CDC Issues Tough Guidelines on Painkiller Use to Prevent Addiction
Earlier this week, federal officials issued a tough new prescribing guidelines on giving painkillers like Oxycontin, Percocet and Vicodin, with the intention to prevent abuse and addiction.
According to WebMD, the new advisory from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that doctors, most particularly those in primary care, should try to avoid giving "addictive opioid painkillers" to patients whenever possible and instead offer alternative treatments for chronic pain. Examples of such are non-opioid painkillers like ibuprofen as well as physical therapy.
This would apply to patients who are suffering chronic pain but only required outpatient treatment like in joint or back pain and dental pain as well. However, it won't include those who use narcotic painkillers for their cancer-related pain or terminally ill patients who are under palliative care.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
"If you're prescribing an opiate to a patient for the first time, that's a momentous decision," CDC Director Tom Frieden said and as quoted over at The Wall Street Journal. "That may change that patient's life for the worse forever. So you've really got to think carefully before doing it."
"What we're trying to do with this guideline is chart a safer course that allows patients with severe pain to be treated but recognizes that for most patients with chronic pain the risks of prescription opiates will far outweigh the uncertain benefits," Frieden went on to tell WSJ.
The guideline, however, didn't sail smoothly as expected. It drew flak from pharmaceutical industry-backed groups, pain management organizations and even patients suffering chronic pains.
Such regulations could reportedly "restrict access to pain medications" for those patients who are dependent on these particular type of painkillers.
Data from CDC, meanwhile, stated that there are about 40 Americans who died from prescription opioid overdoses. Feiden added that the increase in opioid prescriptions, which soared since 1999, has eventually made the intake of prescription opioids versus that of its illicit variants a bit more ambiguous.
CDC stressed out that when the need for painkillers arises, doctors should prescribe "the lowest possible effective dosage."
Stay tuned for more updates.
