Temporomandibular Joint Disorder Research Paper

Tina Webb, a forty year old wife and mother, suffered from chronic migraines and was diagnosed with temporomandibular joint disorder, which is a condition where pain radiates from the jaw. She was prescribed opioids for pain relief and quickly became addicted. Her husband noticed a change in her behavior and started to count her pills to make sure she was taking the prescribed amount. He found that she was taking up to 26 pills a day, she took 296 pills in an 8 day period. Together they tried to get help and Tina Webb quit cold turkey. She experienced the same symptoms that heroin users go through once they quit. She claimed that she couldn’t take it anymore and went back to get another prescription. On September 24, 2007, her husband found her dead at their home. She died from an overdose of prescription opioids (Hyde). Opioids have been a huge problem in Utah and numerous people are affected by it everyday. Angela Stander, who is a Certified Health Education Specialist, CHES said, “in the mid 1990s is when [opioids] became FDA approved and it was under the impression that [they were] non-addictive and there were no dangers with them” (Bringhurst).

Health Specialist Angela Stander said, “ studies have shown that in as little as seven days you can become physically dependent on them” (Bringhurst). Pain is difficult to measure and patients need to understand and verbalize their symptoms and needs. Doctors also need to be more thorough about the effects and dangers of opioids. They need to spend more time educating patients and they should have more natural and healthy alternatives. Physicians are usually more inclined to increase patients dosage as time goes on and they become more tolerant to what they have (Lockhart, “Utah Opioid Bills”). Patients are taught to trust their doctors so a lot of the times they won’t question things that their doctors say, even if it doesn’t seem right to