On Tuesday, U.S. health officials have warned physicians not to abruptly stop advising opioid painkillers to patients who are taking them for chronic pain.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be adding advice to labels on how to taper opioid painkillers, including oxycodone (OxyContin), Vicodin and other generic pills.
Americans have been fighting a nationwide opioid epidemic and drug overdose deaths, which includes legal painkillers as well as unregulated drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.
Fatal drug overdoses have been majorly tied to opioids, which have dragged down the life expectancy of people in the states. In fact, since 1999, opioid drug overdose has killed more than 400,000 people in the U.S. alone.
The FDA’s new label will warn physicians that abruptly stopping opioids in patients who are taking them for a longer duration and developed dependency can experience withdrawal symptoms such as uncontrolled or unbearable pain, nausea, chills, and anxiety. And in the worst case scenario, these withdrawal symptoms have been associated with suicide.
The drug regulatory body said doctors and patients should stick to a plan that gradually reduces their opioid dosage before eventually stopping the treatment. The tapering of dosage will be based on the treatment history, type of pain, mental state, and other factors.
The agency stressed the importance of a customized treatment plan, stating, “no standard method exists that is suitable for all patients.”
Opioid painkillers can be addictive. In fact, they can be dangerous even when used under the supervision of a doctor, although they are effective at treating severe, chronic pain.
In the U.S., opioid prescriptions have fallen by nearly a quarter since it peaked at more than 250 million prescriptions in 2012. The prescribing limits from federal, state and local governments, insurers, and hospital systems restrict doctors from prescribing the number of refills and pills.
In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said opioids should not be considered the first line of treatment for chronic pain. Instead, it recommended prescribing other pain medicines or nondrug options. The CDC explained that opioids should be reserved only for the long-term and the most severe forms of pain. However, in the early 1990s, some pharma companies, insurers, and pain specialists called for wider use of opioid medications for chronic pain ailments such as arthritis and backaches.
