A questioned that I always asked
myself, but never found an answer until I started to research was, “Do people
really become addicted to drugs? Or is it all in their head?” I always thought
becoming an addict was for the weak minded. I would say “well as long as you
got a strong mentally, you won’t fall for it.” I can see now that I was wrong.
People really do fall into addiction without even knowing. The medications are
so strong and so pleasurable to where you no longer feel pain that your body even
feigns for it. Another reason why people become addicts is because they become
accustomed to the feeling of ‘high’ and enjoys it. I also learned that there
are stages of becoming an addict. I used to believe patients who would come to
work stating they were going to die if they did not get their pain medication,
but during my interview with Dr. Kayman, a psychiatrist who I work with, told
me that patients going through withdrawals is painful, but not deadly. Although
my career is not working with patients who are suffering addiction problems, it
is still helpful for me to be educated on it. Why? Well because I enjoy working
in the health field. I’ve worked as a Medical Assistant for the past two years.
As I mentioned before working with patients especially those who are on opioids
can be extremely difficult and sometimes dangerous. I’ve had personal
experiences with patients at work numerous of times that it lead me to wanting
to know of why that would happen. I plan on getting my BA and becoming an x-ray
technician in the future. Although I will not be a nurse or a doctor working
with patients at that level, as a person working in the health field I can I
will still encounter patients who are on opioids. However, I will feel better
understanding their addictive problem and knowing I have to be patient with
them. Every assignment assigned to me during this semester had me reach deeper
into my topic. Learning new things, questioning what didn’t make sense to me
and finding answers that lead me to understand it more. I also got more into this topic because at the
clinic that I work at is being sued because a patient overdosed on pain
medications. I wanted to understand why these patients relied so much on it and
be more supportive instead of criticizing.
No comments:
Post a Comment