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Introduction
Many people in the world suffer from different forms of pain. Almost everyone has experienced pain at one time in their life. An example is like when one’s finger is burnt or one’s toe is stepped on. However, many people suffer from chronic pain where they endure great magnitude of pain for many days or even years. This is common especially for the elderly and people in their late adult ages. Doctors have therefore come up with pain management techniques that include administration of narcotics to the suffering. Though narcotics are suitable for relieving pain, their prolonged use is discouraged due to their addiction potential. Some good examples of narcotics are heroin, morphine, codeine among others. (Covington 86)
Main Discussion
When administered to the suffering, narcotics may significantly reduce pain. It is known that chronic pain may negatively affect someone psychologically, professionally, and even lower their self esteem. Pain has also been known to destroy peoples resolve for living. Research has shown that people with intractable pain do not respond to narcotics in the same way as street addicts. This is due to tolerance toward the drugs and the motivating factors for taking them. The pain patient can be treated with narcotics with little risk of developing the self-destructive behavior characteristic of addiction. Even though dosages may sometimes exceed those that are considered normal, this has not been found to be a basis for addiction. (Covington 87)
Since the effectiveness of pain medication varies greatly from one person to another, the fact that some people may require higher dosage is not necessarily a sign that one is addicted. Medication on different people varies depending on metabolism and tolerance among other factors. Narcotics have enabled patients to get on with their lives and to interact with family and friends. They have also enabled them to be involved in productive activities in the society. (Covington 90)
One common belief is that long term narcotics use for anyone inevitably leads into addiction. This is not really the case considering a study case of cancer patients. A study performed on a group of cancer patients in 1990 showed that they only depended on the drug physically but not psychologically. In all the cases analyzed, dependence on the drug was found to be non existent in almost all the cases. (Foley 2258)
One of the setbacks of using narcotics in pain medication is the fact that they can easily lead to addiction. Studies have shown that opiates can cause drowsiness, nausea and constipation among other side effects. In addition, extended use of opiates can lead to a case where the body becomes accustomed to certain amounts of the drug and stops reacting to it. (Foley 2259) For this reason therefore, the extended use of these opiates should be discouraged due to their addiction.
The last major reason why it is discouraged is because it places medical care at the mercy of euthanasia. Doctors have been charged of murder for wrongfully administering narcotics to patients who have died from an overdose or other complications. It can also be argued that the use of narcotics has prevented many patients from getting medication. This is because many doctors tend to turn them away due to legal ramifications that may arise from the treatment. Others simply limit the amount of narcotics that they will prescribe for any one patient. (Foley 2262)
Conclusion
My opinion is that narcotics should be used for the treatment of chronic pain syndromes. When properly administered, narcotics can tame pain, a master that is worse than death. Although they may have some shortcomings, most or all of these can be avoided by strict observance of proper medical practices. After all, responsibility is something that has to be applied when doing any other thing apart from pain management techniques.
Works Cited
Covington, Edward C. “Management of the patient with chronic benign pain, Modern Medicine.’’ 57.1, (1989): 75-100. Print.
Foley, Kathleen M. “Controversies in cancer pain, Cancer’’, 2257-2264. June 1 Supplement 1989. Print.
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