Opioids are a class of drugs that include the illegal drug known as heroin, and synthetic prescription drugs including fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, or methadone (drugs with common names such as Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin).
Prescription opioids are medications that are chemically similar to endorphins and interact with opioid receptors in the body and brain. Endorphins are opioids our body makes naturally to relieve pain. In nature, opioids are in the seed pod of the opium poppy plant. Opioid medications can be natural or synthetic.
For most people, when taking medically prescribed opioids for a short time, they are relatively safe and can reduce pain effectively. However, dependence and addiction are still potential risks when taking prescription opioids. The longer you use these medications, the higher your chance of developing addiction symptoms.
Slang names: Happy Pills, Hillbilly Heroin, OC, Oxy, Percs, or Vikes
Oxycodone is a semisynthetic opioid synthesized from thebaine, an opioid alkaloid found in the Persian poppy, and one of the many alkaloids found in the opium poppy.
Other names: OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet
Hydrocodone, dihydrocodeinone, is a semi-synthetic opioid synthesized from codeine. This is one of the opioid alkaloids found in the opium poppy.
Other names: Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet
Diphenoxylate is a centrally active opioid drug of the phenylpiperidine series that people use for the treatment of diarrhea.
Other names: Lomotil
Morphine is a pain medication of the opiate variety found naturally in a number of plants and animals.
Other names: Kadian, Avinza, MS Contin
Codeine is an opiate used for pain, as a cough medicine, and for diarrhea.
Fentanyl is an opioid used as a pain medication and together with other medications for anesthesia. It has a rapid onset and effects generally last less than an hour or two. Fentanyl is available in a number of forms including by injection, as a skin patch, and to be absorbed through the tissues inside the mouth.
Other Names: Duragesic
Dextropropoxyphene is an opioid intended to treat mild pain and also is a cough suppressant with local anaesthetic effects.
Other Names: Darvon
Hydromorphone, is an opioid made from morphine.
Other names: Dilaudid
Meperidine is a synthetic opioid pain medication indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe pain, and is delivered as a hydrochloride salt in tablets, as a syrup, or by intramuscular, subcutaneous, or intravenous injection.
Other names: Demerol, Pethidine
Recover Your Opioid Addiction Costs
Drug manufacturers lied to us about the addictive nature of opioids, and medical professionals prescribe them. Prescribing these drugs in high doses and for prolonged periods of time can lead to addiction and other devastating injuries. These include, among other adverse side effects, dependence, the craving to seek more drugs, use of other legal pain killers, use of other illegal drugs, and worst of all, overdose and death.
Doctors should only prescribe powerful opioid pain-killers such as fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, or methadone (drugs with common names such as Vicodin, Percocet, and OxyContin) for short term, intense pain, not to treat chronic pain conditions.
America’s opioid epidemic has affected, injured, or killed tens of thousands of Americans. It’s a national tragedy. All of these injuries could have been prevented. Drug manufacturers of opioid pain-killers have advertised their products as being less addictive than they actually are. Drug manufacturers have sometimes alleged that these drugs are safe to treat chronic pain. This marketing has lured scores of medication users and even doctors, into a false sense of security in using and prescribing such drugs.
If you or a loved one became addicted to an opioid, overdosed, hospitalized from an overdose, or used an opioid during pregnancy and the baby has a birth defect, contact us today. We have decades of experience going against pharmaceutical companies and drug manufacturers that produce unsafe products.
