Sunday, August 13, 2017

Be Careful With Prescribed Opioid Dosing

By Edward Sanders


The largest problems related to strong painkillers are their misuse and abuse, and this often include overdosing. Lately, it's strongly recommended to reduce prescribing higher doses in general, because of really high probabilities for addiction development, as for accidental overdosing. Here are some worries related to prescribed opioid dosing.

Strong painkillers are needed when you have to manage intensive pains. They can easily cause addiction, or lead to several other issues. Without finding the accurate diagnosis first, and without finding underlying causes of existing pains, there is a high possibility that these prescribed doses would not be quite appropriate.

There might be hidden causes for chronic pains as well. Without identifying them first, prescribed doses might not be enough to meet patient's expectations. In fact, these expectations might be quite unrealistic. The goal is to reduce pain, not to remove it completely, and some patients might expect something else. If they try to double their doses by themselves, it might be dangerous. You have to warn them about this.

These medications are successfully used for reducing pain related to numerous acute and sub-acute medical conditions. If the doses are accurate, and used accordingly, during shorter periods of time or only occasionally, there will be no significant problems. Chronic pains, and long-term therapies are something different. They may lead to addiction, or severe health issues. Finding alternative therapies is highly advisable.

Musculoskeletal pains are often treated using such strong pain killers. They cannot improve health condition, they are used for their ability to ease the pain. In time, the effect of primarily prescribed dose will be gradually reduced, and your patient may require higher dosages. This is potential danger, both if higher doses get prescribed, or if the patient decides to take higher dose without it being prescribed.

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.

Needless to say, there is no opioid dose that could be considered as completely without risks involved. Different conditions may affect the process of prescribing the appropriate dose for any strong painkiller. All physicians should take all these conditions into consideration when calculating this appropriate dose. After taking these medications for longer periods of time, further assessments are needed. Prescribed doses should never be changed without medical assistance.

Opioids, as strong pain killers, quickly reduce acute pain and are widely used for this purpose. On the other hand, if they are used as a long-term therapy, this might be connected to various problems, including fatal overdoses and addiction. They should be taken wisely, when they are needed, and under medical supervision only. The substance that makes your life easier may also kill you. Take care of your health and your life, you have only this one.




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