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A Focus on Opioid Pain Medicines
Pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.1 Opioid pain relievers are a common kind of medicine for the treatment of moderate-to-severe pain. However, there is a risk with opioid medicines that patients and even their family members or friends will abuse them. In fact, opioid pain relievers, such as morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl, are the most commonly abused prescription pain medicines.2 As a result, some patients with chronic pain avoid asking their physicians for treatment due to fears of abuse, addiction and diversion.3
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, opioid pain medicines are safe and usually don’t cause addiction when they are managed well medically and taken as prescribed.4 By working closely with their physicians, people with pain are often able to use opioids as part of their treatment plan to manage chronic pain and increase their level of function.
However, in order to balance the risk of opioids with their benefits, it is also important for people with pain to be responsible with their medicines by keeping them safe in their homes and talking with friends and families about abuse and diversion.
To learn more about the safe and appropriate use of prescription pain medicines, click on the links to the right to visit the Tools at the Pharmacy page.
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