Opioid Archives - Mediarabe

Surgical protocol reduces opioid use for breast reconstruction patients

October 14, 2020

Breast cancer surgeries can be quite painful, so a team at Houston Methodist West Hospital has worked to develop pain management protocols that help some patients while reducing the use of narcotics.

Dr. Candy Arentz, a breast surgical oncologist, and Dr. Warren Ellsworth, a plastic surgeon, have been using an enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol with non-narcotic medications and nerve blocks to lessen pain and the need for narcotics in reconstructive surgeries.

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A DIEP flap reconstruction uses tissue and fat from the abdomen and other areas to reconstruct the breast after a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. Ellsworth said the reconstruction can be beneficial because it can look more natural than implants and can last the rest of a patient’s life. But it can be more painful because of the extra incisions. He recognizes that

Boston’s Kraft Center for Community Health Mobile Opioid Outreach Winnebago Reaches 10,000 Patients | News

October 13, 2020

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BOSTON, Oct. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — To help combat the rise of opioid addiction, Winnebago Industries Specialty Vehicles collaborated with The Kraft Center for Community Health to help build a mobile medical clinic, Community Care in Reach, to better serve at-risk individuals in Boston. Since its deployment in January 2018, Community Care in Reach has made around 10,000 contacts and had nearly 1,400 total patient encounters. Seventy-five percent of Community Care in Reach’s clinical encounters represent follow-up visits by patients. The team has also distributed almost 3,000 overdose-reversing naloxone kits to individuals coping with opioid addiction.

Boston’s Kraft Center for Community Health Mobile Opioid Outreach Winnebago Reaches 10,000 Patients

October 13, 2020

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Community Care in Reach was built by Winnebago Industries Specialty Vehicles using their Class C 423S Ford Transit-based platform with personalized modifications. The mobile health unit features a small waiting area, a patient exam room with all the medical equipment necessary to enable the vehicle and staff to act as a licensed satellite clinic. Health professionals can access medical records and enroll patients in programs, bringing the same sense of formality, organization, and process as a hospital.

“Through mobile outreach, these caregivers can engage people in their environment, provide basic services and help patients begin treatment for their opioid addictions in a trusting environment,” said Ashis Bhattacharya, Vice President – Business Development, Advanced Technology, and Specialty Vehicles at Winnebago Industries. “The results they’ve reported in the last two years speak volumes, and we are looking forward to following their results in the coming years.”

Health systems around the country

Acupuncture before surgery may reduce pain, opioid use

October 12, 2020

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A new pilot study concludes that using acupuncture before surgery can reduce a person’s need for opioids following surgery. The Detroit-based researchers believe that acupuncture is a low-cost, safe method that reduces pain and anxiety in some people.

In the United States, the opioid crisis claimed the lives of 47,000 people in 2018, and almost a third of those deaths involved prescription opioids.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2018, two-thirds of drug overdose deaths involved an opioid. A 2018 report from Substances Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) states that 10.3 million people in the U.S. aged 12 or older misused opioids in the past year.

Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug heroin and the prescription drug fentanyl. Other prescription opioids include oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, and codeine.

According to a 2017 paper, over 80% of people receive a

Better Life Partners taps Bravado Health to help curb community’s opioid crisis

October 7, 2020

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Bravado Health recently announced a partnership with Better Life Partners to help achieve their goal of helping vulnerable populations achieve healthier lives.

Better Life Partners was created to help those with opioid use disorder (OUD) achieve lasting and meaningful recoveries. While COVID-19 has dominated the headlines for the past several months, it is important to remember that there is a very real and powerful opioid epidemic in this country as well. This crisis has worsened in recent years and projections indicate these drugs could kill more than half a million Americans in the next decade.

Although help is available, many suffering from OUD lack access to high-quality health care. Better Life Partners helps these individuals by offering a treatment program that combines the best evidence-based practices with a hyper-local, community-based delivery model. This approach, which can include prescription medications such

For Pregnant Women, Stigma Complicates Opioid Misuse Treatment

October 6, 2020

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New and expectant mothers face unique challenges when seeking treatment for an opioid use disorder. On top of preparing for motherhood, expectant mothers often face barriers to accessing treatment, which typically involves taking safer opioids to reduce dependency over time. The approach is called medication assisted therapy, or MAT, and is a key component in most opioid treatment programs.

