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Essay On Opioid Addiction

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According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, an average of 116 people die daily from Opioid Addiction (The US Opioid Addiction). It is becoming an epidemic in the United States that a huge number of people have no idea about. This is a big situation that needs to be prevented and even stopped before the numbers increase more. Addiction to opioids can affect people of all ages and can happen from specific prescriptions that doctors have given patients. Opioid addiction is becoming an epidemic in the United States that can be prevented by improving opioid prescriptions, as well as informing patients, managing pain differently, and helping treat this with naloxone. Opioids are drugs that relieve pain; they work by attaching and activating opioid receptors in the brain. They work in the limbic system, the brainstem and the spinal cord (How Do Opioids Work?). As they are in the body they can make you feel relaxed. Opioids can either completely stop the pain or reduce it. Anyone can misuse these type of drugs and that is where Opioid Addiction happens. Opioid addiction occurs when your brain relies on opioids to stop the pain. Over time you can either gain drug tolerance; where your body stops being affected, or you can gain drug dependence; where your body and brain feel the …show more content…

This would prevent overusing the drug and avoid the risk of gaining an addiction (CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain). Going along with how doctors play a huge part, they can also inform patients about what opioid addiction is. Many people have no clue what it is and may have it. If doctors or anyone taught and informed people about what it is and how to prevent it, they can have a huge impact on stopping it. They would understand how opioids work for their pain but also be informed on how it can be a downside too, so they make sure they aren’t taking too many

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