Morphine: Preventative Pain Control Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive

Morphine: Preventative Pain Control I. Introduction Narcotic analgesics, especially morphine are underused for pain control with in the medical field. This underuse is because medical professionals, including doctors, fear patient addiction, side effects and possible lose of their licenses. These fears deny adequate healing and a better quality of life to those who would benefit from a more effective use of these drugs, as done in hospice care. II. PAIN: Pain not only involves the physical reaction to damaged tissue, but also involves an emotional and cognitive response by the person experiencing the pain (Backer, 1994). A person's prior experience will influence how pain is managed. Pain is a signal that something is not quite right, and is one of the main reasons a person will seek out the attention of a doctor. Pain is also elusive. "It can't be seen or imagined, and measuring pain remains a subjective process," (Kohler, 1992). Although pain is elusive and subjective, it is still very real. Pain hurts. If left untreated, or inadequately treated, pain can overwhelm and consume a person's life. Instead of being a signal to a problem, pain becomes the problem. Various factors influence the pain a person feels when injured, sick or recovering from surgery. Different people have different thresholds of pain. A headache that sends one person to the medicine cabinet for aspirin may not bother another person. "Nonphysical factors, such as fear, anxiety, depression, and fatigue," (Backer, 1994) are also variables which influence reactions to the threshold pain. If an adolescent complains of a headache, and the parents' ask if she took something for it, she will more than likely take pain medication before complaining ... ... Herrera, Stephan. 1997, May 19. "The Myth of Morphine." Forbes. 258-59. Kohler, Steve. 1992. "Hard Cases" Outlook. 14-16,18-19. Martin, Edward W. 1996, April. "Pharmacological Management of Cancer Pain" http://biomedcs.biomed.brown.edu/RIMedicine/MARTIN.HTM. Sept. 25, 1997. McClesky, Ed. 1992. "The Root of Pain" Outlook. 17. Mdh@debug.cuc.ab.ca. 1994, Jan. 30. "Opioid FAQ" http://www.paranoia.com/drugs/opiate/FAQ-Opioid. Sept. 25, 1997. Moulin, Dwight, E., et al. 1996, Jan. 20. "Randomized Trial of Oral Morphine for Chronic Non-cancer Pain" The Lancet. 143-148. Murphy, Terence M. 1981. "Treatment of Chronic Pain" Anesthesia, vol. 2. Ed. Ronald D. Miller. Churchill Livingstone: New York, NY. National Cancer Institute. 1980. Coping with Cancer: A Resource for the Health Care Professional. National Institutes of Health: Bethesda, MD.