Opioids acute

The major use of the narcotic analgesic is to relieve or manage moderate to severe acute and chronic pain. The ability of a narcotic analgesic to relieve pain depends on several factors, such as the drug, the dose, the route of administration, the type of pain, the patient, and the length of time the drug has been administered. Morphine is the most widely used opioid and an effective drug for... 

This drug is used for complete or partial reversal of narcotic depression, including respiratory depression. Narcotic depression may be due to intentional or accidental overdose (self-administration by an individual), accidental overdose by medical personnel, and drug idiosyncrasy Naloxone also may be used for diagnosis of a suspected acute opioid overdosage. 

Opioidergic agents. Naltrexone and nalmefene, opioid antagonists with no intrinsic agonist properties, have been studied for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Naltrexone has been studied much more extensively than nalmefene for this indication. In 1984 naltrexone was approved by the FDA for the treatment of opioid dependence, and in 1994 it was approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Nalmefene is approved in the United States as a parenteral formulation for the acute reversal of opioid effects (e.g., after opioid overdose or analgesia). 

Opioid dependence rarely results ftom the prescribing of opioids temporarily for treatment of acute pain or pain of terminal illness. Even use in chronic... 

A protracted abstinence syndrome may follow the acute opioid withdrawal syndrome and last for many weeks (Martin et al. 1973). In one study ofher-oin addicts detoxified with methadone, withdrawal distress peaked at day 20,... 

Cheskin LJ, Fudala PJ, Johnson RE A controlled comparison of buprenorphine and clonidine for acute detoxification from opioids. Drug Alcohol Depend 36 115-121, 1994... 

Heishman SJ, Stitzer ML, Bigelow GE, et al Acute opioid physical dependence in postaddict humans naloxone dose effects after brief morphine exposure. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 248 127-134, 1989... 

The opioid antagonists naloxone and naltrexone bind to aU three opioid receptors, p, K, and 8. These compounds are antagonists due to their inability to elicit downstream effects of these receptors once bound (Sarton et al. 2008 Yaksh and Rudy 1977). Interestingly, both antagonists have a high binding affinity for MORs. Naloxone is used to reverse the effects of an acute opioid overdose because of its rapid onset of action. Naltrexone elicits similar actions, but has a longer onset and duration of action and hence, is used for the maintenance of treatment for opioid addicts. 

Hutchinson MR, Coats BD, Lewis SS, Zhang Y, Sprunger DB, Rezvani N, Baker EM, Jekich BM, Wieseler JL, Somogyi AA, Martin D, Poole S, Judd CM, Maier SF, Watkins LR (2008) Proinflammatory cytokines oppose opioid-induced acute and chronic analgesia. Brain Behav Immun 22 1178-1189... 

Hutchinson MR, Lewis SS, Coats BD, Skyba DA, Crysdale NY, Berkelhammer DL, Brzeski A, Northcutt A, Vietz CM, Judd CM, Maier SP, Watkins LR, Johnson KW (2009) Reduction of opioid withdrawal and potentiation of acute opioid analgesia by systemic AV411 (ibudUast). Brain Behav Immun 23 240-250... 

Most of the work has been based on opioids since it is the easiest system to manipulate as administration of the antagonist, naloxone, precipitates withdrawal. Flere, the idea that physical dependence results from opposing changes in the neuronal systems depressed by the drug of dependence is borne out by consideration of the acute effects of an opioid and the withdrawal symptoms. They are mirror images of each other ... 

Figure 23.2 A schematic diagram illustrating the ways in which the CNS counters the depressant effects of a drug such as alcohol or an opioid and how this leads to the manifestation of physical dependence when there is abstinence from the drug. These excitatory compensations produce symptoms opposite to the acute effects of the drug...

Pain management is an important component of therapy and is similar to that of acute pancreatitis. Non-opioid analgesics are preferred, but the severe and persistent nature of the pain often requires opioid therapy. Patients can require chronic doses of opioid analgesics, with a resulting risk of addiction. Pain can also be managed by removing the stimulus of exacerbation if identified.31,38... 

Opioids are considered the agents of choice for the treatment of severe acute pain and moderate to severe pain associated... 

The treatment goals for acute intoxication of ethanol, cocaine/amphetamines, and opioids include (1) management of psychological manifestations of intoxication, such as aggression, hostility, or psychosis, and (2) management of medical manifestations of intoxication such as respiratory depression, hyperthermia, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, or stroke. 

The intoxicating effects of opioids appear to be due to their action as agonists on mu (p) receptors of the opioid neurotransmitter system. Competitive p opioid antagonists such as naloxone and naltrexone acutely reverse many of the adverse effects of opioids. To date we do not have specific antagonists for most other abused substances, so rapid pharmacologic reversal of intoxication is usually not possible. 

The treatment goals for acute intoxication due to ethanol, cocaine/amphetamines, and opioids include (1) management of... 

Patients who are acutely intoxicated with an opioid usually present with miosis, euphoria, slow breathing and slow heart rate, low blood pressure, and constipation. Seizures may occur with certain agents such as meperidine (Demerol ). It is critically important to monitor patients carefully to avoid cardiac/ respiratory depression and death from an excessive dose of opioids. One strategy is to reverse the intoxication by utilizing naloxone (Narcan ) 0.4 to 2 mg IV every 2 to 3 minutes up to 10 mg. Alternatively, the IM/SC route may be used if IV access is not available. Because naloxone is shorter-acting than most abused opioids, it may need to be readministered at periodic intervals otherwise the patient could lapse into cardiopulmonary arrest after a symptom-free interval of reversed... 

Bl 1. Bensousan, T. A., Garo, B., Renault, A., Morin, J. F., and Boles, J. M., Seram endogenous opioid peptides Mortality predictive value in acutely ill patients. Lancet 344,693 (1994). 

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