Opioid Epidemic: It’s Time To Get Off The Medication
The Opioid Crisis
America is experiencing an opioid epidemic. If you don’t know what opioids are, they are painkillers and chances are you have probably been prescribed them at some point or another. Opioids have been commonly prescribed in the United States for many years. Common examples of these drugs include oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, methadone, and many more. Other names you might know these drugs by are Perocet, Vicodin, OxyContin, Demerol, etc. Opioids are highly addictive and have many negative side effects including sedation, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, constipation, physical dependence, cardiovascular issues, hormone problems, increased fracture risk, depression, decreased protein synthesis, and respiratory depression, just to name a few. Long term opioid use can cause significant declines in health-related quality of life and increased health care costs.
If these drugs are so bad for us, why are they so commonly prescribed? The answer is not as simple as we might like. First of all, we as a society must take some ownership on this issue. Everyone in today’s society is looking for the quick fix. We want immediate relief of symptoms and we want it in the form of a pill. Instead of making the effort to improve our health through nutrition, exercise, and mindfulness, many of us turn to medications for an answer. This needs to change. Humans were not meant to rely on synthetic medications just to get through the day. The other unfortunate truth behind the over-prescribing of these medications has to do with the strong push from the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry. There are many political factors that tie into this issue. The intention of this article is not to dive into the politics of the opioid epidemic, but instead to shed light on alternative pain management and treatment methods that are available.
The Magnitude of the Opioid Crisis
Regardless of why these drugs are still so common, there is no doubt that they have become a real issue in American society. The opiod epidemic is real. How bad is the problem? Here are some statistics via The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which released guidelines in March 2016 encouraging health care providers to pursue safer alternatives like physical therapy for most pain management:
- Every day, more than 1,000 people are treated in emergency departments for misusing prescription opioids.
- Opioid-related hospitalizations among women in the US increased by 75% between 2005 and 2014.
- In 2012, health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioid pain medication, enough for every American adult to have their own bottle of pills.
- As many as 1 in 4 people who receive prescription opioids long-term for noncancer pain in primary care settings struggles with addiction.
- Deaths related to prescription opioids have quadrupled.
- Sales of prescription opioids have nearly quadrupled since 1999. More than 4 in 10 of long-term users say they started taking them for chronic pain (44%) while 25% say they started due to pain after surgery, and another 25% say they started for pain after an accident or injury.
- Opioids killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, more than any year on record. Nearly half of those deaths involved prescription opioids.
- Veterans are twice as likely to die from accidental opioid overdoses as non-veterans.
If you are one of the many people relying on opioids for pain management, please understand there is an alternative solution. There are other, healthier options of treatment that do not cause all of the negative side-effects noted with long term opioid use.
A Healthier Alternative To Opioid Use
Physical Therapy is a healthy alternative to long term opioid use. I have helped many people stop relying on medication for pain relief. Your Doctor of Physical Therapy can educate you on why you are experiencing pain, where it is coming from, and most importantly how to manage it. Physical therapy is a combination of hands on treatment techniques and individualized programming of exercises and movement patterns that will help you regain full mobility and strength and return to doing all the things you love without pain. Learn more about how PhysioStrength Physical Therapy helps people move better, feel better, and live better.
Choosing physical therapy is a safe and effective alternative to manage and treat pain, and can help you avoid the risks and side effects of opioids. In fact, the newly established CDC guidelines suggest non-pharmaceutical management as the preferred method for treating chronic pain.
Do you know someone in pain who is currently using opioids in an attempt to manage the pain? Encourage them to talk to their physician or physical therapist about safer ways to manage pain. The American Physical Therapy Association’s #ChoosePT campaign raises awareness about the risks of opioids and the safe alternative of physical therapy for long-term pain management.
References
1. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Published December 9, 2016. Accessed January 30, 2017.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed January 30, 2017.
3. http://www.moveforwardpt.com/choose-physical-therapy-over-opioids-for-pain-management-choosept
4. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6501e1.htm