Opioid Abuse Disorder

According to Dr. Lentz’ writing in a recent news article, opioid use disorder is an epidemic:

“Opiates are a class of drugs that block sensations of pain and can cause euphoria. The dangerous aspects of opioids are that they can cause addiction and overdose. Since this is a pain-relieving medicine, it can be abused by drug traffickers. They will sell them illegally and this has caused a tremendous surge in deaths in the last two decades.

• 2.1 million Americans have an opiate use disorder. And about 5% of them will try heroin
• There are about 130 American that die every day in opiate deaths
• Studies show that 399,230 people died of opiate overdose from 1999 to 2017
• In 2017, Doctors prescribed 191,218,272 opiate prescriptions
• Since 1999, sales of opioids prescriptions have increased 300%
• 20 to 30% of patients who are prescribed opiates abuse them
• 10% of Americans who misuse opioids become addicted

There are many treatments for opiate addiction. At A Defined Image, I use Suboxone. Suboxone is a combination of buprenorphine and naloxone. It was approved by the FDA in 2002. Suboxone is very safe and has very few side effects. We have had great results and most insurance companies pay for it. We also have some alternatives if insurance doesn’t cover it or if patients want an alternative.”