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Alternatives to Opioid Precriptions

Shasta Stone

Student (NOT Journalism School)

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As the opioid epidemic seems to be an ever-increasing problem in the United States, people have been persistent in trying to find solutions to this social problem. One of the most effective ways to combat the abuse of prescription opioids is to start at the source -- the actual act of prescribing these opioids for pain treatment. This thought process has led to a push toward finding alternative ways to treat pain. When people are in physical pain, they usually go to the doctor for opioids. These strong prescriptions represent legitimate treatment, professional judgement, and a cure-all. This has become such a common and widely accepted practice, that alternatives to opiates are often not considered. This collection includes a plethora of articles that introduce and talk about real alternative treatments for the management of pain such as acupuncture therapy, remedies from other organisms, and over-the-counter medications. For example, acupuncture has withstood the test of time and has been practiced for over thousands of years and recognized as a beneficial treatment for pain by medical professionals around the world. Researchers have found that sea snails carry a non-addictive neurotoxin that has been proven to manage pain overtime better than opioids. Furthermore, common medications such as tylenol and ibuprofen actually work better in conjunction with antibiotics than opioids do. These stories tie the issues of opioid addiction and doctors over-prescribing opioid medications for pain treatment to alternative, non-addictive treatment methods.