Opioid

Shouldn’t everyone become addicted to painkillers after using them for a long time? The risk for addiction is greatest when an opioid produces a great deal of pleasure through the release of dopamine in the brain. If the release of dopamine is small or non-existent, there is little to no enticement to use more. In fact, the enticement is just the opposite—to use as little as possible because side effects, such as constipation, difficulty starting the urine stream, dizziness, and nausea are…

the number of people who suffer from pain is increasing. Currently, it is recorded that more than 116 million Americans suffer from chronic pain conditions.1 Routinely, pharmaceuticals such as opioids have been prescribed for pain management. However, there has been an increasing epidemic of prescription opioid abuse, leading to a growing recognition for the need of non-pharmacological therapies for pain management.1 In 2015, data suggested that pain medication accounted for 28% of the overall…

Nora Volkow, MD stands out for laying the groundwork that dopamine is a pivotal player in addiction. She is Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her groundbreaking work led to our understanding that addiction is strongly influenced by the release of dopamine in the brain and spinal cord. This “disease model” of addiction is not universally accepted (http://bit.ly/1K3AvnM). However, as we learn more about the science of addiction, the…

Introduction Addiction can be extremely difficult to overcome. Drugs can alter the chemical make up in one’s brain making it crave the drug. Sometimes an intervention is needed for an individual to get their life back on track. Addiction is not only hard on the addict, but difficult on the family as well. Interventions can help an individual realize how the addiction is affecting everyone in their lives and gives them the opportunity to go to rehab and get sober. Tiffany Tiffany is a…

five hours. The drug utilises its activity by binding to and activating μ opioid receptors centrally and in the periphery. This produces the effects common to all μ opioid agonists, such as analgesia, euphoria, constipation, sedation and respiratory depression. Additionally, “methadone antagonises N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, which may increase its effectiveness in the treatment of neuropathic pain compared with other opioids”.…

Patient satisfaction has become a major part of health care over the recent years. Patient satisfaction provides that hospitals with a business to customer relationship. Hospitals strives to have high patient satisfaction so that patients are likely to continue to use their facility and to recommend there use to other individuals. Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAPS) is a national, standardized report of patient satisfaction on hospital stays. This report is…

other drugs, benefits of Kratom included improved alertness, pain relief, and reduces opioid withdrawal symptoms. Buprenorphine also, reduces opioid withdrawal symptoms. Both drugs were seen to have abuse potential, but Buprenorphine’s risk of abuse is low. Buprenorphine is seen as a safe, effective drug to use for ceasing opioid dependence. The research found that the more self control and support a opioid dependent patients has the better chances of maintaining treatment with Buprenorphine…

Hydrocodone is another type of opioid pain killer that that is heavily abused in the Appalachian region. Lortabs and Vicodin are two of the most commonly abused forms of hydrocodone (Aschnerbrenner, pg.24). When combined with other drugs such as acetaminophen, aspirin, phenylephrine, and guaifenesin, hydrocodone is considered to be a schedule III substance, although the F.D, A. (The Food and Drug Administration) is recommending that drugs containing the narcotic hydrocodone be reclassified as…

Osteoarthritis Answer to question 1: Arthritis is defined as inflammation of the joints in the body. The disease begins in the joint where the cartilage is connected to the bone. As the cartilage wears down the bone can become inflamed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declare that Arthritis affects more than 52 million adults in the United States, and is the most common cause of disability in our nation (Arthritis, 2014). Because there are more than 100 different types of…

Codeine is an opioid medicine, narcotic, and cough suppressant commonly used as a painkiller to treat mild to moderate pain. But codeine is also widely abused and used as a drug and this is why it should be placed on the banned list. Codeine is sometimes considered one of the more “safer” opioid drugs, but that leads people to believe that it's safer to use and leads to massive amounts of addiction to codeine. Codeine, when consumed, is metabolized in the body and becomes morphine, which is a…