Long-term use of opioids may depend on the doctor who prescribes them

You may have heard of the phrase “primum non nocere” — the Latin phrase that doctors are supposed to follow that instructs them to “first, do no harm.” Doctors also have an important ethical obligation to alleviate pain. But what happens when these two mandates collide? That, unfortunately, is the case with opioid pain relievers: powerful medicines like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and hydromorphone. These medications are potent pain relievers, but this relief comes at a serious, and sometimes deadly, cost. The United States is now in the era of an “opioid epidemic” in which deaths from opioid overdose have reached alarming numbers. In 2015, it was the most common cause of accidental deaths among adults. Nearly 30,000 Americans died from opioid-related overdoses — more than from motor vehicle accidents or gun violence. We now know that this epidemic was likely caused by the large increases in the number of opioids prescribed by clinicians to their patients, which increased at least four-fold between 2000 and 2010. It’s not just about how many opioids are prescribed… Now, recent literature is further refining how we think about the opioid problem, which is not just about how many opioids are prescribed. A study by Dr. Michael Barnett and colleagues from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February 2017 had a surprising finding: becoming dependent on opioids is not just a...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Addiction Drugs and Supplements Pain Management Source Type: blogs