...Opioid Addiction What causes a person to become addicted to opioids? When first exploring the topic of opioid addiction, I did not understand how huge of an issue opioid addiction really was. “The number of prescriptions for opioids (like hydrocodone and oxycodone products) has escalated from around 76 million in 1991 to nearly 207 million in 2013, with the United States their biggest consumer globally, accounting for almost 100 percent of the world total for hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin) and 81 percent for oxycodone (e.g., Percocet)” (Volkow). This is astonishing to know that, so many people are being prescribed a drug that could potentially lead to long term addiction. Opioid addiction does not discriminate, it affects every gender, race, and social status. Being that pain medications have been somewhat easy to obtain has only increased this problem. Most people within their lifetimes will be prescribed some type of opioid. Wither it is...
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...ELMIRA (WENY) - Local health care professionals, law enforcement and elected leaders gathered to to take on the question "how do we take on the opioid epidemic"?At Thursday's seminar, Put the Pill Back in the Bottle: Treating Opiod Addiction In The Southern Tier hosted by Arnot Health, almost everyone could agree, you can't arrest enough people to solve this problem. Recently, New York State has put limits on an initial prescription from a doctor to no more than 7 days worth of medicine. That way unused pills aren't floating around in medicine cabinets and the chance of addiction decreases. "It is difficult for some patients to understand why wouldn't we be more liberal with treating them for pain but if we talk to them about the guidelines...
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... This paper explores indications of progress in the level of nursing knowledge about basic aspects of pain management. The literature is reviewed and findings from recent (1995) surveys of nurses' knowledge are compared with results of similar surveys conducted beginning in 1988. Improvements in nurses' knowledge of pain assessment, opioid dosing, and likelihood of addiction seem to have occurred. However, knowledge deficits continue. Fewer than one-half of the nurses surveyed understand that the patient's self report of pain is the single most reliable indicator of pain and that the nurse should increase a previously safe but ineffective dose of opioid. Findings from surveys on addiction reveal that the longer the patient receives opioids the more concerned nurses become about causing addiction. Nevertheless, results of current knowledge surveys of nurses suggest that educational efforts probably have been beneficial and should continue. To maximize the impact of educational efforts, content in basic and continuing education courses should be prioritized and critically evaluated for relevance and accuracy, especially content related to addiction. Early in the education of nurses, responsibility for pain assessment and use of analgesics...
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...Vicodin Table of Contents Background………………………………………… Page 1 Hydrocodone……………………………………….. Page 1 and 2 Acetaminophen……………………………………... Page 2 and 3 History and Social Impact…………………………. Page 3 and 4 Drug Abuse…………………………………………. Page 5 and 6 Conclusion…………………………………………... Page 6 and 7 Appendix …………………………………………… Page 8 and 0 Defined Terms……………………………………… Page 10 Work Cited…………………………………………. Page 11 Background: Vicodin is an orally taken painkiller composed of a combination of acetaminophen and hydrocodone, classifying it as an opioid pain reliever. In this capacity, Vicodin will bind to opioid receptors and reduce the sending of pain messages to the brain 1. Opioid receptors are used to control pain, slow breathing, and have a general calming affect. In a regular Vicodin tablet, there is 5mg of hydrocodone, which reacts with the 300mg of acetaminophen 2. Individually, hydrocodone and acetaminophen are medically used drugs that are used to relieve pain, however when employed together they having a much more hard-hitting effect. The combined drug works similar to other opiates by travelling along neurological pathways and increasing dopamine levels, resulting in euphoria and pain relief 3. Currently, Vicodin is classified as a level three controlled substance due to its tendency to cause psychological dependence, potential abuse, and its acceptance for medical treatment in the United States. As of 2006, more than 6.4 million people reported that they had misused Vicodin...
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...Technological Advancements in Pain Management Dishon Abbs 10/18/2010 Gabi Vosteen BIO 181 Lab Technological Advancements in Healthcare Throughout the world, many people live with pain every day. Some have never sought medical treatment, and others have received low quality and ineffective treatment. The approach to treating pain and illness depends on the culture and geographical location of the professional appointed to treat pain. In Western Tradition, physicians are considered to be experts on treating illness and pain by utilizing chiropractic manipulation, acupuncture, physical therapy and synthetic medicines. In Navajo tradition, medicine men are the experts on curing illness and pain with religious ceremonies and the use of natural herbs and remedies. Today, the most advanced practice in the health industry is pain management because of the combination of herbal medicines created by Navajos, and synthetic medicines created by Western Scientists. The study of medicine all began in the 1700s when Christopher Columbus came in contact with Indian people in the 1700s. The Indians and Europeans traded food, weapons, shelter and worked together, in a sense, to discover land and natural resources. Shortly after, Small pox, measles, and tuberculosis broke out and killed many people. This encouraged Western Scientists and Navajo People to try and discover cures for infectious diseases. Western Scientists engineered micro-organisms that would search and destroy harmful...
