Articles Related to opioid

Opioids are commonly prescribed for acute pain management. Complications such as nausea, vomiting, itch and constipation are not uncommon. Two unusual and unexpected complications that can arise in the acute setting are opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH) and acute opioid tolerance (AOT). The diagnostic challenges of these two entities are mainly attributed to their unpredictable onset and lack of strict diagnostic criteria. In the pediatric setting, additional confounding factors such as separation anxiety, hunger, thirst and poor verbal communication further complicate discerning between the two phenomena.

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Chronic pain is currently treated with several drugs and therapies that can be helpful, but usually do not cure chronic pain. In fact, many drug therapies make the pain worse or are toxic to the patient. Chronic pain treatment frequently involves oral or injected drugs because the perception is that chronic pain comes from an internal source. Chronic pain, and all other forms of pain, should be treated in the skin. Mechanisms of induction of chronic pain will be discussed and skin targets for the treatment and cure of chronic pain will be presented.

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This retrospective review of 17 patients suggests an increased risk of adverse events including premature death with opiate discontinuation long after withdrawal stage. The results are consistent with previously reported yet not fully understood – opiate associated neuro protective mechanism – against premature death for some vulnerable subgroups.

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The Health Improvement Network (THIN) provided data from UK General Practitioners (GPs) for 144 pregnant women who were prescribed zanamivir and 144 age- and date-matched untreated comparators with no recorded diagnosis of influenza. Groups were assessed for baseline characteristics, treatment-emergent diagnoses in the mother, pregnancy outcomes and congenital malformations diagnosed in the offspring within 28 days of birth.

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In response to the rapidly rising intravenous opioid abuse epidemic, the United States Food and Drug Administration is currently promoting the development of prescription opioid tablets that are specifically formulated to deter abuse. Opana ER® (Endo Pharmaceuticals) recently underwent reformulation to include a crush-resistant coating. Only recently described, illicit intravenous injection of reformulated Opana ER® is associated with a distinctive clinical syndrome of thrombotic microangiopathy.

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