Journal of opioid management
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Neuropathic pain is commonly seen in cancer patients, either as a direct result of the malignancy or as a consequence of the treatment rendered. In recent years, methadone has been utilized in the treatment of neuropathic pain because of its additional mechanism of action as an NMDA-receptor antagonist. In this paper we discuss the etiology of neuropathic pain in cancer patients, unique properties of methadone, and prior studies on methadone in this patient population. While methadone has been established as a cheap and effective agent in treating cancer pain, specific studies are needed comparing methadone to other opioids in the management of cancer-related neuropathic pain.
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Opioid tolerance is a well-established phenomenon that often occurs in patients taking opioids for the treatment of chronic pain. Typically, doctors need to periodically elevate patients' opioid doses in an attempt to manage their underlying pain conditions, resulting in escalating opioid levels with only moderate to negligible improvement in pain relief. Recently, opioid-induced hyperalgesia has been recognized as a potential form of central sensitization in which a patient's pain level increases in parallel with elevation of his or her opioid dose. ⋯ All patients were converted to ibuprofen to manage pain, with a subgroup treated with buprenorphine during detoxification. Self-reports for pain scores were taken at first evaluation, follow-up visits, and termination. Twenty-one of 23 patients reported a significant decrease in pain after detoxification, suggesting that high-dose opioids may contribute to pain sensitization via opioid-induced hyperalgesia, decreasing patient pain threshold and potentially masking resolution of the preexisting pain condition.
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National population surveys and individual studies over the past decade have documented the escalating abuse of a variety of prescription medications, particularly prescription opioids. Although surveillance data provide important information for estimating the prevalence of prescription opioid abuse in the general population, studies documenting the patterns of prescription drug abuse among chronic street-drug-using populations are extremely rare. This paper examines the abuse of prescription opioids among drug-involved street-based sex workers in Miami, Florida. ⋯ This study provides some of the first empirical evidence to indicate that prescription opioid abuse is emerging in a heretofore unstudied community of marginalized drug-using sex workers. In addition, data on this population's mechanisms of access to prescription opioids clearly suggest that there is an active black market for these drugs. These findings warrant intensive study to determine the relative contribution of each mechanism of diversion to the illicit market.