Overcoming Pain

Often, medications for pain are made from what are called opoid plants. These purple-flowered plants produce poppies that are used in the production to make the analgesic, opium.
Poppy plants exist and are grown in areas of Asia. The country of Afghanistan is the number one producer of poppy plants. The United States is the number one country that consumes what is derived from these plants.
Opium is what we in the U.S. call narcotics, and they essentially dull and numb those in pain who ingest these opium-based medications. The narcotics are the drugs of choice for pain management.
Some narcotics are from natural opium, such as cocaine. In addition, the opiates from the poppy seeds can be used to create semi-synthetic narcotics, such as Heroin. Heroin was marketed by Bayer Pharmaceuticals for 12 years, and during that time this company told potential users of Heroin that it is a non-addicting form of morphine (pure opiate drug).
This was believed to be a welcome relief for those many soldiers who became addicted to morphine after the U.S Civil War. During that same period of time, Bayer marketed heroin for other medical conditions, such as young children with coughs.
Of course, we now know that Heroin is very addictive in fact. Ironically, Morphine has been given to Heroin addicts who are recovering.
Opium-derived medicines once could be bought freely in the U.S. by anyone less than 100 years ago. Yet now, they are classified by the Drug Enforcement Agency as narcotics, and are scheduled accordingly to monitor and limit the use of such drugs by others, as there is a very real element of danger with narcotic usage by others.
Internationally, the opium trade has been actively placed throughout the world. Historically, brutal force has been implemented by various nations to control what opium plants provide that others desire, as there is a pleasant euphoria experienced by the consumers of narcotics in addition to relieving pain.
While prescribed to patients for such issues aside from pain on occasion, such as chronic coughing and diarrhea, the intended use of opium drugs is for pain management. Vicodin, which is comparatively a mild narcotic, is the most frequently prescribed and abused drug in the United States presently out of the narcotics available by prescription. Overall, there are about 10 opium-based medications available, and each has a length of effectiveness after administration for a period of about 4 hours
If patients take opium-derived drugs for long periods of time, tolerance may develop with such patients. When this occurs, this patient needs and desires more of the opiate medication to acquire a level of relief. As a result, such patients may develop a dependence on these types of drugs, which is what often leads to addiction and possible abuse of the narcotic drug. This is why overdose of these types of drugs have occurred. The reasons for taking these drugs initially become replaced with a desperate need for relief due to addiction in some who take narcotics for a long period of time.
www.hazelden.org
Dan Abshear

With all due respect, Mr. Abshear's fear-based comments regarding the use of narcotics to treat pain are really tiresome. Yes, people whu use opiate medications for long periods of time may very well develop tolerance, and their pain conditions may worsen for a number of reasons, one of which is a degenerative problem. This may require either more medication or perhaps a different type of narcotic medication. These terms- need vs. desire- which he seems to use interchangeably are in fact, different. A person in pain stating to their physician that, "yes- I want more pain medication" doesn't necessarily "desire" the medication, as if they were anticipating anything more than a bit more relief. Then Mr Abshear makes the age-old leap: dependence "often leads to addiction and abuse of the narcotic drug", and "this is why overdose of these types of drugs have occurred".Exactly how does one quantify the term "often"? I don't believe I'm mistaken in stating that most people who use narcotics to relieve pain conditions don't develop addictions to said drugs, and probably overdose even less often. There will always be a percentage of the population who are more prone to addiction, for a variety of reasons.Until the day when someone finds an effective way to stop or block no-longer-useful pain signals to the brain, narcotics is what we have (I won't list all the sometimes helpful alternative therapies). When will this ignorant diatribe regarding narcotics ever cease?

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Excellent article! The new Prescribing Guidelines is an effort to improve patient care and safety. I have been using DrFirst for all of my e-prescribing needs. Check out their website I am sure you will be just as satisfied as I am. http://www.drfirst.com/eprescribing.jsp

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http://madmikesamerica.com/2012/02/thoughts-of-a-recovering-drug-addict/