Eating Disorder in a Young Active Duty Male The paper must be at least 2-3 pages in length (not including cover and reference page) and must be doubled-spaced, 12-point font and submitted on a Microso

Introduction 

Opioids are a class of pain-relieving drugs that interacts with the opioid receptors in the brain to produce several effects. These drugs help relieve pain; however, they can have analgesic effects, negative implications on the central nervous systems, and the potential to cause euphoria. Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a disorder caused by the continuous use of opioid drugs (Blanco & Volkow, 2019). It can involve overdose consumption of drugs as prescribed by the doctor, using the drugs for other purposes, not for treatment, or illicitly consuming heroin. In addition, opioid use disorder often causes patients to have series of illnesses as it is chronic. Therefore, patients with this disorder are often treated to prevent relapse of illness.

Client Background

This case is about a 27-year-old woman with Opioid Use Disorder and Suicidal Ideation. The woman was admitted because she attempted to commit suicide. Weeks before this admission, the woman began to use intranasal heroin daily to relieve her from the depression and stress of being homeless. She also consumed clonazepam to control her panic and anxiety but felt tired of life and wanted to kill herself. That same day after admission, this woman smashed her phone and ate glass shards to try and commit suicide. She vomited two teaspoons of blood and told the hospital's emergency department how badly she regrated trying to commit suicide; she requested help with her substance use and suicidality. In her previous medical history, the patient had no records of suicide attempts. However, she had impaired sleep, fatigue, mood lability, nightmares, and flashbacks. She had never undergone psychiatric treatment and took no medication. She, however, smoked and drank daily for the past ten years. Upon examination, this woman appeared tearful and anxious; her body temperature was 36.8°C with a pulse of 70 beats per minute.

Client Abnormal Behavior.

The opioid disorder has many unique features that make it different from other substance addictions. Consumption of Opioids is chronic and can cause the patients to have abnormal behaviors (Connery, 2015). Patients with Opioid use disorders always have generalized pain, cramps, diarrhea, chills, intense vomiting, and many other symptoms. These symptoms are severe and cause patients to continue using opioids. It is these symptoms that cause the patients to have unique and abnormal behaviors. In this case study, the woman consistently showed abnormal behaviors. She gets the information about her transfers from the hospital to an inpatient facility and goes to the washroom to bang her hand against the wall, after which she reports pains. The patient engages in the repeated act of self-harm until she got discovered, where she described each new injury as unintentional with each incident. She repeats this as she reports clinically significant pain where she is administered an opioid drug. Finally, she tries to dislocate her arm as a trick to try and get an Opioid, and this is an abnormal behavior because we expected her to stay calm and recover.

DSM Classification

People who suffer from Opioid use disorder try to switch from prescription pain killers to heroin, where this disorder is easily found. To diagnose OUD, the patient must have taken opioids in large amounts or over a longer period than was expected. Patients show persistent desire and strong craving to continue using opioids (Larochelle et al.,2018). These patients continue to consume the opioids despite the interpersonal problems caused and their knowledge of the psychological problem they are likely to cause. In this case study, the woman showed cravings for opioids even after admission to the hospital. She tried all tricks to get the hospital to administer her opioids. She also reported continued abnormal behaviors that showed that she developed a menial problem in the courses.

Treatment

Treating an opioid disorder requires Medication-assisted treatment. This type of treatment puts the patient under medication, counseling, and guidance at the same time. It involves behavioral therapies and medications to modify the patient's brain chemistry (Strang et al.2020). Treating Opioid disorder also involves cognitive-behavioral approaches such as advising the patient to change her behaviors and to take the treatment positively by the medical officers. Patients suffering from Opioid use disorder are often put on a steady, balanced diet and advised not to take any other medications and alcoholic foods. The three approved medications for people with this disorder are Methadone, Buprenorphine, and Naltrexone (Larochelle et al.,2018). Methadone lowers the cravings for opioid drugs and removes the withdrawal symptoms. Buprenorphine, on the other hand, is used to combat the effects of other opioid drugs administered and is only provided by special and trained medical officers. Naltrexone provides a defense to the effect of the other opioids and prevents euphoria. 

 Conclusion.

In conclusion, Opioid use disorder is a very serious problem in our society today. It starts from simple consumption of drugs to addiction and more severe effects. Patients with opioid use disorder have abnormal behaviors resulting from the effects of their mental problems. Large consumption of Opioids affects the brain cells and can lead to death if not treated in its initial stages. Therefore, patients who suffer from drug addictions should visit hospitals for checkups and treatments. Treating the effects of opioid use disorder requires behavioral therapies and the use of FDA-approved medications.

References

Blanco, C., & Volkow, N. D. (2019). Management of opioid use disorder in the USA: present status and future directions. The Lancet, 393(10182), 1760-1772.

Connery, H. S. (2015). Medication-assisted treatment of opioid use disorder: a review of the evidence and future directions. Harvard review of psychiatry, 23(2), 63-75.

Larochelle, M. R., Bernson, D., Land, T., Stopka, T. J., Wang, N., Xuan, Z., ... & Walley, A. Y. (2018). Medication for opioid use disorder after nonfatal opioid overdose and association with mortality: a cohort study. Annals of internal medicine, 169(3), 137-145.

Strang, J., Volkow, N. D., Degenhardt, L., Hickman, M., Johnson, K., Koob, G. F., ... & Walsh, S. L. (2020). Opioid use disorder. Nature reviews Disease primers, 6(1), 1-28.