Chronic pain

The most common side effects are drowsiness, nausea and dizziness, especially at the start of treatment, and they are generally short lived. Constipation is common; it usually lasts for as long as the person is taking opioids. Healthy lifestyle habits are recommended, such as drinking enough water, making sure you have a high-fibre diet and exercising. A prescription for laxatives can also help.

Opioid medications can be dangerous: the wrong dose could cause respiratory depression and death. Opioid therapy is always started with a low dose which is then increased gradually. Tolerance develops and the risk of respiratory depression decreases in a regular user.

It’s important to explain to your doctor that your pain is not alleviated and that you have contacted CRAN. However, you must know that CRAN is a centre that specializes in the treatment of opioid use disorders and not in the treatment of chronic pain.

Yes. A person with chronic pain not only has to cope with pain but also with all the different ways it affects his daily life, at home or at work. This can cause a lot of psychological suffering and distress. The person is going through a difficult grieving process (grieving the loss of a healthy body, activities that he can’t do anymore, loss of income, etc.). He has a greater risk of developing a depressive disorder and so needs psychological support as much as he needs support for matters of a practical nature.

It’s important to find out why the user wants his medication earlier than scheduled. If he’s leaving on a trip and the refill is scheduled for when he is away, his request is legitimate.

There’s also a possibility that the user didn’t understand the prescription. So it’s important to check if he took his medication as prescribed, if he’s afraid of being in pain and is taking too much medication or, on the contrary, if he’s waiting too long, until his pain is unbearable, and then doubles or triples the dose.

To find out if there’s a loss of control with the medication, check for the following behaviours:

If you’re taking short-acting opioids, you can take the medication as needed. However, if you’re taking a long-acting form, it’s important to follow your doctor’s instructions.

If you would like to reduce the dose of your long-acting opioid, it would be a good idea to talk to your doctor. You can also talk to your pharmacist and he can contact your doctor.
 

Opioid pain medications are controlled drugs that can be dangerous. Unfortunately, they are abused by many users. For safety reasons and to help users to take their medications as prescribed, the quantity of medications they can be given is often limited.

If we’re talking about equianalgesic doses, hydromorphone 2 mg in tablet form is equivalent to 10mg of morphine in tablet form.

Yes, for acute pain, for example, postoperative pain, a fracture or tooth extraction. A user who is receiving methadone treatment often needs a higher-than-usual dose of opioid pain medication because of his higher tolerance and because the pain may not be relieved by the usual dose. The dose of the opioid will then have to be tapered to prevent withdrawal. In this type of situation, the patient may relapse and abuse the tablets prescribed for him.