Dr Gerald M Sacks Considers Education an Important Factor in Managing the Unmet Needs of OIC

Dr Gerald M Sacks, an anesthesiologist, provides pain relief during and after an operation. He completed a fellowship in pain management at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. His research interests include neuropathic pain, psychosocial issues as they related to pain perception, and musculoskeletal, mechanical aspects of pain perception.

Dr Sacks states that some patients do not want to get addicted to opioids, but they have to in order to manage their pain. He explains that they do not need to take opioids at all as their pain can be easily managed by a pain specialist. Furthermore, he educates people on the adverse effects of these opioids as taking these things for a prolonged period changes you medically, biochemically in every way.

Explaining the medications used to treat OIC; Dr Gerald M Sacks states that Naloxegol, a peripherally acting µ-opioid receptor antagonist, is used to treat OIC. It can be an effective treatment for opioid-induced constipation. Although it is an appropriate choice for some patients, it can also be an appropriate choice for patients who are taking medications that are metabolized through the same cytochrome P450 metabolic steps in the liver.

Talking about the unmet needs in the management of OIC, Dr Sacks considers education an important factor. He believes that more educational awareness of OIC would be beneficial for treating the patients.