Challenges in using opioids to treat pain in persons with substance use disorders

Challenges in using opioids to treat pain in persons with substance use disorders

Savage SR; Kirsh KL; Passik SD

Addiction Science & Clinical Practice

2008

Humans; Analgesics; Cooperative Behavior; Comorbidity; Long-Term Care; Motivation; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Primary Health Care; patient care team; Opioid/adverse effects/therapeutic use; Drug Tolerance; Opioid-Related Disorders/diagnosis/epidemiology/etiology/rehabilitation; Pain/drug therapy/epidemiology; Recurrence/prevention & control; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/diagnosis/etiology; Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology/rehabilitation

Pain and substance abuse co-occur frequently, and each can make the other more difficult to treat. A knowledge of pain and its interrelationships with addiction enhances the addiction specialist's efficacy with many patients, both in the substance abuse setting and in collaboration with pain specialists. This article discusses the neurobiology and clinical presentation of pain and its synergies with substance use disorders, presents methodical approaches to the evaluation and treatment of pain that co-occurs with substance use disorders, and provides practical guidelines for the use of opioids to treat pain in individuals with histories of addiction. The authors consider that every pain complaint deserves careful investigation and every patient in pain has a right to effective treatment.

2008

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Journal Article

Backlog