Medical Term Papers
and
Research Papers
- Treatment for Prescribed Narcotic Addiction
Companies spend more on headache medications than the government spends on
nutritional education. Pain is big business. The most widespread are
acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), Tylenol or ibuprofen. All three are hard on the
liver and kidneys. Aspirin also triples the excretion rate of vitamin C.
Prescription painkillers start at Tylenol Twos and Threes, and then increase in
potency through Darvon, Fiorinal, Talwin and Percodan. Painkillers are
addictive, cause constipation and kill intestinal bacteria. The body adapts to
them very rapidly, diminishing the drug's pain killing effect until the dose is
increased. More than one out of twenty hospital deaths occur due to an adverse
drug reaction. Prescription drugs frequently lessen the symptoms for a while
only to cause more problems afterwards. For example, nitro glycerin is
prescribed to relieve chest pains. It works to relieve the pain but does nothing
to improve the disease. Painkillers do not help healing; they interfere with it.
Pain should be a strong motivator for dietary changes. Using prescriptions to
suppress pain has a cost. Increasing chemicals into the blood increases
metabolic imbalance and the risk of disease.
Order Your
Custom Term Papers, College Essays and Research Papers
Genetic factors play a key role in determining who is likely to become addicted
to painkillers. Those whose families have a history of alcoholism or drug abuse
are most at risk; they have a biological, inherited tendency to addiction.
Hence, doctors need to evaluate patients’ medical history with care before
prescribing painkilling drugs, and carefully observe the effects of the
treatment on the patient.
The medical profession is making remarkable improvement in removing the shame
attached to the use of opiates to ease pain. The use of opioids (medications
derived from opiates) to lessen pain is now usually allowed in proper cases, and
for most patients, the prospects are very encouraging. The use of opiates has
been successful in preventing withdrawal symptoms, reducing drug yearning and
stabilizing physiological symptoms.
The eagerness of some physicians to prescribe, and of pharmacists to give out,
high dose opioids for the treatment of pain is harmfully effected by the misuse
of these drugs. Physicians and pharmacists are justifiably disturbed that a
person who appears to be looking for medication for the relief of pain may
actually be an addict in the hunt for a fix. Successful narcotic drug withdrawal
is based on the principle that it is best to provide the person with an adequate
amount of drugs to get rid of withdrawal signs without causing mental blurring
or a "high."
Drug addicts have targeted physicians and pharmacists as a source of drugs,
because pharmaceutical grade products are pure and they are always accessible.
Even though drug abuse treatment centers have been established to help addicts
in managing their addiction. These centers have the capacity to treat fewer than
200,000 patients, while the number of Americans addicted to opiates approaches
one million. http://www.painandthelaw.org/intro/index.php
Opioid addicts, who would go for treatment, if treatment were available, have
been forced to rely as an alternative on diversion from lawful medical use,
through deceit and theft. These unlawful actions have led to traditional
practices by physicians and pharmacists. As a result, genuine pain patients
have, sometimes, been denied needed and suitable medications.
It is generally believed that sublingual dosage forms of the drug buprenorphine
will soon be approved, and that they will become the first products available
for use under the authority of DATA (The Drug Addiction Treatment Act). An
injectable dosage form of buprenorphine was approved in 1985 for marketing under
the trade name Buprenex. Since it is not specifically approved for use in the
treatment of addiction, Buprenex cannot be prescribed for that purpose under
DATA.
http://www.painandthelaw.org/intro/index.php
Buprenorphine is a morphine-like drug that is pharmacologically classified as an
opioid agonist-antagonist, meaning that it has a maximum effect. Misuse of
buprenorphine has been demonstrated in those countries where a sublingual dosage
form has been available. Buprenorphine facilitates an easy "detoxification"
detox. Because it displaces heroin from the patient's nerve endings or receptors
while at the same time relieving the withdrawal symptoms. Although Buprenorphine
has been widely used for pain relief, it is also dubbed as "miracle detox drug".
Little abuse or diversion has been linked with inject-able buprenorphine since
1985 in the United States. Though, other drugs (notably pentazocine and
butorphanol) were not identified as the subject of abuse when they were
available only in the inject-able form, yet they have become subject to abuse
and diversion when reformulated as tablets and as nasal spray. In
anticipation that the FDA will soon approve a sublingual tablet of buprenorphine,
and permit this dosage form to be prescribed for addiction under the authority
of DATA, the DEA has recently designated buprenorphine as a Schedule III
controlled substance, a more highly restricted classification than the previous
designation as Schedule V.
http://www.painandthelaw.org/intro/index.php
Order Your
Custom Term Papers, College Essays and Research Papers
The achievement of DATA in providing a lawful substitute to diversion and abuse
will depend, in large part, on approval by health care providers and the public
of community-based substance abuse treatment. If physicians and pharmacists
refuse to participate, or if the public criticizes addicts who look for help for
their addiction, then addicts may have little motivation to change their
practice of obtaining restricted stuff through deceit and theft. Physicians and
pharmacists will continue to be doubtful of any person who seeks pain relief,
apprehensive that possibly the person might be a drug addict. The treatment of
addiction made available under the authority of DATA provides a chance for
physicians and pharmacists to worry less about being the victims of crime or
partner in crime, and concentrate wholly on the provision of expert care. It
offers a way for even the smallest communities to face up to the problem of drug
addiction and provide hope rather than confinement for drug addicts. It gives
patients in pain a chance to receive treatment with opioid analgesics, free from
suspicions of abuse and diversion.
Under the Narcotic Treatment Act of 1974 (NTA), the only drugs available for the
treatment of opioid addiction have been methadone and LAAM (levo-alpha-acetyl-methadol).
These drugs may be provided only in highly regulated inpatient and clinic
settings. They cannot be prescribed and dispensed for later outpatient use. The
decentralized approach now permitted by DATA represents a massive policy shift
that will allow addicts to legally use physicians and pharmacists as care
providers rather than as conduits for controlled substance diversion. Apart from
Methadone, Naltrexone is another prescription drug, which helps users who have "detoxed",
avoid returning to heroin. Taken on a daily basis, it works by preventing heroin
having its typical effect. Naltrexone is also used in "rapid detoxification" -
this means withdrawing a person from heroin in 24 hours, using medication to
control withdrawal symptoms.
References
http://64.4.22.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=31fe727c7dc94d7fe85ab3e5fdb008fe&lat=1037016018&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ehealth%2ensw%2egov%2eau%2fhealth%2dpublic%2daffairs%2fmhcs%2fpublications%2f5315%2ehtml
Diversion Control Program, Chemical Program, http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/chem_prog/index.html
Pain and the Law, Introduction, 2001, http://www.painandthelaw.org/intro/index.php
Murstein, Danielle, Student Counseling AND RESOURCE SERVICE Student Counseling
and Resource Service Home Page, THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO October 12, 2002,
http://counseling.uchicago.edu/
Dr Neil Beck, 2001, What is Heroin, http://heroinaddictionnaltrexone.com/whatisheroin.htm
http://64.4.22.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=049a77bb7cd2f322b1195ea4636f22bb&lat=1037183375&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2eeducationupdate%2ecom%2fjun01%2farticles%2fmed_pain%2ehtml
Order Your
Term Papers, College Essays and Research Papers
