National Opioid Awareness Day on Sunday, Sept. 21 is more than just a date on the calendar. It’s a reminder that while Michigan has made real progress against opioid overdoses, the crisis is far from over. We have to keep going.
As an anesthesiologist, a physician specializing in anesthesia, I work with some of the most powerful pain-relieving medications available. In the operating room, drugs like fentanyl, morphine, and hydromorphone are invaluable. At the right doses, these opioids relieve pain and ease anxiety. I have seen how these drugs can also slow breathing, drop blood pressure, or stop a heart.
That’s why anesthesiologists train for years to balance benefit and risk, adjusting every dose to the age, health and history of the patient we care for, even any previous opioid use. We also use nerve blocks and non-opioid medicines to minimize the amount of opioid given. In healthcare, opioid delivery is anything but “one size fits all.”
Outside healthcare settings, the picture is different. Illicitly manufactured fentanyl is has become widespread — cheap to produce, far stronger than heroin and often hidden in counterfeit pills or powders. I’ve spoken with families who lost loved ones after unknowingly taking one of these pills. With fentanyl, overdoses can happen so quickly that emergency help may not arrive in time.