Why Does A Doctor Prescribe Opioids?
Prescription of opioids is usually normal among physicians, whenever indicated, but they can lead to tolerance. So when high doses are used, the patient gets used to the drug and increasingly requires larger amounts to produce the same effect.
The most used compounds are: hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine and codeine. There are many others, but these are the ones with the greatest safety margin.
What are opioids used for?
Opioids are used to relieve pain when it is very severe and directly affects the patient’s quality of life. Its mechanism of action makes it possible to modulate painful stimuli that reach the nervous system through interaction with opioid receptors.
As a result of this chain reaction, the intensity with which pain is felt diminishes or disappears altogether.
The first opioid used was morphine. To calculate the analgesic power of an opioid, a scale is used that takes morphine as a starting point. In other words, morphine would be the value 1. From then on, a number indicates the percentage of action that the drug has.
Opioid receptors are proteins that are located on the surface of Central Nervous System cells (such as in the brain, spinal cord, etc.) and continuously throughout the digestive tract.
The dependency mechanism resides precisely in these molecules, since with each use new receptors are synthesized thanks to the activation of the gene in charge of encoding the information for this protein.
As there are more receptors, the activating signal is modulated and each time it is necessary to increase the dose so that there are more particles that can join the surface receptors and cause the desired effect.
Why the prescription of opioids by the doctor?
The main reason for prescribing opioids is r. When a patient has chronic pain, psychic and physical changes occur that worsen their quality of life.
In these types of situations, the only alternative is to prescribe minor opioids. This subgroup of substances has a moderate analgesic action but its management is easier.
However, when the patient is in severe acute pain, it is better to opt for a stronger set of opioids. This type is more potent, but has a limited therapeutic range, so it is necessary to ensure that there is no tolerance.
Whatever the type of drug, it should only be consumed for as long as the doctor indicates. This is the only way to avoid the side effects, which we will explain below.
They must always be administered under medical prescription. In addition to the dose, the interval between one dose and another and breaks should also be respected.
What are the side effects?
In this case, the person has no medical justification for its use, but the pleasurable sensation that opioids produce becomes an addition. When this point is reached, tolerance is so great that mechanisms responsible for generating dependence are produced, and the person presents the withdrawal syndrome.
Finally, it should be noted that despite their bad reputation, opioids are very useful not only for their great ability to relieve pain, but also because they improve the patient’s mood.
When the person is free from pain, he regains his functional capacity and is able to perform tasks normally. And this is very important in chronic patients as it influences their mental capacity.
