Do your part to combat the opiod epidemic

    We are hearing every day about the opioid epidemic. Unfortunately, no matter what kind of community you live in, opioids are a problem. I have been in the field for 28 years; if you were to guess the most common complaint we get as providers, what would it be? If you guessed “What about my pain?” you guessed correctly. Recently every state and insurance provider is coming down hard on providers, and yes there have been some providers prosecuted due to their prescribing practices. What does this mean exactly to you as the patient?
    First of all, you must understand the facts, and these are just a few, obtained from just one website, opioids.thetruth.com/o/the-facts/all:
    — Heroin-related overdose deaths increased five times from 2010 to 2016. (Opioid addiction can lead to heroin addiction.)
    — In 2016, 1 in 5 deaths among young adults were opioid related.
    — In 2011, more than 420,000 emergency department visits were related to the misuse or abuse of narcotic pain relievers.
    — In 2014, there were approximately one and a half times more drug overdose deaths in the U.S. than death from motor vehicle crashes.
    — In 2014, 61 percent of drug overdose deaths involved some type of opioid, including heroin.
    — In 2016, 42,249 people died of opioid overdoses in America.
    — Over half of young adults who misused prescription opioids got them from a friend or family member.
    — Every 15 minutes, someone in America dies of a drug overdose
    Bottom line is we took an oath, TO DO NO HARM. Now, unfortunately, there have been some providers that have created a misuse of opioid prescription pain medications and individuals that have abused opioid medications, as well. As a result, people are being harmed. On the same respect, there are individuals out there who are convinced that the only way to control pain is by being given an opioid. So, this epidemic is a two-way street.
    What is an opioid medication? An opioid medication is made from opium. It is a reddish-brown, heavy-scented, addictive drug preparation derived from the juice of the opium poppy. For years it was used as a painkiller in the Middle East and Asia, and in the 18th century, it became popular in medications that people could obtain without a prescription. According to www.medicinenet.com, by 1900 more than 200,000 people were addicted to opium and its derivatives, and in 1909, the U.S. Congress banned the manufacture and sale of opium. You might ask yourself if it was banned how could it have gotten bad again. It is the nature of science, and with the advent of new technologies, someone along the way found a way to manufacture it in the form of opioids or narcotic pain medication. Then someone did the studies and clinical trials to find what is a safe effective dose, and then eventually the Food and Drug Administration approved it for use.

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