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...could choose heavy-duty prescription opioids. There was little middle ground in getting pain relief. As a result, most healthcare practitioners have defaulted to prescribing opioid medications when it comes to pain conditions. These medications do provide powerful relief of most pain, but they also come with a host of side effects and significant risks. Patients have long wondered if there’s a better treatment option out there. Recent research shows cannabis could be the treatment patients have been dreaming of. It’s likely the reason more people are turning to cannabis for pain relief. It’s Effective The first question anyone asks when it comes to cannabis for pain relief is how effective it is. After all, if there was a better...
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...the tab” Opioid Overdose”, the CDC mentions how the United States is under an Opioid overdose epidemic. They mention, in 2015 more than 33,000 people were killed from Opioids, including prescription opioids, and heroin. This is the most death ever recorded. The CDC states, “nearly half of all opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid”. To better protect the public’s health and hamper opioid overdose deaths, the CDC is first improving data. Meaning, they are enhancing “ data quality and timeliness to better track trends, identify communities at risk and evaluate prevention strategies” (CDC). Next, they are strengthening state efforts, which includes enhancing productive interventions. Finally, the CDC is equipping health care...
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...JONESBORO – In light of the recent political election, some states like Arkansas have voted to allow medicinal marijuana to take the place of some medical prescriptions such as opioids. With political opinions more heated than ever, the opioid crisis is agreed upon by both parties as an epidemic that needs to be stopped. The death rate due to prescription drug abuse in the U.S. has escalated 313 percent over the past decade. Opioid prescription drugs alone were involved in 16,650 overdose-caused deaths in 2015, accounting for more deaths than from overdoses of meth and cocaine. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even agrees that prescribed drugs or painkillers sometimes can lead a patient to lifelong addiction. This is a huge problem in the U.S. because these drugs are so easy to obtain causing an effect on everyone who abuses them, their families, and their community....
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...Chronic Pain What are the risk factors for low back injury? Physical and family risk factors • Being middle-aged or older • Being male • Having a family history of back pain • Having had a back injury before • Being pregnant. A woman's back is significantly stressed by carrying a baby. • Having had compression fractures of the spine • Having had back surgery before • Having spine problems since birth Risk factors you can change with lifestyle changes • Not getting regular exercise • Doing a job or other activity that requires long periods of sitting, heavy lifting, bending or twisting, repetitive motions, or constant vibration, such as using a jackhammer or driving certain types of heavy equipment • Smoking. People who smoke are more likely than people who don't smoke to have low back pain. • Being overweight. Excess body weight, especially around the waist, may put strain on your back, although this has not been proved. But being overweight often also means being in poor physical condition, with weaker muscles and less flexibility. These can lead to low back pain. • Having poor posture. Slumping or slouching on its own may not cause low back pain. But after the back has been strained or injured, bad posture can make pain worse. "Good posture" generally means your ears, shoulders, and hips are in a straight line. If this posture causes pain, you may have another condition such as a problem with a disc or bones in your back. • Being under stress. Stress and other...
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...ways, but the relief from the pain differs from person to person. There are different kinds of medications that a person can take, which includes prescription or non-prescription medications. All medications regardless of what they are or what they do should be taken with caution. Non-prescription medications include “Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including Tylenol, Excedrin, Ibuprofen, Motrin, Aleve, Advil, etc. Then you have prescription medications which are Corticosteroids, Opioids, Antidepressants, Anticonvulsants (anti-seizure medications) and many others”. These can be used to get rid of the common headache, arthritis, or muscle and joint pain. In some cases it may take weeks before a specific medication starts to work, therefore making a person turn to another option (WebMD, 2008). Morphine is a narcotic pain drug indicated for the relief of pain in patients who require opioid analgesics for more than a few days. Morphine interacts predominantly with the opioid mu-receptor. “These mu-binding sites are discretely distributed in the human brain, with high densities in the posterior amygdala, hypothalamus, thalamus, nucleus caudatus, putamen, and certain cortical areas. They are also found on the terminal axons of primary afferents within laminae I and II (substantia gelatinosa) of the spinal cord and in the spinal nucleus of the trigeminal nerve.” In clinical settings, morphine exerts its principal pharmacological effect on the central nervous system...
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...Quantitative Research Critique Quantitative research, which includes experimental research, was used in the study by Mohammadpour, Mohammadian, Moghadam, & Nematollahi (2013) to discover how localized heat effects chest pain in patients with acute coronary syndrome. This research critique critically reviews the strengths and limitations of their research study by examining the following areas: the protection of human participants, the problem statement, data collection and analysis methods, and what the implications to nursing practice and future research are. The research study was limited in the number of participants, but reported persuasive results proving that topical heat therapy makes a significant improvement in decreasing chest pain in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Protection of Human Participants Participants in this study were patients in a coronary care unit at a hospital affiliated with Gonabad University of Medical Sciences in Gonabad, Iran. Information about the goal of the research project was provided to each of them and whether or not they wanted to participate was completely voluntary. If they wished to withdraw from the study they could do so at any point. Additionally, a written informed consent form was signed by each participant. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Gonabad University of Medical Sciences. Benefits and risks of participation in this study were not identified by the authors. However, patients who were in...
