Opiate addiction is recognized as a central nervous system disorder, caused by continuous opiate intake. After prolonged opiate use, the nerve cells in the brain, which would otherwise produce endogenous opiates (natural painkillers, or endorphins), cease to function normally. The body stops producing endorphins because it is receiving opiates instead. The degeneration of these nerve cells causes a physical dependency to an external supply of opiates. Abrupt or sudden abstinence from opiates induces yet another traumatic disorder - withdrawal syndrome.
"Opiate
Dependency is a physical illness involving a central nervous
system disorder caused by long-term opiate intake."
normal brain
brain on opiates
Background on Opiate Dependency
Substance
abuse is a major health concern in the United
States, with annual treatment costs in the
billions of dollars. It
is also a social ill manifested in family problems,
lost productivity, and crime. Heroin,
an opiate drug, has been viewed as a key player
in this rapidly growing drug-dependent segment
of society. While the number of heroin
dependents is increasing at an alarming rate,
a previously unrecognized opiate dependency is
moving to the forefront - prescription painkillers (opiates,
narcotics). Chronic pain sufferers, surgical patients, sickle-cell patients, and cancer patients seeking relief from pain are prescribed pain medication by their physicians and subsequently become dependent. These people are not "drug addicts" in the stereotypical sense, but people with real medical conditions who find themselves in the same situation as drug addicts. In
fact, so addictive are these opiate-based pain medications that despite
fully understanding the medications' addictive nature, ten percent of physicians
are themselves dependent on the very drugs they prescribe, according to
the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors (CORD).Opiate dependency
was once viewed as a condition with no solution. Patients with opiate physical dependency were considered to have inherited an addictive personality or psychological disorder or to have suffered with a dysfunctional family life. The medical community lacked the desire to find a treatment for what they believed was a hopeless condition and refused to deal with it. Ignoring
the problem has had irrefutable repercussions:
The disease spread over the years, reaching every generation, culture and level of society.
Dependents accepted their disease as an undeniable essence of their character, with no hope of escaping the agony.
Excluded from society, dependents fulfilled the stereotypes that society forced them to assume: the role of criminal or social outcast, rather than patient.
Ultimately, society's labeling and view
of opiate dependents as "criminals", strips them of their
human value; society is then forced to protect itself from some of
the same people who have indeed assumed the criminal status that
was imposed on them.
The "re-education" of patients and of society as a whole is critical since an effective treatment is now available. Recognizing
signs of opiate dependency and understanding the
consequences will hopefully motivate patients
to seek early treatment before the downward spiraling
takes away their jobs, their families, their self
esteem and ultimately, their lives.
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