Controlled Substances for Cancer Patients The

In general, drugs are used in the final stages of cancer to treat pain and to ameliorate other symptoms that may occur in cancer patients. Common analgesics available currently in the care of cancer patients are Pethidine, Buprenorphine, morphine, methadone, codeine, and dextropropoxypheae, all legal drugs in the United States. They are classified as opoid analgesics and synthetic opoid analgesics, administered in varying degrees for the purpose of helping the patient to manage pain associated with cancer. These drugs are generally effective, although at times they are accompanied by the unpleasant side effects of nausea, drowsiness, confusion, dizziness, and constipation (World Health Organization, 1986, 55-65). Methadone is generally not used in elderly patients, those with confusion, or those with significant respiratory, hepatic, or renal failure.

Apparently, there is controversy in the medical field regarding the concepts of physical addiction and dependence. For the purposes of definition, physical dependence is characterized by withdrawal symptoms if treatment is stopped abru

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Advanced Cancer, Dr. Billings distinguishes between physical dependence and psychological dependence. Physical dependence is common when cancer patients regularly take opiates. Withdrawal of the narcotics produces irritability, tremors, yawning, perspiration, chills, flushing, abdominal cramps, muscle aches and spasms. These symptoms may be mild and pass unnoticed by the patient and the doctor. Withdrawal in cancer patients is nothing like the "cold turkey" portrayals of drug users on television or in the movies. (Billings, 1985, 16). Physical symptoms are easily managed by tapering off the dosage. Psychological dependence is defined as a craving for the drug and for the pleasant feeling associated with its use. This is hardly ever observed among cancer patients. Lamerton, an experienced hospice physician, flatly states that "addiction is a myth" (Billings, 1985, 17). Cancer patients seem to take just the amount of medication they need, often less. After prolonged ingestion of large amounts of narcotics, medical patients may uneventfully stop the use of drugs. They can do this because they are not psychologically dependent. The best measure of the effectiveness of the particular drug is the subjective report of the pa
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Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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