Largest Opioid Study Ever Finds Popular Painkillers Offer Limited Relief and Serious Risks

Whether you’re an athlete dealing with an injury, a gymgoer suffering through each session, or just an individual who needs some proper pain relief, the largest review ever conducted on opioids has found that not only do these drugs often fail to perform, but side effects including addiction mean that the negatives effects often outweigh the positives of taking such pills.

What Did the Largest Opioid Study Ever Find?

The project, led by researchers at the University of Sydney, looked at the efficiency of several opioid medications like oxycodone, codeine, morphine, and tramadol, across 59 systematic reviews and covering 50-plus pain conditions, to determine the success of these drugs. No doubt, such work is important because opioids are among the most common prescribed treatments for pain. The latest results show, however, that even where opioids alleviate pain, this relief only lasted for a few hours. Worst still, opioids were shown to be barely better than a placebo in many other cases.

“Overall, oral opioids were only slightly better than placebo for acute musculoskeletal pain, which they are often prescribed for,” explained Abdel Shaheed, who served as lead author on the latest review. “Opioids also increased the risk of side effects when used for acute musculoskeletal pain, some types of post-surgical pain or traumatic limb pain.”

Do Opioids Actually Work for Acute Pain?

The team out of Australia found that opioids work best for modest, short-term relief for acute pain in the stomach, after dental or ear procedures, limb injuries, or caesarean deliveries, but for other types of strong pain, such as that of kidney stones, or following limb surgery, these medications performed no better than a placebo.

What Are the Most Common Side Effects of Opioids?

Opioids were also associated with side effects such as sickness in those dealing with musculoskeletal pain. And, the experts found that where opioids did prove to be successful against pain, negative results such as addiction, greater tolerance, misuse, and even death far outweighed any benefits.

“It is important that patients are informed about the potential harms from opioids when prescribed them, and that doctors prescribe these medicines judiciously (lowest effective dose/smallest amount of time) for acute pain,” said Dr. Stephanie Mathieson, who served as co-first author on the recent review.

Why Addiction Risk Remains a Major Concern

Making the public aware that other therapies, such as a carefully considered diet and exercise plan, can help with pain relief is of great importance, since the American Psychiatric Association reports that an estimated 3% to 12% of people treated with opioids will go on to develop an addiction that leads to negative consequences

“By showing that the benefits are generally small, short-lived, absent for many common conditions, and sometimes harmful, our research challenges the widely held belief that opioids are the most effective ‘go-to’ option for acute pain,” said Shaheed.



from Muscle & Fitness https://ift.tt/vSfGHIY
via beheathandwellsness

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jay Cutler Shares How Double-Bicep Curl Machine Is Boosting His Arm Pump Post-Retirement

Four-time Mr Olympia Jay Cutler remains in super-shape post-retirement thanks to his ability to adjust and adapt, and in a recent Instagram post explained how embracing the advances in machines has him stretching his shirt sleeves to this day. If you need to take your arm growth to the next level, follow his epic advice. “We’re always focused on those crazy pumps, especially with the arms,” noted Cutler in a video for his 5.8 million IG followers, explaining that he’d observed many advancements in the machine’s you’ll find in the gym nowadays. Of course, when it comes to competing, Cutler has tried it all. Building those 22-inch arms required him to rep it out with a variety of tools. “When I started back in Worcester, Massachusetts, we did a lot of free weight movements,” he recalled. “Fast forward, there’s so many different machines now, that take the place of some of those free weights, which will give you the same feel.” View this post on Instagram ...
Read more

What Happens to Your Body When You Breathe Out Through Your Nose or Breathe Out Through Your Mouth

Breathing is something we do without thinking, but it’s a powerful tool that, when wielded correctly, can help with everything from stress to core strength to digestion . With that in mind, we were curious if the way we exhale—either out from our nose or our mouth—makes a difference in general and while exercising. Long story short: It absolutely does. So what happens to your body when you breathe out through your nose vs. your mouth? Two experts break it down, below. “The nose possesses over 30 functions,” says Ally Maz, a guided meditation instructor for  Open . Key among those are filtering, humidifying, and regulating the temperature of air as we breathe. Jessica Phillips, meditation expert and mindfulness-based life coach with P.volve , adds that there is lots of research about the benefits of breathing—and specifically breathing from the nose. “It’s how our bodies were designed and why we have a nose (we don’t eat from our mouth)!” she says. “Nose breathing is scientifica...
Read more

For Elaine Welteroth, Saying No Is an Abundance Practice

For many, establishing and enforcing boundaries isn’t a natural proclivity, but more of a skill that’s learned over time. Whether in the personal or professional realms, deciding what you want and mapping out what you will and will not tolerate in order to get it can become easier with practice. Over the past 15-plus years, journalist, New York Times best-selling author, and television host Elaine Welteroth has built a big, multifaceted career. But she doesn’t sign on to every opportunity that comes her way. To help her draw boundaries that allow her to funnel her energy toward only what fuels and excites her, she credits a two-letter word as her guiding light: no. “If it isn’t a ‘hell yes,’ it’s a ‘hell no’,” Welteroth tells me of how she evaluates opportunities to ensure they align with her own goals. The advice doubles as a straightforward counsel for designing a life you want. Well, until it doesn’t. Life has a way of throwing curveballs, rendering the binary yes-no framework ...
Read more