What we consider the modern opioid crisis dates to the mid-1990s and the introduction of a new wave of prescription painkillers. And because humans tend to understand history through the lens of their own memories, it is not unusual for someone to believe that opioid painkillers did not exist prior to the 1990s.
Actually, opioid pain treatments are centuries old. They go back a lot farther than most people understand. Even so, growing numbers of medical providers believe there are better options. Many of us believe that opioids should not be a first-line treatment.
Some of the earliest records of opioids being used for pain relief date back to ancient Mesopotamia circa 4,000 BC. Way back then, the 'milk of the poppy' was a well-known analgesic. Ancient Sumerians used opium from the poppy as a pain reliever.
History records opium making its way to Asia somewhere around 700 AD. Five hundred years after that, opium was readily available throughout Europe. Reports of abuse and addiction began to emerge in Europe and Asia in the 18th century.
By the early 19th century, pharmacists began isolating opium compounds to create drugs. Morphine was one of the first. Introducing morphine as a pharmaceutical pain reliever opened the door to organized and regulated opioid pain management. The rest, as they say, is history.
By the end of the 19th century, opioid drugs like morphine and heroin were often the drugs of choice for pain management, mental health treatments, and addressing sleep disorders. Governments around the world responded by regulating the drugs.
Fast forward to 2024 and we are seeing the adverse effects of investing too much of our pain management in opioid therapy. Opioid pain management does have legitimate applications. There are particularly good reasons for prescribing opioid painkillers. But there are other options. In many cases, pain can be managed without using any opioids at all.
A modern approach to pain management looks at opioid medications as just one part of a much larger ecosystem of solutions. Pain medications cannot be a solution all by themselves.
What are the other components? Here are just a few of them:
The modern approach to pain management is a multi-disciplinary approach. In simple English, we don't just pull out a prescription pad, write a few orders, and send a patient on their way. Modern pain management emphasizes combining multiple therapies capable of treating the whole person in body, mind, and spirit.
As effective as opioid pain management can be, it is limited in the sense that it only treats the physical aspects of pain. But pain is not just physical. It has emotional and psychological components as well. That's why a comprehensive approach to pain management includes mental health counseling.
Science has also discovered in recent years that a patient's perspective of pain usually influences their physical experience. A patient expecting to experience significant pain from a medical procedure will, indeed, experience that pain. Someone not expecting severe pain is less likely to experience it.
While opioid pain management has helped a lot of people over the centuries, what we now know about opioids suggests caution. The good news is that there are other ways to manage pain without relying exclusively on opioids. You can learn more by visiting a KindlyMD clinic.
