Opioid Epidemic: A Public Health Crisis

In October 2017, the President of the United States declared the opioid epidemic a public health crisis. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there were over 60,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2016. That is more than 100 fatal overdoses every day. This number far exceeds the annual loss from traffic fatalities.

In Minnesota alone, there were 396 opioid related deaths in 2016. This number has been on a steady rise since 2010. In Hennepin County, the most populous county in the state, a record number of people died from opioid related overdoses last year.

According to 2016 data from the National Center for Health Statistics, drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under age 50. Death by opioids includes pain relievers, synthetic opioids, and illegal substances such as heroin and cocaine. Minnesota has an Opioid Action Plan in place, but there is room for all of us to do our part.

Opioid Pain Management at Twin Cities Pain Clinic

At Twin Cities Pain Clinic, we are fighting the opioid epidemic by offering a variety of ways to help manage pain. Opioids do have their place in pain management and we make sure our patients are educated and empowered to follow a safe, monitored regimen.

What makes Twin Cities Pain Clinic different is the advanced technology we rely on to treat patients. We are replacing opioids with cutting-edge treatment options to offer a safe, more effective outcome with fewer negative side effects.

We provide medication management along with many other services such as spinal cord stimulation, intrathecal pain pumps, DRG stimulation, injection procedures, ablation therapies, and physical therapy to help you get back to living a life with less pain. The pain specialists at Twin Cities Pain Clinic use a collaborative approach and work closely with you to determine the source of your pain and prescribe an appropriate treatment plan. Through education and advancing pain medicine, we aim to decrease the rise in opioid related deaths.

References:

1. Drug Overdose Death Data. (2017, December 19). Retrieved September 28, 2018, from https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2022, June 3). Overdose death rates. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved July 1, 2022, from https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
3. Lyden, T. (2018, May 14). Dying to get high: Tracking Minnesota’s fatal overdoses. Fox 9 News. Retrieved from http://www.fox9.com/news/dying-to-get-high-tracking-minnesotas-fatal-overdoses
4. P. (2018, January 25). Opioid-related deaths set another record in Hennepin County in 2017. Star Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.startribune.com/opioid-related-deaths-set-yet-another-in-hennepin-county-in-2017/470954523/