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The same immune system that fights infection and the flu could offer a way to fight opioid addiction, a new study with rodents shows. Researchers say specific immune system peptides—amino acid compounds that signal cells how to function—may affect brain activity and, by extension, drug cravings. “We found we could target these immune peptides and […]

Hypothetical Case A 55-year-old woman presents with rheumatoid arthritis and destructive arthropathy from past disease activity. Among her treatments, she is prescribed 10 mg of short-acting oxycodone four times a day. She exceeds this dose frequently. The prescribing physician believes she does this to self-medicate her untreated depression: she lives alone and has not coped well with

Urine drug monitoring (UDM) has become an important risk mitigation tool for treating patients receiving long-term opioid therapy (LTOT). Several opioid prescribing guidelines recommend UDM as a standard of care for patients with chronic non-cancer pain for whom LTOT is necessary.1-5 Most guidelines do not specify which tests should be included in such screens, but the

The scale of America’s opioid epidemic is shocking. It is the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history. In 2016 alone, drug overdoses killed more Americans than the entire Vietnam War and car crashes, gun violence, and HIV/AIDS ever did in a single year. In total, more than 170 people are estimated to die from overdoses every day in the US,

The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history — on track to kill more people over the next decade than currently live in entire American cities like Miami or Baltimore. A new study, published in the American Journal of Public Health on Thursday by Stanford researchers Allison Pitt, Keith Humphreys, and Margaret Brandeau, tries to parse

The US Food and Drug Administration continues to seek ways to curb the opioid epidemic—with the agency’s latest efforts turned toward preventing diversion, misuse, or abuse at the acute level. “Many people who become addicted to opioids will first be exposed to these drugs through a lawfully prescribed medication,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gotlieb, MD,

Opioid addiction has become a serious public health issue. Scientists have examined how patients get addicted to opioid, but less research has focused on the role of doctors in the problem. Several studies find that doctors can play a big in making patients have opioid addiction. For example, one study from Harvard University shows that emergency

In a new study, researchers from University of Michigan develop new recommendations for prescribing opioid. Their recommendations are based on published medical evidence for one operation, gall bladder removal. The researchers also find that a spillover effect that led them to prescribe roughly 10,000 fewer pills for other major operations. Opioid prescribing after operations is

Nearly a third of older adults have received a prescription for an opioid pain medicine in the past two years, but many of them didn’t get enough counseling about the risks that come with the potent painkillers, how to reduce their use, when to switch to a non-opioid option, or what to do with leftover

Many people use opioid to deal with chronic pain. However, when they overuse the drug, they become addicted to it. it is not always easy to tell if someone you know has an addiction to opioids. But researchers from University of Michigan suggest 11 signs of opioid addiction everyone should know: Taking a substance in