I
think too many people are on chronic narcotics. There is a reason
that prescription drug abuse and overdose deaths are at a record
high. The biggest reason is the over-prescribing of these
medications.
Narcotics
are a godsend to people in pain from terminal diseases. Nobody would
argue that doctors shouldn't prescribe whatever is necessary to ease
the suffering of those at the end of life.
These
drugs are also clearly beneficial in patients recovering from surgery
and significant injuries. Studies demonstrate that uncontrolled pain
causes a release of hormones that slows the healing process.
Narcotics
are too often prescribed to young patients for long-term use by
naïve, inexperienced, lazy or unethical doctors (or inadequately
trained nurse practitioners). These patients often have vague or
unsubstantiated diagnoses.
A
doctor is not doing a patient who has chronic pain any favors by
additionally burning them with a chronic dependence on narcotics.
There are multiple nonnarcotic medication that can be used to
ameliorate different types of chronic pain.
Once
a patient who has chronic pain is provided a routine, ongoing
prescription for narcotics, they are being committed to a lifetime of
use by the prescriber. It is very difficult to convince the patient
to switch to safer medications for long-term use. Long-term narcotic
use is associated with depression and increased risks of falls and
injuries.
It
has been my experience that many patients who have a chronic, large
supply of narcotics are more than willing to play the "good
Samaritan" and offer their drugs to friends and relatives who
are in pain. This is problematic for reasons both medical and legal.
Patients
who have chronic pain need to be treated with medications that are
safe and appropriate for long-term use. Narcotics are rarely the
right choice.
