Why are opioids still used to treat pain if they are considered "dangerous"? | News from El Salvador

The use of opioids to treat pain often raises concerns about its addictive effects that can even lead to death.

Opioids are among the most prescribed painkillers in the world.

They include morphine, tramadol and fentanyl, are used to treat pain caused by almost everything from heart attacks to cancer.

But in the United Kingdom recently, they were linked to the death of hundreds of elderly patients in hospitals, while the United States fights an epidemic of opioid dependence.

Why are these dangerous drugs still being administered to patients? Why not use other painkillers ?

A global problem

Opioids act in combination with receptors in the brain and very effectively reduce the sensation of pain.

However, opioid receptors are present in areas of the brain responsible for the control respiratory rhythm the main cause of almost all deaths by opioids. from the UK has shown that more than 450 people died between 1989 and 2000 through the administration of "dangerous" amounts of opioids without medical justification.

In the United States, the increasingly widespread prescription of opioids to treat long-term pain leads to an addiction epidemic. In 2016, a record 11.5 million people in the United States. There were 42,249 overdose deaths

In England, deaths related to opioid overdoses in 2016 were 2,000, the highest since records began. But unlike deaths in the United States, these are primarily related to heroin instead of opioid forms available on prescription.

What is an opioid?

• A large group of drugs used primarily to treat pain

• Includes natural chemicals such as morphine and codeine as well as synthetic drugs

• Codeine, morphine and methadone they are part of the opioids considered by the 39 World Health Organization as essential for pain management and end-of-life care

• Some opioids, such as methadone and buprenorphine, are used to help people complete their treatment. addiction to other more potent opioids such as heroin

Constant Relief

One of the reasons that opioids are widely used is that, when used correctly, they are particularly useful as painkillers . They can be administered to patients in different ways and shapes.

Morphine can be administered orally or by injection; other opioids can be administered by means of patches, lozenges or sublingual tablets

The Gosport hospital report focused on the pumps of syringes a method of # 39; administration of a drug under the skin, to provide a constant dose of an opioid for constant pain relief.

This can be a helpful way of relieving pain at the end of a person's life, when the patient can not swallow or absorb the drug. Syringe pumps also help doctors adjust the dose as needed.

However, at Gosport Hospital, it was reported that syringe pumps were used when they were not warranted or to administer doses too high. of opioids

Opioids manipulated

Despite its advantages, the problems badociated with these drugs are obvious

For decades, scientists have been trying to develop opioids that work without causing problems of drug abuse and abuse.

They deliberately added extra ingredients to cause some kind of reaction that causes the suffering.

For example, the antidote to naloxone has virtually no side effects if the drug is taken orally, but causes symptoms ] Severe abstinence if the tablet is crushed and injected by a dependent user.

Implants and slow-release injections that have been used over a prolonged period have also been studied.

., One of the causes of the opioid epidemic is an excessive prescription, especially in people with long-term pain.