Substance Abuse Research Paper A patient comes into the clinic and the first thing I notice is that the patient looks a little tired, uncomfortable, anxious, slightly pale and is underweight. As the clinical session continues, my patient is slightly irritable in his remarks, has a sadistical outlook on life, and is sweating. I ask if he’s alright and he replies with a sarcastic yes. Looking at the medical history he’s filled out, there’s no list of any drugs he’s currently taking. I suspect he’s lying or is unwilling to share the information due to an addiction or dependence on a drug. I asked him if he’s taking any sort of painkillers, anti-anxiety medications; anything. Under his breath, he replied that he’s on Vicodin but didn't see …show more content…
In the medical field, most providers feel that Vicodin is often over prescribed. People usually don't need a painkiller that’s as strong as Vicodin or they’re on it for a longer time than they initially need. Vicodin is a drug that has a high potential for abuse and is highly addictive because of its wide therapeutic index and ability to create a euphoric experience. It can also be difficult to determine how much pain a person may be in so it isn't as heavily regulated as other narcotics. Point in case, my patient has become dependant on the drug and gets it prescribed to fend off withdrawal symptoms that cause him pain. Vicodin is a mix of hydrocodone and acetaminophen, an NSAID pain reliever. Aside from the euphoric and addictive effects of hydrocodone, there is potential for liver damage to occur. There is about half a gram of acetaminophen in each pill, and if a person begins to abuse the drug; two to four grams of acetaminophen in a day can start to cause liver problems and also problems urinating. A person taking too much of the drug can slip into a coma, have seizures or begin having serious convulsive
The range of medications from anti-inflammatory to opioids is extreme, and have different effects on the human body. Medical professionals have to make the decision whether to give a patient a lower grade pain management drug or a higher grade drug, and they are the ones who have to determine how much pain the patient truly is in when most of a patient 's pain in unseen to the physical eye. “Pain as a presenting complaint accounts for up to 70% of emergency department visits, making it the most common reason to seek health care. Often, it is the only reason patients seek care,” and with this knowledge health care professional need to treat each patient equally in the sense that they are the emergency room or a physician 's office for a reason, and that reason is to relieve the pain they are in (American College of Emergency Physicians Online). The article from the American College of Emergency Physicians continues on to say that, “it is the duty of health care providers to relieve pain and suffering. Therefore, all physicians must overcome their personal barriers to proper analgesic administration,” this is in regards to medical professional who are bias toward specific patients, such as “frequent flyers” or even patients of certain class standing; no matter what their patient may look like or be like they must be treated equally and
Opioid addiction is a tragedy that affects countless of Americans on a daily basis. Almost everyone is acquainted to someone, who suffers from opioid addiction. Everyone, but specifically family and friends of the victims to opioid addiction need to understand why their loved ones are so susceptible to becoming addicted to opioids. The word opioid in itself is complex to define, but it entails a variety of prescription medications. Most opioids are used as pain management medications and qualify as CII medications also known as narcotics. They are supposed to be used on an “as needed” basis, but that is not the case for many users of opioids. Opioids cause great fear in the health community because they are easily addictive and
By the year 2000 opioid medicine containing oxycodone etc., are being abused and misused and more than doubled in 10 years’ time.
Opioids are used as pain relievers and although it does the job, there are adverse side effects. Opioids are frequently used in the medical field, allowing doctors to overprescribe their patients. The substance can be very addicting to the dosage being prescribed to the patient. Doctors are commonly prescribing opioids for patients who have mild, moderate, and severe pain. As the pain becomes more severe for the patient, the doctor is more likely to increase the dosage. The increasing dosages of the narcotics become highly addicting. Opioids should not be prescribed as pain killers, due to their highly addictive chemical composition, the detrimental effects on opioid dependent patients, the body, and on future adolescents. Frequently doctors have become carless which causes an upsurge of opioids being overprescribed.
Being an addictions counselor is a fulfilling career that enables students to help struggling teens and adults overcome substance abuse problems. While performing the job duties can be tough at times, many addictions counselors find that helping marginalized addicts is very rewarding. Below explains how to become an addictions counselor.
