Journal of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems
Open Access

Significance of Pharmacotherapy for Alcohol Addiction

Osman Khan^{* *}Correspondence: Osman Khan, Department of Pharmacy, University of California, California, USA, Email:

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Description

Pharmacotherapy is the management of a disease or disorder with medication. It is used in the treatment of addiction, and medications are used to reduce the severity of withdrawal symptoms, reduce alcohol and other drug cravings, and reduce the likelihood of using or relapsing on specific drugs by blocking their effects. Pharmacotherapy is also known as drug therapy. Generally, pharmacotherapy is prescribed to the general population by general physicians or nurse practitioners who have been trained and qualified to prescribe it. Pharmacotherapy is the use of prescribed medicine to help in the treatment of addiction. Pharmacotherapies can be used to decrease addiction. The main pharmaceutical products used in the treatment of health conditions are also used to treat various disease symptoms.

Significance

Pharmacotherapy is used in treatment of health conditions by using pharmaceutical products like codeine. Heroin, opium, oxycodone (Oxynorm, OxyContin, Endone), and fentanyl (Sublimaze, Actiq, Durogesic) are all drugs of abuse. These are mostly used in Australia. Rational pharmacotherapy is significant for everyone as it is the only effective and practical pharmacotherapy that brings good treatment effects. Appropriate pharmacotherapy aids patients to sustain their efficient capacity. At the same time, we can decrease the expenses to both society and patients. “Pharmacotherapy, or the use of medications to treat a disease or its symptoms, is an essential component of patient care. Nursing jobs in the pharmacotherapy process prove that nurses spend 50% of their work on the management of medications. The major drugs used in pharmacotherapy are mixed antagonists, antagonists, and agonists. Pharmacotherapies are mainly used to treat alcohol addiction. Medication-assisted treatment, or the use of pharmaceuticals as part of comprehensive care, has different roles depending on the patient's requirements and goals. Reducing substance usage, overdose prevention, withdrawal from dependency, relapse prevention, and maintenance are all valid aims of FDA-approved pharmaceuticals. Only pharmacotherapies are recommended for use in addictive disorders. Off-label usage of drugs for addictive disorders that do not have an FDA-approved use, as well as the role of pharmacotherapy for leads to mental and medical diseases related to relapse or recurrence.

• In defining the requirements for pharmacotherapy, one should consider.

• The factors motivating a patient toward treatment.

• The patient’s stage of variation.

• The possible relapse.

• The severity of any associated medical and psychiatric problems.

• The patient’s capability to tolerate medications.

• Whether the patient is pregnant.

Conclusion

If a patient is involved in heavy drinking but does not have any alcohol addiction disorder, then the physician should use his or her professional motivation to help the patient decide to stop the intake of alcohol as an interim goal. Disulfiram, the first medicine approved by the FDA for the treatment of alcohol addiction, is an alcohol sensitizing or alcohol aversive agent. Disulfiram causes an extreme toxic physical reaction approximately 10–35 minutes after consumption of alcohol. The effects of Disulfiram on alcohol are vertigo, marked confusion, and weakness, hyperventilation, blurred vision, and chest pain. The response is generally proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed and the amount of disulfiram ingested. Disulfiram does not reduce the need to consume alcohol, but it provides enthusiasm to not use alcohol.