4 ms·
> For those of you that think that a few doses of opioids can't cause addiction, think again. This study found that even after 10 days supply of opioids, 20% of
by srinivgp 9y ago
> For those of you that think that a few doses of opioids can't cause addiction, think again. This study found that even after 10 days supply of opioids, 20% of patients had a dependence lasting up to a year.
The study did not find that. The study looked for long-term opioid use, not addiction, and not dependence. Long term use, addiction, and dependence (and tolerance) are all separate things.
Long-term use: simply using a thing consistently for a long time
Addiction: compulsive seeking, not noted in any of your links
Dependence: something bad happens when use is discontinued
Tolerance: more use is required to get the same effects
- epmaybe 9y agoYou're right, thank you for the clarification and I apologize for misleading. This study did not look at addiction. However, the study noted a few things that lead me to believe that this long-term opioid use is not intentional by prescribers. The study excluded patients with cancer, which is a common reason to be prescribed long term opioids. Additionally, they note that most of the patients were not provided long-acting opioids at the start, suggesting that the prescribers did not intend to start these patients on long-term opioid therapy. At the very least, the data is suggestive of an increase in dependence in patients prescribed a 10-day or greater supply of opioids, as we know that when patients are on opioids for too long, you must slowly discontinue lest you initiate withdrawal.