Opioids are powerful pain relievers that include drugs like codeine, oxycodone, morphine, and heroin. While opioids are used medically to treat pain, dependence and addiction can develop with prolonged use. Withdrawal symptoms like rapid breathing, sweating, and diarrhea appear when use stops. Prolonged opioid use can also lead to complications like lung damage, infections from unsterilized needles, and neurological issues. Babies born to mothers using opioids may experience withdrawal. Treatment options include medication to block opioid effects and long-term therapeutic communities.

1. Opioids By: Allegra Valeriano & Hannah Slatin

2. What are Opioids? The medical use for opioids are Powerful pain relievers Some examples are: Codeine (has a very low dependence) Oxycodone(used in a combination with acetaminophen i.e.. Tylenol) Meperidine (Demerol) Morphine Pentazocine (Talwin) Hydromorphone

4. Heroin Heroin is illegal in the United States but in other countries is used other countries for treatment such as the United Kingdom Used for Chronic pain(cancer) Physical trauma After surgery pain While the united kingdom uses Heroin to treat those morphine is most common to use elsewhere.

5. Effects of Opioids Some people become dependant on opioids after starting their prescription to help their pain Many people who use opioids for pain relief for more than a few days feel symptoms of withdrawal when they stop IMPORTANT serious dependence and addiction RARELY occurs when opioid use is MEDICALLY supervised Tolerance to opioids can be developed after 2 to 3 days when using opioids

6. Effects of Opioids Many effects Strong sedative Causes people to be quiet and introspective Euphoria (sometimes only because pain is gone) The dull of the pain may cause sexual pleasure Constipation Flusher or warm skin & lowered blood pressure Itching Constricted pupils Slow, shallow breathing Slower heart rate Lower body temperature

7. Symptoms & Complications Complications from opioid addiction Unsterilized needles Drug users elbow Muscle around it is replaced with scar tissue from needle punctures that were unsuccessful for the abuser Subcoutaneous injections (skin popping) leave skin sores Intravenous injections lead to scarring of veins (tracks) which make them harded to inject Lung problems, pneumonia scarring from impure injections

8. More Effects Opioid addicts can develop neurologic problems, usually as the result of inadequate blood flow to the brain. Coma may result. Quinine, a common heroin contaminant, can cause double vision, paralysis, and other nerve injury symptoms, including Guillain-Barré syndrome A contaminant sometimes present in homemade meperidine(Demerol) (MPTP) damages the brain and leads to severe parkinsonism Opioids suppress breathing and can cause the lungs to fill with fluid.

9. Pregnancy Use during pregnancy is awful Heroin and methadone easily cross the placenta into the fetus. A baby born to an addicted mother may quickly develop withdrawal symptoms, including tremors, high-pitched crying, jitters, seizures, and rapid breathing

10. Withdrawal Withdrawal symptoms can appear as early as 4 to 6 hours after the opioid use stops and generally peak within 36 to 72 hours. The first sign of withdrawal is generally rapid breathing usually accompanied by yawning Perspiration Crying runny nose. Other signs include Hyperactivity,a sense of heightened alertness, rapid breathing, agitation, an increased heart rate, fever, dilated pupils, gooseflesh, tremors, muscle twitching, hot and cold flashes, aching muscles, loss of appetite, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea.

11. Treatment Naltrexone (Revia)is a drug that blocks the effects of opioids. Depending on the dose, naltrexone's effects last from 24 to 72 hours. Because of this, an addict who has a stable social background can take this drug daily (or possibly as few as 3 times a week) to avoid the temptation of using opioids. The therapeutic community concept emerged nearly 25 years ago in response to the problems of heroin addiction. Daytop Village and Phoenix House pioneered this non-drug approach. Treatment involves a communal, relatively long-term (usually 15- to 18-month) stay in a residential setting to help addicts build new lives through training, education, and redirection. These programs have helped many people, but people question how well the work.

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