Opioids are prescribed to help people; prescription opioids can be used to treat moderate-to-severe pain and are often prescribed following surgery or injury, or for health conditions such as cancer (Prescription Opioids). When taken as directed, opioids are safe and effective treatment options for relieving debilitating chronic pain (Highsmith). Doctors have screening protocol they follow before prescribing an opioid. Doctors ask patients about their past to see if any substance abuse was present, to rule out patients with a higher risk of becoming addicted to prescription opioids. Nonetheless, if the medication is used as directed, not only is your risk of addiction minimal, the odds of enjoying a better quality of life will be in your favor (Highsmith). In other words, doctors are doing their part to prevent prescription opioid drug abuse. Actually, dishonest people are the ones at
In medical school/pharmacology school, medical professionals are taught to treat severe pain with opioids. However, opioids should be prescribed with the possibility of future dependency in mind. Physicians often struggle with whether they should prescribe opioids or seek alternative methodologies. This ethical impasse has led may medical professionals to prescribe opioids out of sympathy, without regard for the possibility of addiction (Clarke). As previously stated, a way to address this is use alternative methods so that physicians will become more acquainted to not not treating pain by means of opioid
Substance addiction is becoming an epidemic. While some people can quit using a substance without any help, most people need help to their recovery. Narcotics anonymous is an important support group for our society. There are many different narcotic anonymous programs to join that have meetings throughout the week. The members of the support group all share one thing in common, they suffer from different types of chemical dependency. Members help each other because they have the same problems and worries that everyone in the room has. Though they may be struggling with different stages in their life, for the most part, they all relate to what each is going through. Just as AA, NA focuses on the 12-step program. The members of
People become addicted to pain killers by not following the directions on the bottle of pills. When people over indulge in pills they build up a tolerance. This means in order for your body to feel no pain you now need to take more to make the pain go away. There are labels on every prescription given by doctors. As adults we need to keep to the directed amount that is on the bottle.
It was the late 19th century when a lot of conflict for families from the Industrial Revolution and illegal drugs had easy access to anyone in the United Sates. These illegal drugs like morphine, cocaine, and alcohol were available through manufacture, delivery, and selling. It was proved that the over use of alcohol and violence in families’ homes were linked together around the 1850’s and that women and children were being abused by the father and husband from the letters and journals that were wrote. These were times when women were stay at home mothers and it was the man’s responsibility to be the provider for the wife and children. Because of the abuse in the household it led up to the temperance movement. The purpose
Substance abuse impacts people in society every day, from teenagers to adults. Specifically, abuse happens among a large number of students across college campuses in the United States. While advancing in college, numerous students obtain habits that have negative effects on his or her health, emotions, and relationships. While the main drug of abuse across college campuses remains alcohol, the problem of drug abuse today goes far beyond that to illicit substances.
Substance abuse is the habitual use of mind altering substances (Substances). Addicts have a false or altered look on reality; they need help seeing what is wrong with the life style they are living. Nikki Sixx once said,” Addiction- When you can give something up at any time, as long as it’s next Tuesday!” Recovery is teaching a person to break old habits. Substance abuse counselors are very important, not only in the mental health field, but in society as well.
It doesn’t matter if these patients will become addicted, because these doctors are so sure of it that they overprescribe just so the patients won’t come back asking for more in the near future. Due to the inconsideration and selfishness of these doctors “Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing form of substance abuse”(Hanson). To make matters worse, a majority of these doctors aren't even warning their patients about the type of drug they are dealing with. According to the National Institute on drug abuse, opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin, causing them to be highly addictive(Thomas et al). Not only is it clear to see that these doctors are at fault here for even prescribing a drug they know can be as addicting as heroin, but also because they aren't doing anything to fix their mistakes, much less admit that they are at fault here. Doctors are to blame for these addiction, not the patients. Doctors are also to blame for not giving these unhealthy addictions the attention they deserve. After all, they are required by the FDA to give risk evaluations when the risks of the drug outweigh the benefits(Blake). Yet on the contrary to popular belief these doctors aren’t giving those evaluations out, if they were more deaths could
Has your 13-year old had a beer lately? If asked, most parents would say that their 13-year old child has never even tried alcohol. Typically, parents tend to think teens drink like mom and dad, with a beer or two after work or a glass of wine with dinner. The truth is, when teens drink, they are mainly drinking to get drunk. The bottom line is that today’s parents are failing to understand the epidemic of teen drinking and its serious side effects.
Substance abuse is an issue that plays a major social problem in society, the effect of drugs on families and communities is destructive. This paper will discuss evidence showing how substance abuse is a specific social problem that is widespread, and is affecting every level of our judicial system. Many people turn to drugs for many different reasons, they will try just about anything to relieve the pain. In our society today many people go through devastating experiences in their life. Furthermore people turn to drugs to mask the horrible memories and find relief. Drugs can temporarily relieve the symptoms of angry, loneliness or boredom, but it may be a temporary fix to an individual problems. They may