Health News
In an attempt to get closer to understanding the plague of prescription pain-killer abuse, a study by a team of University of Kentucky researchers has shed new light on the potential habit-forming properties of the popular pain medication Tramadol. The research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The paper is slated to appear in an upcoming edition of the academic journal Psychopharmacology.
"The important thing about this is I think we all assumed that any abuse of Tramadol or any abuse potential Tramadol had was because of the way it activated the opioid receptors in the brain and that may not be the case," said lead study author William W. Stoops of the UK College of Medicine Department of Behavioral Science, the UK Center on Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR) and the UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology. "It's pretty well accepted that with opioid drugs like oxycodone, hydromorphone and hydrocodone, when you block the opioid receptors in the brain, folks aren't going to abuse the drug. That is not the case for Tramadol. Opioid receptors are important in Tramadol use and abuse, but they appear to not be the entire story."
Other University of Kentucky researchers involved in the study are Michelle R. Lofwall, Paul A. Nuzzo, Lori B. Craig, Anthony J. Siegel and Sharon L. Walsh.
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Health News
Soon-to-be published UK study begins to unravel why prescription pain-killing drug Tramadol is habit-forming
"The important thing about this is I think we all assumed that any abuse of Tramadol or any abuse potential Tramadol had was because of the way it activated the opioid receptors in the brain and that may not be the case," said lead study author William W. Stoops of the UK College of Medicine Department of Behavioral Science, the UK Center on Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR) and the UK College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology. "It's pretty well accepted that with opioid drugs like oxycodone, hydromorphone and hydrocodone, when you block the opioid receptors in the brain, folks aren't going to abuse the drug. That is not the case for Tramadol. Opioid receptors are important in Tramadol use and abuse, but they appear to not be the entire story."
Other University of Kentucky researchers involved in the study are Michelle R. Lofwall, Paul A. Nuzzo, Lori B. Craig, Anthony J. Siegel and Sharon L. Walsh.
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A new lifesaving product to treat painkiller overdoses is in its final round of clinical trials at the University of Kentucky and is being fast-tracked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The product is a nasal-spray application of the...
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Kentucky's law-enforcement agences, policymakers and public-health advocates have taken serious measures to curb the state's rampant prescription drug abuse problem, and recent state and national news stories suggest that the reduced supply of...
- Prescription Drugs Killing More Women Than Ever; Kentucky Ties For Fifth For Its High Percentage Of Deaths
The ongoing national epidemic of addiction to prescription painkillers is spreading more quickly among women, and it is killing more women than ever before. Kentucky ties Utah for the fifth highest percentage of female deaths due to prescription-drug...
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A plan for an ideal prescription drug monitoring system was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, with its authors concluding spending more money to improve systems is worth the expense. To improve databases, the paper's authors...
- Directory Listing 2,500 Substance-abuse Treatment Resources In Kentucky Released; Every County Has At Least One Facility
There are 2,500 resources for substance abuse treatment in Kentucky, with at least one in each county, research at the University of Kentucky has found. "In addition to the 345 state-certified substance abuse treatment providers listed in the directory,...