If you go to the doctor complaining of pain, don’t be surprised if your doctor prescribes anti-epileptic drugs, or an antidepressant, or even plain old Tylenol or ibuprofen. As healthcare providers move away from addictive opioid painkillers, other classes of drugs with pain-relieving properties are filling the gap. A Buffalo News review of nearly 10 years of prescription painkillers among Medicaid patients highlights evolving trends. Prior to 2016, narcotic pain relievers were the leading type of prescription pain reliever by far compared to any other type of prescription drug, according…
Read MoreTag: opioids
Your body naturally produces opioids without causing addiction or overdose
Opioid drugs like morphine and fentanyl are like the two-faced Roman god Janus: the kind face offers pain relief to millions of sufferers, while the grim visage drives a crisis of opioid abuse and overdose that has claimed nearly 70,000 lives across the United States United only in 2020 . One possible path to achieving this lies in understanding the molecular pathways that opioids use to work their effects in your body. (unsplash) {{^RegisteredUser}} {{/RegisteredUser}} {{^RegisteredUser}} {{/RegisteredUser}} Scientists like me who study pain and opioids have been looking for a…
Read More