Greetings to all and sundry on this platform once again. As a biochemistry student, I researched "Narcotic drugs and their side effects as well as some of their benefits" today and decided to share it here. I hope that you will enjoy it and also learn from it. Stay tuned with me as I discuss this topic in my article.
Narcotic drugs are drugs that are used to relieve pain and sedation. They are derived from opium plants and can be used to treat vomiting, seizures, anxiety, and nausea. Narcotic drugs include the following; morphine, oxycodone, codeine, hydrocodone, etc. Narcotic drugs are efficient in treating pain the most but are sometimes very dangerous to be used if care is not taken.
Narcotic drugs have several uses in the health sector, including the blockage of the brain signals responsible for controlling pain and when that happens, the body doesn't feel pain or in other words reduces the sensation of pain. This helps health officers to perform surgery on patients when the need arises so that the patient does not feel too much pain during the process.
Apart from using narcotic drugs to relieve pain, they can also be used in decreasing the anxiety or worries of an individual. Codeine is used for treating cough whilst morphine on the hand is used in treating anxieties. As stated above, these drugs are used in treating or reducing seizures as well as reducing vomiting and nausea.
Benefits of Narcotic Drugs
They help in managing pain or injury during surgery. Before surgery is performed on a patient, he or she is given a narcotic drug to help manage or reduce any pain during the process. This helps doctors to perform their surgery peacefully and safely without any interruption.
Furthermore, these drugs are used in treating or managing chronic pain, especially in situations where other ways of treatment didn't work.
There are some side effects of using these drugs as well and I would mention a few in the following;
First of all, it may be addicting if one takes it as his or her habit. It is an easy to addict drug and one must stay away from them no matter what.
Moreover, some of these side effects include vomiting, drowsiness, nausea, confusion, decreased breathing rate, and constipation. Being addicted to these drugs would lead to tolerance in a way that one has to always increase the dose he or she takes daily because the effect of the previous dose would not be efficient as before.
Narcotic drugs should never be combined with alcohol or any other drugs. This is very dangerous to our health. Narcotic drugs should be taken with permission or a prescription by a doctor. If instructions or prescriptions are not followed, this would lead to addiction and other dangerous side effects to the human body.
I would advise that we personally stay away from these drugs and always take them when and if prescribed by a doctor. It should not also be overdosed as well.
The references given below are sites where you can learn more about narcotic drugs, their side effects and benefits.
