Pain medication has always been a dubious thing. Prescribed for the treatment of the most severe of cases, these pills have a sordid history of misuse, abuse and addiction. Its precisely this reason that the use of these intense pain medications were kept out of the hands of minors. However, recent advances in the way this drug is both administered and produced has enabled clinicians to prescribe it to children.
Adolescents between the ages of 11 to 16 are now able to receive treatment with Oxycontin. Restricted to the most extreme cases, only children in need of round-the-clock care or suffering from extensive physical trauma are eligible for treatment. While slow-release opioids are also being tested, reducing the maximum amount of daily doses by half, the effect of the drug remains considerably more powerful than its fellow treatments.
The decision to change the treatment parameters came after the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) requested the manufacturer of Oxycontin, Purdue Pharma, to reexamine its policy on the treatment of pediatric patients. Though the same warnings apply to child patients as adults, there are precautions in place for those looking to undergo the treatment. Children are ineligible to receive treatment unless a prior treatment of 20 mg/day of oxycodone has been administered. A hefty treatment for pain in its own right, the level of required prior medication necessary to warrant the Oxycontin is extreme.
With new advances in the way we treat patients, the best we can do is mitigate the tremendous pain these children are already suffering under. Though risks are involved in its use, the necessary precautions have been taken to prevent abuse of this substance. Only given to children in most dire of situations, we can only hope that the treatment continues to keep the pain at bay while they recover.
from Bjorn Koch | Healthcare http://ift.tt/1LtoAAq
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