Draft CDC Guidelines on Prescribing Opioids has Patients Worried
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been at the center of a controversy brewing over updated prescribing guidelines for physicians. The CDC guidelines offer recommendations for primary care physicians who prescribe opioid painkillers to patients with chronic pain problems. This has been an area of concern for the CDC and other national […]
Over-Prescribing Contributes to Opioid Abuse Epidemic
Opioid abuse continues to rise in the United States, according to new figures from a recently released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. The rate of deaths from opioids has doubled since the year 2000. Prescription opioids now represent the bulk of overdose deaths, with overdoses related to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and tramadol […]
Opioid Abuse: Drug Overdose Epidemic
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released the latest figures on opioid abuse in the United States, revealing the astonishing breadth and depth of this problem. Since 2000, the rate of drug overdose fatalities has shot up by 137%. Within this period, overdose deaths related to opioids skyrocketed by 200%. The CDC is […]
Drug Overdose May be Avoidable
What have we done to prevent drug overdose? President Nixon electrified the nation when he declared a war on drugs in 1971. However, since that time, we have failed to make significant progress in combating and preventing drug addiction. Today, more than 23 million people need treatment for drug or alcohol abuse and only about […]
Drug Overdose Deaths are the Leading Cause of Injury in the United States
Drug Overdose: Results from the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA) provide alarming evidence about the rise of substance abuse and related injury in the United States. According to Chuck Rosenberg, Acting Administrator of the DEA, drug overdose deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the U.S. Fatalities from drug overdose are higher […]
Opioid Induced Constipation | Causes and Treatment
Opioids have become the most commonly prescribed class of medications in the United States, with 207 million prescriptions written in 2013, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Some of these prescription opioids (such as morphine) are derived from natural sources, while others are synthetic. Regardless of origin, use of opioids can significantly increase […]
Personalized Medicine for Pain and Opioid Addiction
Modern medicine is poised to undergo a paradigm shift, ushering in an age of personalized medicine. Health experts have long been calling for a change in the way we view common problems like chronic pain or opioid addiction. Rather than viewing these conditions as single entities, medical researchers are exploring ways that different people may […]
Fibromyalgia & Drug Abuse
Approximately 1 in 50 adults suffer from fibromyalgia, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This means that 3.4% of women and 0.5% of men — 5 million Americans in total — are dealing with this disorder. As a disorder that causes chronic pain, fibromyalgia causes many people to seek pain relief using […]
How Opiate Addiction Affects Those Who Use
How opiate addiction in the United States has become a problem is perplexing. First, we answer what opiates are? Opiates include legal drugs, such as prescription painkillers (e.g., Percocet, Oxycodone, Dilaudid), and illegal drugs like heroin. Deaths from prescription painkiller use have risen more than 400% since 1999, and heroin-related overdoses have also quadrupled over […]
Senior Addiction Treatment for the Growing Prescription Drug Epidemic
Deaths from prescription painkiller overdose have increased more than 400% since 1999, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Perhaps no group is as vulnerable as older adults. Elderly people take more prescription medications than their younger counterparts, placing them at increased risk. Fortunately, there are effective options for […]
