Hormones Out of Whack With Long Opioid Therapy

[Felix]

MedPage Today
Kristina Fiore
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAPM/31404

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Intractable pain patients on long-term, high doses of opioids should be screened for hormonal abnormalities, researchers said here.

In a small, long-term, single-clinic study, the majority of patients had, as expected, low testosterone -- but some also had abnormalities in cortisol and other hormones that may indicate an incomplete resolution of pain, according to Forest Tennant, MD, DrPH, of the Veract Intractable Pain Clinic in West Covina, Calif.

[Jamie D]

With "intractable pain" it would seem hormones levels would be the least of the sufferer's worries.