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Newswise — Although there is little evidence that opioids effectively reduce pain from rheumatic diseases, a new study finds nearly one in three patients with lupus uses prescription opioids, often lasting longer than a year.
Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, often leaves those affected with...
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The opioid pendulum probably has been swinging back and forth for thousands of years. How incredibly polarized opinions about opioids has been at various points in time—from “They are a gift from god” to “They are the devil personified.” And whenever I speak on it, I’ve started virtually every talk...
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Newswise — A UC Davis research team, led by Vladimir Yarov-Yarovoy and Heike Wulff, will receive a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop a novel class of peptides that are better at treating pain and don’t have the side effects of opioids. The grant is part of...
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Newswise — The United States has approximately 5% of the world’s population, but accounts for 99% of the world’s consumption of hydrocodone, an opioid used to treat long-term pain. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that prescription opioids continue to contribute to the epidemic...
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Opioids. “Good.” “Bad.” The opinion pendulum swings, sometimes too far in either direction. Steve Passik, PhD, offers his opinion on how to find a balance.
| Podcast
Pain remains one of the most common reasons that people seek medical attention in the United States. When pain was designated as the fifth vital sign, people were given the right to have their pain assessed and effectively treated by their healthcare professionals. A number of ethical dilemmas have...
| Podcast
The CDC guidelines have caused controversy and spurred heated discussion. Produced with a paucity of evidence based medicine, they were never evaluated and iterated in the manner of more appropriate guidelines. In this course, we will examine the guidelines and their effect on practitioners—primary...
| Podcast
With our current climate of opioid overuse and increasing opioid related deaths, alternatives to pure mu opioids are necessary. Buprenorphine, an important weapon in the arsenal for management of substance use disorder, is now rising in popularity as an opioid option for chronic pain. Evidence has...
| Podcast
The number of deaths from prescription opioids from 2014 to 2016 were essentially unchanged, but deaths from illicit fentanyl derivatives over the same time period increased by almost 650%. Between 2010 and 2015, we know that by county, prescribed morphine daily dose equivalents (MEDD) per capita...
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Newswise — The amount of opioids prescribed for patients after heart and lung surgery has a direct relationship with the risk for opioid dependency and “persistent opioid use” several months after the operation, according to research published online today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
“Our...