But with pregnant women, providers can be hesitant to administer opiate-based drugs.

According to a study out of Vanderbilt University, pregnant women are 20% more likely to be denied medication assisted therapy than non-pregnant women.

“In the beginning, I was so scared as a new provider to write my first prescription for medication assisted therapy to pregnant women,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak of the Wright Center for Community Health in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

The health center serves low-income individuals who are underinsured or lack insurance altogether, many of whom struggle with opioid

how the pandemic has worsened opioid addiction

October 5, 2020

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Destiny Rozek, 22, of Holbrook, New York on Long Island has struggled with opioid addiction for the past four years, a struggle she said has worsened during America’s coronavirus pandemic.

a man wearing a hat: Photograph: Morgan Lee/AP

© Provided by The Guardian
Photograph: Morgan Lee/AP

Rozek explained that several detox facilities have closed and coronavirus safety protocols have limited the assistance several other facilities once provided. She went to a detox facility several weeks ago, but was discharged after a couple of nights because they needed space in the ward.

“There was no therapy or anything to help me. They didn’t even help me find an outside place to go to after and I was still sick when they let me out but they needed space because it was busy,” Rozek said.

Related: Bleak new record as 71,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year

Many addiction treatment centers around the US have shut down or

Signs America’s Opioid Epidemic Might Finally Be Waning | Health News

October 3, 2020

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By Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter

(HealthDay)

SATURDAY, Oct. 3, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Here’s some heartening news on the opioid painkillers front: Abuse of the prescription medicines in the United States fell by more than one-quarter between 2007 and 2018.

“Prior research has shown slight reductions in abuse rates, but our analysis shows we’re tracking statistically significant year-to-year declines in abuse, indicating that the decrease is not an anomaly and truly represents a trend in falling prescription drug abuse levels,” said study author Mario Moric, a biostatistician at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

He and his colleagues analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual survey of about 70,000 Americans aged 12 and older who are asked about their use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

For the study, prescription opioid abuse was defined as use without the consent of a physician.

The percentage of

Dax Shepard’s Opioid Relapse | MedPage Today

October 1, 2020

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Actor/comedian Dax Shepard has always been open about his past struggles with addiction and how he has been sober for the past 16 years. However, it was still surprising when, on the September 25th episode of his podcast Armchair Expert, Shepard revealed that he relapsed and has again been taking opioids.

About 6 months ago, Shepard broke his right hand, which required the temporary placement of a pin. Then in August, the avid motorcycle rider went over the handlebars of a bike during a race, breaking four ribs and shattering his shoulder. He again underwent surgery. Although he was prescribed hydrocodone/acetaminophen (Vicodin) for the pain, monitored by his wife, actress Kristen Bell, Dax began to “supplement” these pills with others that he purchased on his own.

As he told his podcast co-host, Monica Padman: “For the last 8 weeks maybe, I don’t really know … I’m on them all day

‘The Drug Became His Friend’: Pandemic Drives Hike in Opioid Deaths

September 29, 2020

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BARRE, Vermont — On the first Friday in June, Jefrey Cameron, 29, left his home around midnight to buy heroin. He had been struggling with addiction for seven years but had seemingly turned a corner, holding down a job that he loved at Basil’s Pizzeria, driving his teenage sister to the mall to go shopping and sharing a home with his grandmother. But then the coronavirus pandemic hit.

When he returned home that night and tried the product, it was so potent that he fell and hit his head in the bathroom. Mr. Cameron texted a friend soon after, saying that he had messed up and would go to a 12-step meeting with a friend that weekend.

“I promise I’m good and I can’t get in any more trouble tonight,” he wrote. “Sweet dreams, if you wake up before you hear from me definitely call me. The sooner I get