samedi 12 août 2017

Be Careful With Prescribed Opioid Dosing

By Edward Sanders


Numerous experts agree that the level of misuse, abuse and overdose of different prescribed opioids is alarmingly high. That's why they think that all physicians should be really careful when prescribing high doses of these strong painkillers. They can cause addiction, and other health problems, as well as accidental overdoses. The question of accurate opioid dosing became really important.

Opioids might be really useful when it comes to pain management, but their misuse or abuse often results with addiction, serious health issues or even death. Effective treatment of any type of pain should start with an accurate diagnosis. Sometimes it might be hard to recognize the real cause of ongoing pain, and this might result with inappropriate dosing.

Another problem related to prescribing strong painkillers is in unrealistic expectations. Patients sometimes think these drugs will immediately remove their pain, and, if the pain is only reduced, they tend to use more drugs than it was prescribed. Higher doses are related to different dangers, and all patients should be appropriately informed about them.

Opioids are often used for reducing acute pain, in prescribed doses and in short term. For treating acute and sub-acute pains, in controlled conditions, these strong pain killers are really useful. The problem is when you use them for treating chronic pain, in longer periods of time. In such cases, this prolonged therapy may result with various unwanted consequences, including addiction, overdosing, different health issues etc. In such cases it might be appropriate to use alternative therapies.

Intensive muscle and joint pains, especially back sprain, are good example for prescribing such painkillers. They should be accompanied with appropriate medical treatments as well, because their purpose is only to ease the pain, and they cannot cure any medical condition. At first, prescribed dose might be enough to reduce the pain, but the effect of the drug might be reduced over time, especially if it is used regularly.

While various strong painkillers can really provide significant pain relief in the short term, a decrease of analgesic effect with the same dose over time is certainly something that can be expected. The development of tolerance is inevitable in some cases. When this problem is solved by ongoing dose escalation, it might lead to serious outcomes, and this includes addiction and possible fatal overdoses.

As with any other strong medicament, there is no dose that could be considered as absolutely safe for anyone. There are several factors that should be included in calculating the accurate dose for every single patient. Intensive use and high doses over longer period of time may cause unwanted consequences, and this might include addiction as well. Carefully calculate the appropriate dosage and warn your patients about all risks involved.

Although strong painkillers also known as opioids might be really helpful in certain medical conditions, alternative pain therapies are often less harmful and should be taken into consideration. In any case, you should not expect miracles, just the pain reduction of a certain level. These drugs are here to bring you pain relief only, not to improve your health in any way. Use them sensibly, without endangering your health or your life.




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