steroids are not narcotics. These potent drugs must be used with caution because of other medical limitations unrelated to addiction. Patients with acute pain may be treated with opioid medications for a short time, often a few weeks or a month. But, an early transition to a well-timed steroid can dramatically curtail the odds of a patient developing a dependence on a narcotic.

In most cases, even the most potent drugs have a low risk of becoming addictive when properly prescribed for short-term use. For instance, after a joint replacement procedure, surgeons prescribe narcotics to allow patients to get out of bed and rehabilitate their new joint with physical therapy. In some case of acute back pain, short-term doses of opioids give patients a window of opportunity to change the habits that caused their back pain in the first place. Without painkillers, joint-replacement patients would have much less range of motion in their new joints. Back pain patients would be more likely to reinjure themselves.

In spite of proper treatment, some chronic conditions may not improve after transitioning from an opiate-based medication to a steroid. Sometimes, patients develop multiple complications fueled by arthritis, genetics or a history of progressively degenerative back injuries. Historically, about half of all spine surgeries fail or leave the patient dissatisfied. When patient experience a discouraging outcome, they are more likely to develop chronic pain, which introduces the greater dilemma: Should you treat ongoing chronic back pain with narcotics?

Doctors often manage this small chronic pain patient population with opioid narcotics. These are the patients who are most likely to stumble into prescription drug addiction. However, there are many new technologies in place that are helping these patients manage pain with smaller doses of opiate-based medications. Fellowship-trained pain management physicians are using spinal cord stimulators to retard the pain signals that flow to the brain. Pain pump practices are improving year after year, allowing patients to function comfortably on a small percentage of the medication they used to take by mouth.

But even with all of this exceptional progress, every person who takes opiate-based prescription pain medication needs to be aware of the risk. These potent pharmaceuticals can turn an innocent and vibrant senior citizen into a heart-broken, desolate drug rehabilitation patient. Now that is a painful experience.

Keywords: prescription pain medication addiction

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