Prescription Drug Abuse
11.9 هزار بار بازدید -
8 سال پیش
-
Health experts say there are
Health experts say there are multiple dangers that can come with misusing pain medication.
Dr. Ojash Raval, an urgent care provider with Lee Memorial Health System, says the side effects of taking too much pain medication can be serious. “It’s addictive in nature. It’s why it’s only prescribed in small quantities with no refills.”
He says taking too many pain pills can cause confusion, slurred speech, mental issues, loss of balance, even death. “Pain medication although it’s one pill is often times not just one medication. For example, if you use Vicodin. That’s hydrocodone and Tylenol. Now, if you take three times the recommended dosage, you’re taking three times as much Tylenol than you should as well.”
The goal is getting the patient to a safe dosage. He says the medication dosage is often times based on weight.
“Your liver only has so many slots it can process meds through, and if you fill all those slots up you’re getting a backlog of toxins in your body because your body is not use to breaking this much down,” said Dr. Raval.
Dr. Raval says it’s easy to determine if the patient is abusing the medication. “This is where people end up in the hospital or in the clinic. They just don’t look right or seem overly tired. We can look at pharmaceutical records, how often you go into clinics, so if we see a pattern set up where you’re in multiple clinics in multiple cities, where you’re getting narcotics prescribed by multiple doctors it’s kind of a red flag.”
At that point, health experts immediately start to wean the patient off the pain medication. If the pain is still present other treatments, like therapy, are suggested.
View More Health Matters video segments at leememorial.org/healthmatters/
Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we’ve been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.
Visit leememorial.org
Dr. Ojash Raval, an urgent care provider with Lee Memorial Health System, says the side effects of taking too much pain medication can be serious. “It’s addictive in nature. It’s why it’s only prescribed in small quantities with no refills.”
He says taking too many pain pills can cause confusion, slurred speech, mental issues, loss of balance, even death. “Pain medication although it’s one pill is often times not just one medication. For example, if you use Vicodin. That’s hydrocodone and Tylenol. Now, if you take three times the recommended dosage, you’re taking three times as much Tylenol than you should as well.”
The goal is getting the patient to a safe dosage. He says the medication dosage is often times based on weight.
“Your liver only has so many slots it can process meds through, and if you fill all those slots up you’re getting a backlog of toxins in your body because your body is not use to breaking this much down,” said Dr. Raval.
Dr. Raval says it’s easy to determine if the patient is abusing the medication. “This is where people end up in the hospital or in the clinic. They just don’t look right or seem overly tired. We can look at pharmaceutical records, how often you go into clinics, so if we see a pattern set up where you’re in multiple clinics in multiple cities, where you’re getting narcotics prescribed by multiple doctors it’s kind of a red flag.”
At that point, health experts immediately start to wean the patient off the pain medication. If the pain is still present other treatments, like therapy, are suggested.
View More Health Matters video segments at leememorial.org/healthmatters/
Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, FL is the largest network of medical care facilities in Southwest Florida and is highly respected for its expertise, innovation and quality of care. For nearly a century, we’ve been providing our community with everything from primary care treatment to highly specialized care services and robotic assisted surgeries.
Visit leememorial.org
8 سال پیش
در تاریخ 1395/03/28 منتشر شده
است.
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