PSYC 3011 Week 4 – Assignment: Compare and Contrast Use and Abuse of Prescribed and OTC Analgesics

1. Prescription Pain Medication

•Prescription opioids are often used to treat moderate to severe pain, even though certain opioids can also be used to manage coughing and diarrhea.

•Opioids may also make users feel very relaxed and “high,” which is the reason they are occasionally taken for non-medical reasons. Examples include meperidine, codeine, morphine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone.

•Although every prescription medicine has the potential to be abused, analgesics, usually referred to as narcotics, opiates, or opioids, are one of the most frequently misused.

•Opioids may cause unpleasant side effects including constipation, motion sickness, drowsiness, and mental fog.

•Using prescribed opioids has additional hazards, such as dependency and addiction. If you abuse medications, you run a higher chance of developing dependency and addiction (Squeglia et al., 2019).

Routes of Administration

•Oral (PO)

•Intravenous (IV)

•Epidural

•Intrathecal (Sofuoglu et al., 2019).

Absorption

Morphine is absorbed, under the alkaline conditions of the upper gastrointestinal and rectal mucosa. Morphin is bioavailable in 80 to 100% of cases (Sofuoglu et al., 2019). Because of the significant first-pass metabolism, oral intake must be six times larger than parenteral doses to provide the same effect.

Site of Action

Opioids have actions at both the presynaptic nerve terminals and postsynaptic neurons. Post-synaptic opioid actions are frequently inhibitory.

Opioids are hypothesized to inhibit neurotransmitter release by presynaptic action, which is their principal neurological function.

Morphine is a drug that binds to mu, kappa, and delta opioid receptors (Sofuoglu et al., 2019). The majority of this medication’s analgesic effects are achieved through binding to mu-opioid receptors located in the CNS and PNS.

Pharmacological Effects

•Generate analgesia.

•Sedation and dizziness are additional central nervous system side effects.

•Some typical side effects of morphine include euphoria. respite from discomfort. Unusual tiredness or sleepiness (Abuse, 2020).

•Respiratory depression, apnea, and, to a lesser extent, cardiovascular depression, respiratory distress, shock, and cardiac arrest are serious adverse events related to morphine sulfate injection USP.

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2. OTC Pain Relievers

•Some of the top over-the-counter (OTC) painkillers include ibuprofen, aspirin, naproxen, acetaminophen, and aspirin/citric acid/sodium bicarbonate.

•The most potent anti-inflammatory painkiller without a prescription is naproxen (SAMHSA, 2020).

•It works particularly well for ailments including arthritis, sunburns, and sprains. Naproxen tends to have a longer half-life than other over-the-counter painkillers at comparable dosages.

•The most frequent adverse effects of naproxen include rashes, fatigue, headaches, buzzing in the ears, alterations in eyesight, and disorientation.

Risks and Mechanism of Developing a Substance Use Disorder

•Risk factors include genes, side effects of medications, peer pressure, emotional distress, anxiety, grief, and environmental stress.

•When a patient has a drug use disorder, they exhibit a pathologic behavioral pattern in which they continue to use the substance in question while having serious issues with it (Sofuoglu et al., 2019).

4. Age Groups

•The greatest opioid overdose fatalities occur in the 35 to 44-year-old age group, with 20,137, a 73% rise from 2019 and a 20% increase from 2020 (Sánchez-Sánchez et al., 2021).

•Currently, 71% of opioid-related deaths that might have been prevented happen to adults between the ages of 25 and 54, and the mortality rate for people over the age of 55 is increasing significantly.

5. Professional Recommendations

•Dose reduction, symptom management, opioid rotation, and modifying the route of administration are methods to reduce the negative effects of opioids.

•The misuse of OTC drugs can be decreased with pharmacist attention (Algarni et al., 2022).

•There are two sorts of interventions for preventing drug use disorders. The first category includes measures designed to prevent drug misuses and abuse, such as the adoption of PDMP programs and their required usage, legislation banning doctor shopping and mandating medical provider education, and physical exam requirements.

•The second set of initiatives is to increase access to and support substance abuse services (Coombes & Cooper, 2019).

