Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2006
Randomized Controlled TrialZoster vaccine to prevent postherpetic neuralgia.
In 2006, the U. S. ⋯ This vaccine has important implications in reducing the incidence and severity of the common neuropathic pain condition postherpetic neuralgia. The new vaccine is described.
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Commonly held beliefs and myths about opioids within Europe are described. These include sedation, cognitive impairment, addiction, pseudoaddiction, tolerance, efficacy, cancer pain, and end-of-life care. Key learning points for refuting untrue beliefs are presented.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2006
Psychiatric and pain characteristics of prescription drug abusers entering drug rehabilitation.
There has been intense interest in the problem of prescription drug abuse on the parts of health professionals, law enforcement, the media, and the general public. Clinicians not only need to know how to assess risk but also what drugs are being diverted most in their region. We conducted a prospective survey of prescription drug abusers entering a treatment facility in central Kentucky. ⋯ The most commonly abused drugs were hydrocodone-containing formulations (78%) and oxycodone-containing products (69%), while products containing methadone (23%) or fentanyl (7%) were abused much less frequently. Most respondents (91%) stated that they had purchased prescription opioids from a street dealer at least once and the majority (80%) had altered the delivery system of the prescription drug by chewing, snorting, or using i.v. administration. Implications for pain management are discussed, focusing on the need for clinicians treating chronic pain to more thoroughly assess patients for their risk of abuse and addiction before starting an opioid regimen.
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Pain continues to be undertreated, and numerous barriers to adequate pain management have been identified. Some clinicians believe that the words which health professionals use to describe analgesics may be a hidden barrier. Possible implications of using the term "narcotic" are described.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2006
Evidence-based pain management and palliative care in Issue One for 2006 of The Cochrane Library.
The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews is published quarterly. It now contains 2608 complete reviews, 1592 protocols of reviews and 5859 one page summaries of systematic reviews published in the general medical literature. ⋯ This edition of the Library contains 83 new reviews of which the three have potential relevance for practitioners in pain and palliative medicine. These address opioids for the management of breakthrough (episodic) pain in cancer patients, perioperative ketamine for acute postoperative pain, and superficial heat or cold for low back pain.