Why Would A Doctor Prescribe Opioids?
Opioids are a group of drugs used to alleviate pain. The best known is morphine, but there are many others.
Opioids are a group of drugs that interact with opioid receptors in the nervous system. As a result of this union, the pharmacological effect occurs, generally relieving pain. Do you know what are the reasons why a doctor decides to prescribe opioids?
Opioids are safe medications, but they can lead to tolerance. So when a high dose is used, the patient becomes accustomed to the drug and requires more and more to produce the same effect.
The most commonly used compounds are hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, and codeine. There are many more, but these are the ones with the greatest margin of safety.
What are opioids used for?
Opioids are used to alleviate pain when it is severe and directly affects the quality of life of the patient. Its mechanism of action modulates the painful stimuli that reach the nervous system through interaction with opioid receptors.
As a result of this chain reaction, the intensity with which the pain is perceived decreases or disappears completely.
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 (that is, morphine is the value 1) and, from there, a number indicates what percentage of action it has the medicine.
The opioid receptors are proteins located on the surface of cells of the central nervous system (as in the brain, spinal cord, etc.) and continuous manner along 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 responsible for coding the information for that 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 bind to the surface receptors and cause the desired effect.
Why can a doctor prescribe opioids?
The main reason for prescribing opioids is pain. When a patient has chronic pain, mental and physical alterations 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 handling is easier.
On the contrary, when the patient has acute pain of great intensity, a bolus of larger opioids is chosen. This family is more powerful, but they have a very narrow therapeutic margin, so it is necessary to closely monitor that tolerance does not occur.
Whatever opioid it is, it should only be consumed for as long as the doctor indicates. This is the only way to avoid side effects (explained in the next paragraph). They are always administered under medical prescription. In addition to the dose, the interval between administrations and breaks must be respected.
What are the side effects?
As mentioned above, the main drawback is tolerance. However, these drugs are prescribed when there is no other alternative for which they can be accepted. Another very different thing, but one that must also be taken into account, is the abuse of these substances without therapeutic purposes.
In this sense, the person does not have any medical justification for its use, but the pleasant sensation that opioids produce turns into addiction. At this point, tolerance is so great that mechanisms responsible for generating dependence are produced, and the person presents a withdrawal syndrome.
Finally, it should be noted that despite their bad reputation, opioids are very useful not only because of their great ability to alleviate pain, but also improve the mood of the patient.
By eliminating pain, the person recovers functional capacity and is able to perform tasks normally. The latter is very important in chronic patients, as it influences their mental health.
