40 Respiratory depression is a therapy-limiting side-effect of opioid analgesics, yet our 41 understanding of the brain circuits mediating this potentially lethal outcome remains incomplete. 42 Here we studied the contribution of the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM), a region long 43 implicated in pain modulation and homeostatic regulation, to opioid-induced respiratory 44 depression. Microin...

It has been appreciated for some time now that humans react differently to opioids. A specific opioid such as morphine sulfate may have specific analgesic effects for certain patients with postherpetic neuralgia whereas in other patients with postherpetic neuralgia, it may provide quite different analgesic qualities. Also, in any one individual patient a particular opioid may provide better ana...

BACKGROUND There is little evidence that short-acting opioids as rescue medication for breakthrough pain is an optimal long-term treatment strategy in chronic non-malignant pain. We compared clinical studies of long-acting opioids that allowed short-acting opioid rescue medication with those that did not, to determine the impact of opioid rescue medication use on the analgesic efficacy and tole...

Nalbuphine hydrochloride is an opioid agonist-antagonist that has gained acceptance as a pre-hospital analgesic agent. Nalbuphine has equal analgesic properties to morphine, has a low addiction potential, and can be stored and administered without restrictions, unlike morphine. To date no clinical evidence has been published to support the theoretical difficulty that the action of opioids admin...

A B S T R A C T The drugs available for the management of acute orofacial pain have changed very little since the introduction of ibuprofen into practice 40 years ago. Orally effective opioids, acetaminophen, aspirin and NSAIDs remain the mainstay of analgesic therapy. Increased recognition of the societal and personal impact of opioid diversion and abuse requires re-examination of the traditio...

This trial compared pain, quality of life, and analgesic use in a sample of patients with cancer pain (n=24) who received either standard opioid management plus rest (Arm A) or standard opioid management plus Reiki (Arm B). Participants either rested for 1.5 hr on Days 1 and 4 or received two Reiki treatments (Days 1 and 4) one hour after their first afternoon analgesic dose. Visual analogue sc...

Sigma receptors are protein chaperones with the unexpected characteristic of being activated by ligand binding. As such, they represent intriguing new targets for potential drug development. a chaperone, these “receptors” escort proteins from endoplasmic reticulum to their destinations and act correct misfolded proteins. The two subtypes sigma receptors, named σ1 σ2, markedly distinct each othe...

INTRODUCTION Pain is the most common symptom prompting an emergency department visit and emergency physicians are responsible for managing both acute pain and acute exacerbations of chronic pain resulting from a broad range of illnesses and injuries. The responsibility to treat must be balanced by the duty to limit harm resulting from analgesics. In recent years, opioid-related adverse effects,...