•Some of these techniques include the adoption of good Samaritan legislation, regulations that make it easier to get rescue medications, and other overdose harm reduction programs.

•This group also recommends devoting resources to the development and continuous support of drug misuse programs.

Summary

qOpioid-related government policies and regulations come in a variety of shapes and sizes, including Medicare/Medicaid rules, opioid prescription practices regulation, and medication scheduling through the Drug Enforcement Administration.

qData show the potential benefits of several regulations, including Good Samaritan laws, naloxone access laws, and PDMP standards, in lowering drug usage (Coombes & Cooper, 2019).

qLegislative action is still needed on several issues, including the regulation of pain control clinics, the requirement of tamper-resistant prescription forms, physical and psychological status examination laws, laws against physician shopping, laws regarding prescription monitoring, and laws regarding access to naloxone.

qHealthcare practitioners and the general public must get an education. Community education programs might focus on prescription medicine storage, usage, and disposal.

qPrescribers of pain medications must be trained in pain diagnosis and treatment, alternative modalities, drug misuse screening, psychiatric illness evaluations, and therapeutic interventions for vulnerable groups..

PSYC 3011 Week 4 – Assignment: Compare and Contrast Use and Abuse of Prescribed and OTC Analgesics References

•Abuse, N. I. on D. (2020, June). Summary of Misuse of Prescription Drugs. National Institute on Drug Abuse. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/misuse-prescription-drugs/overview

•Algarni, M., Jalal, Z., Hadi, M. A., & Alghamdi, S. (2022). Community pharmacists’ views and experiences toward over-the-counter medicines misuse and abuse in Saudi Arabia: A qualitative study. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.997342

•Coombes, H., & Cooper, R. J. (2019). Staff perceptions of prescription and over-the-counter drug dependence services in England: a qualitative study. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13722-019-0170-4

•SAMHSA. (2020, December 17). Rise in Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse Impacting Teens. Www.samhsa.gov. https://www.samhsa.gov/homelessness-programs-resources/hpr-resources/rise-prescription-drug-misuse-abuse-impacting-teens

•Sánchez-Sánchez, E., Fernández-Cerezo, F. L., Díaz-Jimenez, J., Rosety-Rodriguez, M., Díaz, A. J., Ordonez, F. J., Rosety, M. Á., & Rosety, I. (2021). Consumption of over-the-Counter Drugs: Prevalence and Type of Drugs. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(11), 5530. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115530

•Sofuoglu, M., DeVito, E. E., & Carroll, K. M. (2019). Pharmacological and Behavioral Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder. Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice, 1(1), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.prcp.20180006

•Squeglia, L. M., Fadus, M. C., McClure, E. A., Tomko, R. L., & Gray, K. M. (2019). Pharmacological Treatment of Youth Substance Use Disorders. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 29(7), 559–572. https://doi.org/10.1089/cap.2019.0009

Preparing a CANVA Infographic

CANVA is a free platform to create documents that are used to illustrate and present concepts and information. You can use words and images to convey ideas to create the desired information piece. This link will take you to the website with instructions on how to develop your document: https://www.canva.com

For this task, explore the use and abuse of drugs taken for chronic pain (known as analgesics) and compare narcotic analgesics (those prescribed by a physician) with OTC analgesics. You will create an infographic that includes the following:

The category of the prescription pain medication

The risks associated with the specific medication

The routes of administration for these particular drugs

The manner of absorption

The site of action

The prime effects including effective on mood and emotion as well as side effects of these drugs

The effects of OTC pain relievers

The risks of developing a substance use disorder and description of how it typically occurs

The age groups most likely to abuse this substance

The recommendations that would be made to professional groups including the medical profession

After you have created your infographic, write a summary that uses your critical thinking skills to discuss whether these drugs are sufficiently controlled by current law and what can be done to prevent or minimize addiction to prescription drugs.

Length: The infographic should be 3-5 pages, including the summary.

Resources: Your infographic should be supported by reference to at least 3 articles published in peer-reviewed journals in the past 5 years. You may also find additional information at the NIDA InfoFacts website. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including older articles, may be included.

Your infographic should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.