For opioid-driven hospital stays, the death rate has quadrupled in recent years, according to a newly released study.
According to their data relating to opioid-driven hospital visits around the country, which involved analyzing hundreds of thousands of hospital stays, they found that the rates of mortality in the US have quadrupled between 1993 and 2014. Most of the patients who were coming to the hospital for opioid-related issues weren't very old either, they were alleged to have a mean age of 39 years old.
The opioid crisis has been labeled as a national health crisis and it's one that has been causing a lot of damage in many communities around the country. The recently released data, researchers suggest, signals a need for hospitals to improve their methods when it comes to admitting those who might be using opioids--trying to keep them alive.
In some cases, state lawmakers have sought to sue and seek damages from the opioid industry.
It shouldn't come as any surprise that some have pointed the finger at the government either and accused it of contributing heavily to making matters worse with the opioid epidemic. Their strict monitoring of healthcare professionals is alleged to have pushed some users to seek out access to illegal opioids on the black market instead. Not only that, but that their preference for pharma companies to move toward tamper-resistant medication (to prevent crushing and snorting etc) might also have allegedly pushed users to try injecting the drug instead.
A growing number of people in the US are turning to cannabis now as a possible solution to the opioid problem. It's been suggested that it might help to play a valuable role by assisting in tackling various drug addiction issues for different people.
The opioid crisis is one that isn't going to get better overnight, there's no quick-fix. Though, there are many people around the country who are actively engaged in looking for creative solutions that can try and help. The recent data suggesting that opioid-driven hospital stays have significantly increased is troubling, hopefully hospitals will take that information and use it to improve on their strategies so they can boost their overall efficiency.
Pics:
Axios Visuals/Health Affairs
Pixabay
Sources:
https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0689
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/deaths-during-opioid-driven-hospital-stays-have-quadrupled
https://www.azpm.org/p/home-articles-news/2017/12/6/120908-tucson-city-council-considers-joining-opioid-lawsuits/
https://www.axios.com/more-opioid-patients-are-dying-in-the-hospital-2515334855.html
Related Posts:
5 Big Pharma Companies Sued Over Their Contribution To Opioid Crisis
Majority Of Patients Prefer Cannabis To Opioids For Pain Management
Is The Government Making The Opioid Crisis Worse?
https://steemit.com/health/@doitvoluntarily/is-the-government-making-the-opioid-crisis-worse
Some people have had great success using kratom to alleviate both pain and addiction. It can be tricky to get high quality and correct doses, but it is an alternative.
Also acupuncture can be a great help.
I’ve heard good things about pulse-EMFs and stem cell therapy.
Finally, I know of many people who have eliminated pain of many kinds using REDjuvenator red light therapy. I like this because it’s non-invasive, you can do it at home, and you can’t overdo it. The success stories seem too good to be true, but they are! At the very least, get free sunshine every day on your bare skin - it does wonders for your health.
The opioid crises is also bad here in Canada , and your right @doitvoluntarily there is no quick fix , and the doctors are still dolling out prescriptions making the matter worse for some , as not everyone follows their subscribed amounts or refuse to slowly Wien off of them like their supposed to ! And instead start buying them from the streets becoming more addicted . It then becomes a vicious circle with no end ! I for I sure agree that cannabis could greatly help many for pain , like myself to take it medically without getting " high " as I don't smoke anymore for many years now like back in the day Ha haha !! And would greatly ease the cost on the health care system !! Great post thanks for sharing , Upped and Resteemed !!👏👍😀
I am taking Codiene at the minute, taking 2 x 30mg 4 times a day, I am being weaned off them, its taking 2 years to get me down to 2 at the minute, I will be free of them in by the middle of next year :)
I mean nothing against you or your post at all, but in the spirit of constructive discussion and debate, I must say the following...
Constant promotion on mainstream media and building up the narrative behind this new term "Opioid Crisis," has been and always will be more destructive than good. For starters, the very idea alone that government agencies and politicians want to dictate to me what I am allowed to put into my body, is absolutely absurd on every level. When you really break it down, we grown adults, many of us at least partially educated, must go to a doctor and seek a permission slip, which we only receive if we are very lucky and successful at playing the silly game that must be played to have any hope at all at receiving it, just to be able to obtain the medicine that we need, and not only do we need this medicine, our basis for needing it is stronger than any science book can sort out, because it is OUR bodies that we are putting the medicine into, and thus WE know better than anyone in the world how it will effect us, personally. The problem however, goes far beyond that, by crying about this new "Opioid Crisis."
I have seem more lives ruined, not by the opioids themselves or the threat of accidental overdose, but instead by the ridiculous laws that prevent people from obtaining what they need. If, for example, a hydrocodone addict were able to go to the nearest drugstore and purchase his or her hydrocodone pills over the counter, then they could actually go about living their life without the constant and overwhelming threat of law enforcement, and especially the the threat of withdrawals during periods of time in which they cannot get a doctor to write a silly, child like permission slip to obtain what they desperately need. Make no mistake about it, the real "crisis" wen it comes to opioids, is the lack of accessibility. There would be hundreds of thousands of people who would still have jobs and be contributing, productive members of society if they had only had unhindered access to the medicine of their own choosing, when the needed that medicine the most. Instead, because now that every doctor in America is paranoid about writing a prescription for opioid based pain pills, these same people are moving toward illegal ways to obtain them, just so that they can make it to their jobs without getting so sick that they ultimately lose their jobs. In even worse scenarios, soccer moms that may have an innocent dependency of oxycodone one day, are now venturing into the city to score heroin, because we've reached a critical point where she can no longer count on her doctor to prescribe the pills. The snowball effect begins from there, as now the heroin dealers have moved into the suburbs to cater to the needs of those very soccer moms.
To sum it up, the "opioid crisis" narrative that is sweeping our country and even the world, is doing FAR MORE harm than good! The solution is to stop letting government agencies into the privacy of our own homes and let us live how we choose to live, just so as long as we do not harm or steal from our fellow citizens. My life and career was ruined, not because of opioid based pills. It was ruined because of existing and tightening laws that forced me into sickness, and to ice that terrible cake, I live with the very pain again that this miracle medicine had completely knocked out to begin with.
Live and let live! Get out of my medicine cabinet!
Thank you, and again, this comment is not at all personal toward the poster of this blog. Have a great day.
Really good job man carry on thanks i like this post and your all post is very important and helpful thanks
I'm curious what the mean and median ages are. Was there any data showing that info?
We must fight big pharma tooth and nail by non compliance and always looking for natural alternatives. Prevention: always eat non gmo organic and if it's home grown even better.
I have never used these drugs so I don't understand why people are taking them so much... but I also don't have chronic pain. Hard to put myself in someone else's shoes and understand what's going on here.
We are dealing with a serious problem in the United States, but I think that this "opioid crisis" is just one of the symptoms of a larger problem.