Opioids meperidine Demerol

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... 

Opioids/narcotics (codeine, fentanyl, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, meperidine [Demerol], morphine, oxycodone [OxyContin], propoxyphene [Darvon]) (see also individual agents in index) Street Names ... 

Among the compounds that fall within this class are hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin), oxycodone (e.g., OxyContin—an oral, controlled-release form of the drug), morphine, fentanyl, codeine, and related medications. Morphine and fentanyl are often used to alleviate severe pain, while codeine is used for milder pain. Other examples of opioids prescribed to relieve pain include propoxyphene (Darvon) hydromorphone (Dilaudid) and meperidine (Demerol), which is used less often because of its side effects. In addition to their effective pain-relieving properties, some of these medications can be used to relieve severe diarrhea (for example, Lomotil, also known as diphenoxylate) or severe coughs (codeine). 

Opioids Morphine Hydromorphone (Dilaudid) Meperidine (Demerol) Methadone Fentanyl Propoxyphene (Darvocet) Hydrocodone (Vicodin) Oxycodone (OxyContin, Percocet)... 

Heroin was first synthesized from morphine over a century ago. Since then, it has become one of the most abused substances. Research into why it produces such powerful effects has led to the discovery of specific opiate receptors and endogenous opioids (enkephalins and endorphins). These peptides appear to be neurotransmitters involved with the sensation of pain and pleasure. A number of opiates and synthetic opioids are available and can lead to dependency, including morphine, heroin, propoxyphene (Darvon), methadone, meperidine (Demerol), pentazocine (Talwin), hy-dromorphone (Dilaudid), oxycodone (Percodan), and hydrocodone (Vicodin, Damason-P), and codeine. 

Narcotic analgesics (narcotic agonists) such as opioids act on the central nervous system to treat moderate and severe pain, suppress respiration and coughing by acting on the respiratory and cough centers in the medulla of the brain stem. All narcotic analgesics relieve pain. All except meperidine (Demerol) are also antitussive (cough suppression) and antidiarrheal. 

Fentanyl (Sublimaze), sufentanil (Sufenta), alfentanil (Alfenta), remifentanil (Ultiva), meperidine (Demerol), and morphine are the major parenteral opioids used in the perioperative period. The primary analgesic activity of each of these drugs is produced by agonist activity at p-opioid receptors. Their order of potency (relative to morphine) is sufentanil (lOOOx) > remifentanil (300x) > fentanyl (lOOx) > alfentanil (15x) > morphine (lx) > meperidine (O.lx). 

Opioids are a category of narcotic analgesics. All relieve pain and all, except meperidine (Demerol), have an antitussive (cough suppression) and antidiar-rheal effect. 

The client in the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) has an order for meperidine (Demerol), an opioid, 7 5 mg IVP every 2-3 hours PRN for pain. The nurse working in the PACU administers Demerol 50 mg IM and 25 mg IVP. How should the nurse chart the medication ... 

Which intervention should be implemented when discharging a client diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis who has been receiving high doses of meperidine (Demerol), an opioid, for the past 4 weeks ... 

Less potent opioids have fallen into disfavor because of the prominence of the untoward effects they produce when given in high doses. Meperidine hydrochloride (Demerol) causes tachycardia, while morphine produces hypotension and bronchoconstriction as a consequence of its histamine-releasing action. 

Other opioid pain-relievers (oxycodone, meperidine, hydromor- phone, hydrocodone, propoxyphene) Tylox, OxyContin, Percodan, Percocet Oxy 80s, Oxycotton, Oxycet, hillbilly heroin, percs, Demerol, meperidine hydrochloride demmies, pain killer, Diaudid Juice, dillies Vicodin, Lortab, Lorcet Darvon, Dorvocet II, III, IV Swallowed, Injected, Suppositories, Chewed, Crushed, Snorted ... 

During the late 1930s some 4-phenylpiperidine derivatives were examined as potential spasmolytics on the basis of their chemical relationship to atropine. The antinociceptive properties of one member, ethyl 1-methyl-4-phenyl-piperidine-4-carboxylate, was detected in screening tests and the compound was subsequently introduced into clinical use by Eisleb and Schaumann in 1939. The compound, well known as pethidine in Europe and meperidine in North America (proprietary names include Demerol, Dolantin, and Dolosal), was soon in widespread use for the relief of pain, and it is remarkable how pethidine, the original non-opioid-derived opioid analgesic, has retained its popularity for many years in the face of competition from other synthetic analgesics introduced since 1939. 

Opiates are compounds extracted from the milky latex contained in the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). Opium, morphine, and codeine are the most important opiate alkaloids found in the opium poppy. Opium was used as folk medicine for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. In the seventeenth century opium smoking led to major addiction problems. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, morphine was isolated from opium. About 20 years later, codeine, one-fifth as strong as morphine, was isolated from both opium and morphine. In 1898, heroin, an extremely potent and addictive derivative of morphine was isolated. The invention of the hypodermic needle during the mid-nineteenth century allowed opiates to be delivered directly into the blood stream, which increases the effects of these drugs. Synthetically produced drugs with morphine-like properties are called opioids. The terms narcotic, opiate, and opioid are frequently used interchangeably. Some common synthetically produced opioids include meperidine (its trade name is Demerol) and methadone, a drug often used to treat heroin addiction. 

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