4 Reasons Preventing Opioid and Benzo Addiction is Better than Treating It
Symptoms that lead providers to prescribe opioids or benzodiazepines, including anxiety, insomnia, and chronic pain, should be weighed against the potential outcome of chemical dependency. From physical withdrawal symptoms to the possible upending of a patient’s way of life, the consequences of developing addiction can be debilitating or even catastrophic.
Providers owe it to the best interests of every patient to carefully consider the risks of prescribing benzos and opioids. First and foremost, avoiding chemical dependency benefits patients, who may otherwise be burdened with managing addiction on top of whatever brought them through the door, perhaps even long after that issue is resolved.
Preventing chemical dependency is also far preferable to treating patients for addiction after it takes hold. Advancements in Medication-Assisted Treatment, tapering strategies, and other therapeutic interventions have developed in response to rising rates of addiction. But avoiding chemical dependency in the first place remains the best-case scenario.
As the adage goes, prevention is indeed the best medicine. Read four factors every provider should consider before prescribing opioids or benzos.
1 Addiction can happen fast
Chemical dependency on opioids and benzos can develop quickly. Even a short-term course of opioid or benzodiazepine treatment can lead to dependency. A patient taking benzos daily is likely to experience withdrawal symptoms after just 3 weeks, according to recent studies. That’s because the medication can intervene in the brain’s chemistry within a very short exposure time.
Similar benzodiazepines, opioids likewise work by affecting the brain’s chemistry. Opioids trigger the release of feel-good endorphins, an experience that itself can be very addictive. Prolonged use can also lead to tolerance, such that more opioids are needed to experience the same feeling. Repeated use can slow the body’s natural production of endorphins, leading to chemical dependency.
Because addiction can develop quickly, it’s crucial to understand and weigh risks in advance, and to consider the pros and cons for a variety of patients. Equally important is developing a plan to treat pain long-term using non-opioid strategies, like mind-body or cognitive-behavioral therapies for chronic pain.
2 Low-cost alternatives exist–and are easily available
While opioids and benzos can be highly effective medications, in many cases they should not be considered the first line of defense against symptoms that may also respond to alternative treatments. Because the potential for addiction is so high, even over a brief course of treatment, seeking lower-risk medications that target specific symptoms should be considered best practice.
Sleep aids that haven’t proven to cause dependency could be prescribed to treat insomnia, for example, instead of benzodiazepines. Alternatively, providers may try a host of other medications designed to safely and effectively treat pain in place of starting a patient on opioids.
3 Mind-body intervention can be just as effective as opioids
Pain management means more than just prescribing medication. Used in combination with other therapies, opioids can be a safe and effective short-term intervention to address acute pain from elective surgery, for example.
Coaching a patient through pain management, and the proper use of medication, is among the services Skyler Health offers in partnership with providers. What’s more, we employ mind-body therapies that help members regulate their central nervous system. In fact, one such mind-body intervention we often use was shown to reduce pain by up to 30% — that’s equivalent to the pain reduction a patient experiences with opioids, like oxycodone.
Providing care that’s patient-centered is also essential. Opioids may best be avoided, for example, should a patient’s history or circumstances suggest they are more inclined to develop an addiction.
Adherence to a short-term course of treatment, and tapering off medication as necessary, is also key to a successful course of pain management. Skyler Health works in tandem with providers to extend a full range of supportive services to members that go well beyond filling a prescription.
4 Benzo withdrawal can boost anxiety levels–especially in cancer patients
The harsh truth about benzodiazepines is that they can cause an escalation of the symptoms they’re designed to treat. Though they may alleviate anxiety, insomnia, and irritability in the short-term, withdrawal caused by chemical dependency can exacerbate all of these symptoms, confusing patients and providers alike about the need for continuing a course of treatment.
Such a cycle can be especially devastating for patients who recover from illness only to find themselves painfully addicted to medication they received during treatment. Chemotherapy patients, for example, may experience anxiety and insomnia as a result of both their diagnosis and its highly invasive treatments.
However, a patient who experiences remission, and may then be free of the underlying sources of their anxiety–namely cancer and chemotherapy–may find that a chemical dependency on benzodiazepines presents a separate source of the same gnawing problems. As cancer treatments improve, managing the use of benzos over the course of chemotherapy has become of particular concern for a patient’s continued quality of life.
Prescribing opioids or benzodiazepines entails a host of specific considerations and pros and cons depending on the patient and their unique circumstances. Providers don’t have to go it alone. Skyler Health collaborates with providers to meet patient-centered needs, whatever they may be.
