Opioids Dosage Is Not A Long-Term Helping Hand For Arthritis Patients

The recent study has concluded that regular dosage of opioid may help in easing arthritis discomfort temporarily but it doesn’t give long lasting benefits to the patients.

The research review was made by researchers after nearly 23 clinical trials which were based on observations of nearly 11,400 patients dealing with osteoarthritis. The opioid drugs can be marked as a painkiller drug and not a curative one. The medication is currently consumed on a large scale by arthritis patients. The research says that it can be only effective in dealing with immense pains of osteoarthritis patients. Osteoarthritis is a very common phase of arthritis where cartilages which cushion the joints start wearing down resulting in immense pain, stiffness and swelling.

During those clinical trials, opioid drugs failed to prove their importance in improving life quality of patients and helping patients to get rid of their painful and stressful depression phases. The slight improvement in pain relief, too, was seemed decreasing gradually by the time.

According to Dr. Raveendhara Bannuru — lead researcher of the study as well as director, Center for Treatment Comparison and Integrative Analysis, Tufts Medical Center, Boston — the medications have very small magnitude that gradually decreases as the time flies by. The drugs can be suggested to arthritis patients if and only if the other medications failed to improve pain relief of the patient and any type of replacement surgery is not an option. Else the patients must follow a healthy lifestyle and also exercise regularly. The patients can select some qualified versions of NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as naproxen and ibuprofen as a first choice.

As per the report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, illegal opioid such as heroin and fentanyl are becoming the biggest concerns in recent years. The report also stated that there were nearly 36% overdose deaths in 2017 due to opioid medications which were prescribed legally. If you know someone struggling with opioid addiction, try to consult with a suboxone doctor that could address these issues.