Opioid Sensitivity Genetics: 6 Genes Decoded

Opioid Sensitivity Genetics: 6 Genes Decoded

"What we know now is that roughly six key genes determine whether opioids will relieve your pain, cause side effects, or be ineffective entirely."

 We absolutely need to do genetic testing to make sure a patient gets the proper dose of pain meds. Maybe - just maybe - it would stop doctors from treating pain patients like drug addicts because they would have the scientific evidence for why a patient needs a higher dose - or that one drug doesn't work and they need something stronger - but that is absolutely patient dependent. The MME needs to be tossed because for those people that Fentanyl doesn't work, the MME comparison is worthless. 

I can guarantee that this is why some people addict - it's not the drug. It's in your genes. They need to stop treating pain patients like they're all addicts. Only one half of one percent can addict - 99.5% are physically incapable of doing so. We all become dependent - but dependence is not addiction. Addiction has the psychological craving aspect to it. Dependence happens with many other drugs/meds as well. You become dependent on blood pressure meds, psychiatric meds, etc. They all create dependence and you have to be weaned off them. Again - dependence is not addiction. Tolerance is not addiction either. Needing a larger dose after being on pain meds long term is not addiction. It's like being on blood pressure meds and becoming tolerant to them and needing a larger dose to handle your BP. Doctors that cannot make that distinction should lose their license.