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The opioid epidemic took hold in the U.S. in the 1990s. Percocet, OxyContin and Opana became commonplace wherever chronic pain met a chronic lack of access to quality health care, especially in Appalachia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the prescription opioid epidemic the worst of its kind in U.S. history.
In medicine, tapering is the practice of gradually reducing the dosage of a medication to reduce or discontinue it. Generally, tapering is done is to avoid or minimize withdrawal symptoms that arise from neurobiological adaptation to the drug.
All opioids, both recreational drugs and medications, when reduced or stopped, can lead to opioid withdrawal symptoms. When withdrawal symptoms are due to recreational opioid use, the term opioid use disorder is used, whereas when due to prescribed medications, the term prescription opioid use disorder is used. [3]
Austin-Travis County EMS' buprenorphine program helps people get through withdrawal until the can get into a clinic program.
For example, prolonged use of an antidepressant medication is likely to cause a rather different reaction when discontinued compared to discontinuation of an opioid, such as heroin. Withdrawal symptoms from opiates include anxiety, sweating, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Long-term opioid use occurs in about 4% of people following their use for trauma or surgery-related pain. [20] In the United States, most heroin users begin by using prescription opioids that may also be bought illegally. [21] [22] People with opioid use disorder are often treated with opioid replacement therapy using methadone or buprenorphine ...