It all starts with a pain in the knees or maybe a shame in the back that has quietly turned your attractive work into an irritating exercise, in other cases it is migraine or anxiety that we cannot escape during the race against the time that our life. The doctor prescribes one of many opiates and everything changes because they are the most powerful pain-relieving medications, but they are also the most addictive.
When it comes to this issue, you’ll most likely come up with a celebrity’s name: Michael Jackson, Prince or Philip Seymour Hoffman died of tranquilizer and opioid addiction, such as fentanyl, a synthetic opioid painkiller that is obviously purchased by prescription.
“Divinum opus is sedare pains (relieve pain is a divine work). – Hippocrates-
As much as this kind of result attracts us, in which excess is combined with drama and drama with the misunderstanding of others, there is a certain goal: this type of drug causes more deaths than the drug cartel. this, but the well-known psychiatrist Allen Frances, one of the authors of the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), which has become in recent years one of the main critics of the pharmaceutical industry.
Opioids are the most common painkillers, but sometimes, and here’s the problem, the price we pay is very expensive, plus we use them blindly because we don’t know their medium and long-term consequences, let’s talk more about them.
Opioids are, at first, a gift to our brains. The motive? Its active ingredients mimic the activity of endorphins, give us pleasure and reduce pain, so its action is very useful in surgery, in the treatment of acute, persistent, moderate pain and even to improve the quality of life of some cancer patients.
“The priority of any addict is to numb the pain of living to make the days go by with a little help bought in relief. -Mark Russell-
Opioids should differ from opioids, the former referring to substances extracted directly from the opium factory, such as morphine; opioids, the most common, form all endogenous or exogenous substances that have a similar effect to morphine and can be synthetic or semisynthetic.
There are immediate-acting opioids and opioids that we should take at a pre-set schedule, no matter whether we feel pain at that time or not, the action of the drug prevents and regulates the onset of pain. it is achieved through a sophisticated mechanism in our brain, here’s how it works:
Opioids usually last between 3 and 4 hours on average. But synthetics can provide a much longer lasting effect. What a person experiences when taking these medications is a pleasant feeling of relaxation, a drastic reduction in anxiety and often even a pleasant sense of well-being.
Despite this, the effect is brief, limited and has a very high cost: our balance and our physical and mental health. Because when? (flooding) disappears and there is no more bioavailability, our brain enters the “panic”. of not having such substances to maintain regulation of many of their functions.
If we take these medications for a while, we will have created tolerance and therefore it will not be long before we experience withdrawal syndrome.
The effects of opioids and opioids vary depending on when a person takes these medications, however, we can differentiate between the following steps:
Hippocrates defined opiates in his texts under the slogan “Divinum opus is sedare dolores?”(Relieving pain is divine work). ) In this case, it is necessary to contradict the sage of Galéne, recalling, once again, that it is the task of doctors and not of the gods to do so and, in turn, it is our responsibility to make good use of these substances.
“Addictions take us away from the most important thing: ourselves
It is well known that a third of people who consume these substances for a month are tolerant and dependent. It is also known that since 1999, opioid sales have quadrupled worldwide. more than an individual conscience to face this reality. We also need appropriate strategies from governments, state agencies and medical centers in general.
Because sometimes back pain doesn’t need to be treated with a legal drug that requires a prescription, you have to look for other strategies.
References
? Jess Florez (2008)? Human pharmacology? Barcelona: Masson