Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the opioid epidemic in the United States. This is because many patients were treated with opiates, oftentimes with long-acting opiates administered more than the approved daily dosing. In the following article we represent a renowned rheumatologist opinion about avoiding opioids in treating arthritis . Genesis of opioid epidemic In order to expand the market for OxyContin in 2000s, Purdue Pharma encouraged physicians to use OxyContin to treat pain in conditions like arthritis and even fibromyalgia.
This was a big mistake as the drug was normally used for treating perioperative pain and cancer pain in patients. Few important points: Patients with inflammatory arthritis can and should be treated effectively with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). A patient with active synovitis can be treated very effectively with anchor…
