Pain Management for Patients with an Addiction

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There are many people who need pain medication that is suffering from opioid addiction as well. This complicates matters when it comes to medicating an addict in pain. Fortunately, there are still options for these patients to create lower pain for them while still treating them in a healthy and safe manner.

Managing an addict's pain is such a delicate situation, that a few issues arise in trying to accomplish it. Many of the addicted patients will be addicted because of a previously prescribed medication or because of recreational use, essentially earning the title of a pill popper. They are obviously still addicted when needing opioid treatment for pain and thus their body reacts to the medication accordingly. This is especially true if the body does not consume the amount that is necessary to avoid withdrawal; which bodes a dangerous situation. According to an article written in Anesthesia, research has shown that “there has been a tendency to use opioids sparingly, resulting in both poor pain management and withdrawal phenomena.” (270) This certainly adds to the problem of being able to treat the pain accurately and effectively.

Patients will require a certain, necessary dosage for their discomfort. It can be easily insinuated that finding the perfect dosage can be quite tricky at times. There should be a way to control the patient’s body while it is adapting to the drug being used, as well as implementing other drugs that could help resolve any discomfort the patient may feel. To solve this problem, Anesthesia suggests that other tactics, besides only giving opioids, should be used, “local anesthesia, dosage timing, and opioid rotation” (271) are all excellent techniques.

Ultimately, treating patients with an addiction is certainly a scary and dangerous path. It's a path paved with not only human and economic costs, but it's one that is completely unavoidable and therefore needs to be taken very seriously.

Reference

Acute Pain Management for Opioid Dependent Patients." Anesthesia 61.3 (2006): 269-276. Wiley online library. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.