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Treatment - narcotic
Drug that produces analgesia (pain relief), narcosis (state of stupor or sleep), and addiction (physical dependence on the drug). In some people narcotics also produce euphoria (a feeling of great elation).
The main therapeutic use of narcotics is for pain relief, and hence they are often called narcotic analgesics. The best-known narcotics are the opiates. Narcotics occurring naturally in the opium poppy have been used since ancient Greek times, both for relieving pain and for producing euphoria. Extracts of the opium poppy were smoked, eaten, or drunk (as laudanum, a crude mixture of alcohol and opium).
narcotics are the most powerful painkillers available, but they are used with great caution because of their addictive properties. They are often given to patients who are dying from cancer and are in great pain. Narcotics not only relieve pain but also seem to reduce suffering, worry, fear, and panic associated with severe pain. As terminal cancer patients often do not have long to live and the provision of an acceptable quality of life may be the paramount issue, problems of addiction are largely irrelevant.
Substances known as narcotic antagonists block the actions of the narcotics and reverse their effects. Examples include naloxone, naltrexone, and nalorphine. They are used to reverse the effects of overdoses of narcotics, and they can often save the life of the victim. Narcotic receptors have been identified in the brain. Narcotics act at these receptors to produce their many effects, whereas narcotic antagonists block these receptors and prevent narcotics from reaching them and exerting their actions.
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