RESEARCH - Long-term opioid use may increase sensitivity to pain

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Long-Term Opioid Use May Increase Sensitivity to Pain

April 2, 2009 — Long-term use of opioids to manage chronic pain

increases patients' sensitivity to certain types of pain, and similar

hyperalgesia develops with methadone-maintained drug abusers,

researchers from the University of Adelaide, in Australia, report.

" There is a low ceiling dose for opioids in the treatment of

persistent nonmalignant pain. Increasing doses may be causing more

pain, not less pain. So use opioids sparingly, " coauthor A.

Somogyi, MD, told Medscape Psychiatry.

" If methadone-managed opioid-dependent patients need acute analgesia,

the dose of opioid may need to be much higher due to the well-known

phenomenon of tolerance and also hyperalgesia, " he added.

The observational study by L. Hay, MD, and colleagues is in the

March issue of the Journal of Pain.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/590554

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