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...1001/jamainternmed.2014.4005. Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999–2010 Author Manuscript Marcus A. Bachhuber, MD, Brendan Saloner, PhD, Chinazo O. Cunningham, MD, MS, and Colleen L. Barry, PhD, MPP Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Bachhuber); Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Bachhuber); Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Bachhuber, Saloner, Barry); Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Saloner); Division of General Internal Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York (Cunningham); Department of Health Policy and Management, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland (Barry) Abstract Author Manuscript IMPORTANCE—Opioid analgesic overdose mortality continues to rise in the United States, driven by increases in prescribing for chronic pain. Because chronic pain is a major indication for medical cannabis, laws that establish access to medical cannabis may change overdose mortality related to opioid analgesics in states that have enacted them. OBJECTIVE—To determine the association between the presence of state medical cannabis laws and opioid analgesic overdose mortality. DESIGN, SETTING, AND...
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...Incarceration reduces former inmates’ earnings by forty percent, devastating families and communities. Former users with an arrest record for possession of marijuana should not be prevented from obtaining employment, or from accessing social benefits. (Huffingtonpost.com 2014) Decriminalization of marijuana will allow for future economic development, and increase the tax base to further pay down the trillion-dollar deficit. Marijuana should be legalized nationally in the U.S.A. The general census is that the use of marijuana leads to the use of other harder drugs. Marijuana currently considered a precursor drug, meaning that the use of marijuana leads to experimenting with other types of illicit drugs. Columbia University’s national center on addiction and substance abuse reports that teens who used marijuana at least...
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...Opioid Administration and Pain Management in the Terminally Ill Cancer Patient: Case study of a patient in the terminal phase of breast cancer. This case study is based on Ms. D, a 48-year-old married woman diagnosed with Bilateral Breast Cancer. She underwent a bilateral mastectomy 4 years ago. Lymph involvement was noted at the time of the surgery. Recent metastases of the bone has been diagnosed and she is in the terminal phase of the disease process. Up to this point, she has been on a regimen of Oxycodone 5 mg P.O. every 6 hours as needed for pain, Zantac 150mg P.O daily for heartburn, Docusate 100mg P.O. twice a day to promote bowel movements, Celexa 40mg PO daily for depression and enteric coated aspirin 81mg PO daily for prophylaxis of transient ischemic attacks and MI. She remains in her home and is receiving care at home. Ms. D has complained recently of significant increased pain and trouble sleeping, most likely due to the bone metastases in the area of the lumbar spine. She has stated that the pain has dramatically decreased her quality of life recently also. She has expressed the desire to remain at home during the terminal phase of her disease, but needs more adequate pain management to preserve her quality of life for as long as possible. She is married and her husband is very loving and supportive of her desire to stay in the home during this phase. He has voiced some concerns about drug dependency if the patient were to receive stronger pain medication...
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...Medication Sheet Medication/Dose/RouteClassificationGeneric/Trade Name | Action | ContraindicationAdverse Effects | Nursing Considerations | Acetaminophen/500mg/ By MouthAntipyretic& Analgesic (nonopioid)Acetaminophen/TylenolCarvedilol/6.25mg/By MouthAlpha- and beta-adrenergic blocker & AntihypertensiveCarvedilol/CoregDocusate Sodium/100mg/By MouthLaxative stool softenersDocusate Sodium/ColaceFurosemide/40mg/By MouthLoop diureticsFurosemide/Lasix | Reduces fever by acting directly on the hypothalamic heat-regulating center to cause vasodilation and sweating, which helps dissipate heat.Carvedilol causes vasodilation by blocking the activity of α-blockers, mainly at alpha-1 receptors. It exerts antihypertensive effect partly by reducing total peripheral resistance and vasodilation. It is used in patients with renal impairment, NIDDM or IDDM.Promotes incorporation of water into stool, resulting in softer fecal mass, may also promote electrolyte and water secretion into the colon. It increases the amount of water and fat absorbed by the feces, softening the stool and making it easier to pass.Inhibits the reabsorption of sodium and chloride from the loop of Henle and distal renal tubule. Increases renal excretion of water, sodium, chloride, magnesium, potassium, and calcium. | Contraindicated with allergy to acetaminophen. Use cautiously with impaired hepatic function, chronic alcoholism, pregnancy, lactation. Adverse effects CNS: Headache CV: Chest pain, dyspnea, myocardial...
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