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All Opioids Articles

Why Some Patients Require High Dose Opioid Therapy
Article explains why some patients require high dose opioid therapy. Chronic pain syndrome represents the end stage of maladaption of having pain as the stressor and, as a result, homeostasis is severely disturbed in all aspects—with abnormal default settings for emotions, immunity, hormone balance, thought, and memory.
FDA’s Proposed Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for Opioids
A brief overview and critique.
Non-responsive Pain Patients with CYP-2D6 Defect
Pain patients who do not respond to the analgesic properties of opioids have a chance of being genetically incapable of generating the clinically active metabolite of these medications. Get tips on when to suspect a patient has CYP-2D6 deficiency.
Urine Drug Testing as an Evaluation of Risk
Implementation of multiple risk assessment and monitoring strategies appears to lower the rate of inappropriate urine drug testing results in a clinical setting as in the experience of this private pain specialty practice.
Compliance Monitoring and Effective Risk Mitigation Strategy
Compliance monitoring using laboratory screening and confirmation, together with physician education, can support an effective risk mitigation strategy. Important article for pain physicians prescribing opioids.
Making Practical Sense of Cytochrome P450
Guidelines for the likely 20 to 30% of pain patients who have a genetic defect involving one of three major CYP450 enzymes and so cannot effectively metabolize certain opioids that must be converted to a metabolite to be effective.
Taking Advantage of the Peripheral Opioid Receptor
Opioids applied in a topical cream that directly target the peripheral opioid receptors (which grow in inflammatory pain sites to attract natural endorphin compounds for pain relief and immune enhancement) may have advantages relative to oral opioids.
Opioid Treatment 10-year Longevity Survey Final Report
Patients in this long-term study were found to be functioning quite well after 10 or more years on generally stable opioid dosages, with the vast majority able to care for themselves and even drive. Read what chronic pain patients taking opioids say about themselves.
A Practical Guide for the Use of Opioids in Chronic Pain
Despite the availability of mono-graphs, papers, lectures, and web sites to teach about o
Simultaneous Use of Opioid and Electromagnetic Treatments
Concurrent therapeutic electromagnetic applications complement opioid treatment and promote enhanced pain control in chronic pain patients.
Patients Who Require Ultra-high Opioid Doses
The goal of ultra-high opioid dosage therapy is to relieve pain and improve function in those chronic pain patients that are profoundly ill, impaired, and/or bed- or house-bound. However, ultra-high opioid dosage should not sedate them. Read which patients require ultra-high opioid dosage.
Anomalous Opiate Detection in Compliance Monitoring
There are multiple variables outside of laboratory testing to consider when interpreting a patient's test results and deciding whether or not they are compliant with their medication.
Effective Monitoring of Opiates in Chronic Pain Patients
Laboratory testing for patients receiving prescription opioid pain relievers has been recommended by several organizations and governmental agencies to assure patient compliance, safe use to minimize risk, and assist in the identification of possible drug diversion or misuse of the drug.
Opioid Treatment Longevity Study: Interim Report
Article highlights an interim report on the opioid treatment longevity study for chronic pain patients.
Opioid Antagonists in Pain Management
Available evidence suggests that the opioid antagonists naloxone and naltrexone offer potential benefits for enhancing opioid analgesia as well as monotherapy for managing certain challenging pain conditions.