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When Opioid Pain Relievers Are Prescribed For Your Child: What You Should Know
July 11, 2018 by The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
Used appropriately, medicines can improve our lives. When misused and abused, however, the consequences can be devastating. The over prescribing and misuse of prescription pain relievers has been a major cause of today’s epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose deaths, with four out of five heroin users reporting that they misused prescription opioids before using heroin.
This overview is intended to help you know what questions to ask when a healthcare provider recommends or prescribes a pain reliever for your child, and how to be sure that your child takes the medication as prescribed without misusing the medication or sharing it with others.
What are some common opioid pain relievers?
Hydrocodone (Zohydro)
Hydrocodone + Acetaminophen (Vicodin)
Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Roxicodone)
Oxycodone + Acetaminophen (Percocet)
Codeine, Morphine, Fentanyl
Tylenol with codeine
There are also non-opioid pain relievers (gabapentin, for example) that also have a potential for misuse and abuse, but much lower than that of opioids.
Why is the Misuse of Prescription Pain Relievers So Dangerous?
Opioid pain relievers are powerful drugs — very similar to heroin in their chemical makeup, and habit-forming by their very nature. This is why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) strongly recommends against the prescribing of opioids for long-term treatment of chronic pain. Even for treatment of acute (short term) pain, opioid pain relievers should only be prescribed and taken sparingly.
The risk of addiction is particularly concerning when the patient is a teen or young adult because their brains are still developing and therefore biologically predisposed to experimentation. So if your teen or young adult is prescribed opioid pain relievers,you or your child’s caregiver should control the medication, dispense it only as prescribed and monitor their children closely for signs of misuse or growing dependence.
In addition to the danger of dependence, misuse of opioids can cause dramatic increases in blood pressure and heart rate, organ damage, difficulty breathing, seizures and even death.
Why Would a Young Person be Prescribed an Opioid Pain Reliever?
Opioid pain relievers are most often prescribed following surgery or to treat cancer pain –- so many young people will not be in a position to be prescribed opioids. But opioids may be prescribed for young people in the event of accidental injury -– a sports-related injury, for example, or a biking accident in which a fracture or even a severe sprain occurs. Another reason for which opioids are often prescribed to young people is oral surgery to remove wisdom teeth. Additionally, there are other ailments –- sickle cell disease or other pediatric chronic pain conditions –- for which opioids may be recommended.