why might a medical professional prescribe narcotics to a patient?

why might a medical professional prescribe narcotics to a patient?

Answer:

The prescription of narcotics is mostly to manage pain, and often, it is recommended by a doctor when the patient is in severe or chronic pain that cannot effectively be alleviated by other drugs. Narcotics can be referred to as opioids which are effective strong pain relievers that work on signals in the brain and the nervous system to reduce the sensation of pain.

In the following circumstances, there may be a reason behind the prescription of narcotics by a medical officer. As for chronic pain, analgesics including narcotics have very little place, however, in the case of acute pain for example, in postoperative or trauma patients where the pain may be excruciating and will only last for some time, narcotics are very effective in managing the pain within that short time. For instance, a patient who has just been operated under a hip replacement may be given a prescription containing oxycodone for short-term use in managing hip pain. Narcotics can only be prescribed for terminal illnesses that do not have a cure, like cancer and severe arthritis when no other efficient pain management scheme can be arranged for the long-term. A terminal cancer patient may helplessly administer morphine to relieve chronic severe pain and thus improve on his or her last month of life.

It also noted that narcotics can be applied to the management of neuropathic pain given the evidence that they are helpful for individuals suffering from diabetic neuropathy or shingles where other medicines were of no avail to the patients in terms of relieving them of their pain. Several of them can be given when the patient has a situation where they are coughing severely due to terminal-stage lung cancer, or severe diarrhoea in certain GI diseases.

Yet, it is also vital to understand that although narcotics are indeed optimal for treating the pains, they are also connected to the higher probabilities of producing dependence and many side effects. Thus, when it comes to the use of narcotics, medical practitioners ensure that they undertake a risk-benefit analysis of the benefits to be derived in comparison to the harm to be incurred and they only prescribe narcotics when and only when other non-narcotics pain-relieving measures have been exhausted or when it is the last resort.