Manage pain wisely to protect yourself from opioid addiction
Headlines declaring that life expectancy in the U.S. has declined for the first time since 1993 because of deaths from opioids are the latest red-flag warning that, as a nation and individually, we need to change both our approach to managing pain with opioids and how we address illicit drug use.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that between 2015 and 2016, there was a 28 percent increase in fatal opioid overdoses! In 2016, more than 63,000 Americans died of drug overdose — and 42,249 of those deaths
involved opioids. Those drugs are now killing more folks than guns or breast cancer!
To focus the country’s health care providers and YOU on the problem, the Food and Drug Administration asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to develop a plan to curb the epidemic. Their report, “Pain Management and the Opioid Epidemic: Balancing Societal and Individual Benefits and Risks of Prescription Opioid Use,” is out, as are additional publications, Congressional testimonies and journal editorials based on the findings.
They offer guidance that the country and each one of YOU should pay careful attention to.