A comprehensive review of addiction to prescription painkillers among patients and ...( ROCHESTER Minn. -- Chemical dependen...),Health

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Chemical dependency and recovery in patients and physicians are closely examined in a series of articles and editorials in the July 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. The subject is especially timely. As the immense challenges, including potential tragedies, of prescription chemical addiction and abuse are being discussed, these articles offer crucial overview, direction and optimism.

Addiction to and abuse of prescription opioid drugs are prevalent, and they exact an immense toll on patients, physicians and society, according to Steven Passik, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, in "Issues in Long-Term Opioid Therapy: Unmet Needs, Risks, and Solutions."

Opioid drugs have been used by humans for thousands of years and are the longest continuously used class of medications, explains William Lanier, M.D., editor-in-chief of Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Dr. Lanier and Evan Kharasch, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University in St. Louis, authored the editorial "Contemporary Clinical Opioid Use: Opportunities and Challenges." It summarizes the recent increased interest in this drug category.

Opioid medications are chemicals that work by binding to specific receptors, particularly in the nervous system and gastrointestinal tract; decrease perception of pain and reaction to pain; and increase pain tolerance. Side effects include sedation, respiratory depression and constipation. When opioid consumption is ongoing, physical dependence can and will develop. This, in turn, can lead to problematic withdrawal upon abrupt discontinuation of medication. Dependence, coupled with the feeling of euphoria these drugs can produce, leads to abuse.

According to Dr. Lanier, the recent growing interest in opioids stems from five sources: advances in the design of these drugs; expansion and innovation in methods of drug d
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