FINDING ALTERNATIVES TO OPIOIDS WHICH HAS LESSER SIDE EFFECTS AND ADDICTION
JOANNE CAMILLE M. FIGUERAS, RN
Drugs are used to treat diseases and illnesses; but some drugs can be highly addictive when used for wrong reasons. Examples of these are opioids. Opioids are being used since ancient times. It has been extracted from opium, laudanum, and poppies.
According to studies, opioids are well-known to be lethally addictive due to their potency. The crisis has been spreading nationwide. Unaware of drugs’complications such as having difficulties of breathing, gastrointestinal upset, nausea, and hypersensitization that worsens the feelings of pain. In a long run, persons who use opioids frequently might need a higher dose of opioids. Their body has been dependent to opioids that the pain relieving effects of the drugs is not as much as effective compared to non-opioid users. Higher doses of opioids may lead to respiratory depression.
Many researchers are trying to find some alternatives to opioids that target the opioid receptor without the risk of dangerous side effects. Researchers believe that there are good reasons to seek for alternatives to opioids. According to Jonathan Violin, senior vice-president of scientific affairs at Pennysylvannia- based and professor at Duke University Medical Center that they wish that there were something that worked better than or at least as well as the endorphin pathway mediated by-opioid receptor but they haven’t found it yet.
Efforts of many researchers to find safer alternatives to opioids have been started. In cooperation of many academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies, they are testing a range of molecules that target opioid receptors that has lack of dangerous side effects.
Some of these alternatives bind with the opioid receptor, whereas others act in the relief of pain in the peripheral tissues. Still others aim to have pain relief with lesser side effect which bypass the morphine-binding-opioid receptor (MOR). The aim to reduce side effects could speed up patients’recovery and regain from previous health status.
In 1827, Merck was the one who first sold a commercial form in opium derivative morphine. Having been known for its potential addictive effect, it didn’t hinder the boom other form of opioids-or prescriptions for the drugs as stated in the study. In fact, during 20th century many pharmaceutical companies have developed opiate drugs even before the drugs’mechanism of action has been uncovered.
It was stated in a study that opiods are no longer recommended for treatment of most types of long-term chronic pain, because the longer the use of these drugs, the greater chances of side effects and addiction. In correlation to this, researchers have begun to identify some pain relievers that bypass the need to activate opioid receptors. One of these drugs that were approved by the FDA for the treatment of pain such as migraine is a calcitonin gene-related peptide inhibitor which has been manufactured by Amgen and Novartis.
Opioid receptors are found in the entire human body. This makes it easy to use for its function as analgesic no matter where pain originates. However, there are also side effects when opioids cross the blood-brain barriers and to different brain areas, it causes nausea, difficulty of breathing and activates reward pathways of the brain, which result to increased risk of addiction.
According to studies, many researchers still doubt the alternative drug for opioid that activates the MOR can might be non-addictive. However, discoveries of new drugs that provide the potent pain relief mediated via opioids-without after effects-might prove a powerful tool in combating the opioid crisis.
In addition to this, opioids or any other drugs have potential harmful effects once they were used for wrong purposes or used for a long period of time. High level of opioids in our body makes our life in jeopardy. It just not make our body dependent to the drug, it also destroys the system as well and the way we interact with other people.
Reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America