Elderly Drug Abuse Essay

Throughout high school I worked at a family owned pharmacy, Rapoport. My boss, who is a business owner and a pharmacist often turned away customers that had a prescription for opiates, which are pain relievers known to the induce a sense of euphoria (Center for Applied Research Solutions). We carried different many forms of opiates which included tablets, gels, liquids, and injections, but all were equally addictive. He especially refused to dispense elders prescriptions, people who are 65 and older, because he knew that every painkiller he decided to prescribe is a risk where he could potentially lose not only the license to his business, but also the right to practice medicine. My boss was smart enough to realize that elders are often viewed
It logical to think that seniors have coping mechanisms. However, many seniors actually lack coping mechanisms which is why elders who experience chronic pain often turn to medications, especially opiates, for relief (Royal College of Psychiatrists). One of the most prominent reasons for opiate drug abuse amongst elders is due to retirement where a majority of the elderly population transition from facing busy work schedules to empty agendas (Addiction Center). Other triggers are essentially caused by emotional distress which include death of a close family member, financial hardships, insomnia, and or family issues (AAFP Foundation). Many elders do not intentionally turn to opiates for relief, it is actually the brain of chronic pain sufferers who mix physical pain with emotional pain, resulting in patients to think that their mental pain is caused by the physical pain they feel and therefore think they need to increase their dosage of painkillers to create the sense of euphoria to cope (National Council on Alcoholism and Drug
A case study was recorded of a 74-year old woman, Mrs. M, whose caretaker stated that Mrs. M became “paranoid, anxious, and then delirious” after a different doctor increased her dosage of opiates after explaining to her doctor that she needed more to manage the “back pain she was dealing with” (Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc.). In reality, as Mrs. M’s caretaker stated, she did not seem to need an increase in dosage because the patient’s back problems were already improving as seen with the x-ray scans from a different