The opioid crisis in the United States is so great that even President Trump has been making comments that he wants our legislators to take action and help find a way to end the problem. Although opioids do have a purpose when it comes to medical care, there is plenty of evidence that they are being over-prescribed and abused. Putting aside the complications of having politicians make decisions concerning medical care best practices, it’s important to remember that our government is focusing on this issue because it really is a problem. There are statistics showing that there are increased mortality rates when opioids are used for too long, and many of those deaths are because of opioid misuse. These are completely preventable deaths, in some cases. A solution to the issue is needed, and luckily, researchers are making progress here.
One new way that doctors are attempting to resolve this issue might be through the use of a different kind of medication. A cancer drug that operates on a specific and newly discovered biological pathway has shown that it can help to alleviate chronic pain. This is just a beginning, but it’s an important breakthrough. The study was done by researchers at McGill University in Canada, and was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Researchers began their experimentation by working with fruit flies. In their research, they described a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which has been used for the treatment of cancer in the past. And although EGFR has been widely used previously, its use with pain management was previously unknown. The work may have been done with fruit flies, but researchers are confident that the same pathways exist within humans. Obviously, there is much more research that needs to be done, but this is a big step in the right direction.
Opioid use is not always misguided, but prolonged use or misuse is dangerous. Unfortunately, many people have lost family members or other loved ones because of the fact that opioids were misused. And the people that suffer most are the elderly, mainly because they already have many different risk factors impacting their health. They are also the individuals that are most likely to suffer from chronic pain. By finding new ways to alleviate pain effectively, we can prevent our elderly loved ones from potentially being exposed to opioid misuse.
When a loved one suffers from chronic pain, changes are needed. You may even have considered moving your loved one into a nursing home or assisted living. But, if improvements in pain management are made, these kind of care decisions can be avoided or, at least, postponed. Finding the perfect type of senior care for a loved one can be overwhelming, and if care can be avoided because of improved health or superior medical care, then this is far easier on families. In the meantime, spending some time researching the best care for your loved one and their specific set of needs can go a long way toward improving their quality of life.
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