Journal of pain and symptom management
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The clinical benefit and increased application of opioid rotation has focused attention on efficacy differences between opioids and their respective equianalgesic dose ratios. Understanding the differences between the opioids is critical to understanding their equianalgesic dose ratios and for adjusting therapy following rotation to a new analgesic. The purpose of this article is to describe controversies regarding the relative potencies of these agents as presented in current equianalgesic charts and to provide pharmacologic information to assist the clinician with opioid rotation.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Apr 2001
ReviewOpioid poorly-responsive cancer pain. Part 3. Clinical strategies to improve opioid responsiveness.
Some pain syndromes may be difficult to treat due to a poor response to opioids. This situation demands a range of alternative measures, including the use of adjuvant drugs with independent effects, such as antidepressants, sodium channel-blocking agents, steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs); drugs that reduce opioid side effects; and drugs that enhance analgesia produced by opioids, such as N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists, calcium channel antagonists, and clonidine. Other approaches, including opioid trials, neural blockade when necessary, and psychological interventions, also may be useful.
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Many pruritic conditions do not originate in the skin, but are the result of systemic abnormality. Among the diseases that can cause pruritus are renal insufficiency, cholestasis, Hodgkin's lymphoma, polycythemia vera, solid tumors, and many others. Other pruritic conditions appear to be iatrogenic; opioid-induced pruritus may be the most important in palliative medicine. ⋯ Strategies involving systemic treatments include use of antidepressants, oral opioid antagonists, or cholestyramine. There is no one cure for all pruritic symptoms. Better understanding of mechanisms of pruritus may help develop better treatments.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2000
ReviewAntidepressants and anticonvulsants for diabetic neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia: a quantitative systematic review.
To determine the relative efficacy and adverse effects of antidepressants and anticonvulsants in the treatment of diabetic neuroapathy and postherpetic neuralgia, published reports were identified from a variety of electronic databases, including Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and the Oxford Pain Relief Database, and from two previously published reviews. Additional studies were identified from the reference lists of retrieved reports. The relative benefit (RB) and number-needed-to-treat (NNT) for one patient to achieve at least 50 % pain relief was calculated from available dichotomous data, as was the relative risk (RR) and number-needed-to-harm (NH) for minor adverse effects and drug related study withdrawal. ⋯ Antidepressants and anticonvulsants had the same efficacy and incidence of minor adverse effects in these tzoo neuropathic pain conditions. There was no evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were better than older antidepressants, and no evidence that gabapentin was better than older anticonvulsants. In these trials patients were more likely to stop taking antidepressants than anticonvulsants because of adverse effects.
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J Pain Symptom Manage · Dec 2000
ReviewAntidepressants and anticonvulsants for diabetic neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia: a quantitative systematic review.
To determine the relative efficacy and adverse effects of antidepressants and anticonvulsants in the treatment of diabetic neuroapathy and postherpetic neuralgia, published reports were identified from a variety of electronic databases, including Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and the Oxford Pain Relief Database, and from two previously published reviews. Additional studies were identified from the reference lists of retrieved reports. The relative benefit (RB) and number-needed-to-treat (NNT) for one patient to achieve at least 50 % pain relief was calculated from available dichotomous data, as was the relative risk (RR) and number-needed-to-harm (NH) for minor adverse effects and drug related study withdrawal. ⋯ Antidepressants and anticonvulsants had the same efficacy and incidence of minor adverse effects in these tzoo neuropathic pain conditions. There was no evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were better than older antidepressants, and no evidence that gabapentin was better than older anticonvulsants. In these trials patients were more likely to stop taking antidepressants than anticonvulsants because of adverse effects.