War veterans with severe pain may need drugs like morphine and hydrocodone to manage it, but the medications are associated with higher rates of overdose and self-harm in those with post-traumatic stress.
opioids
In the Brain, Broken Hearts Hurt Like Broken Bones
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names can hurt just as much.
A Lifesaving Overdose Antidote Should Be Made More Widely Available
A new CDC report finds that naloxone, a drug that reverses overdose, could save thousands of lives if public health agencies distributed it more broadly
Updated Guidelines for Treating Babies Exposed to Drugs in the Womb
The question of how best to help babies who have been exposed to drugs in the womb — including prescription pain medications, antidepressants and illicit drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine — can be an emotionally charged issue.
Getting a Better Buzz from Alcohol
We drink for the buzz, and researchers have learned how alcohol makes us feel so good — some more so than others
Champion of Pain Relief, Siobhan Reynolds Dead in Plane Crash
The pain community loses a pioneering activist
Super-Duper Hydrocodone? An Open Letter to Big Pharma
A powerful and addictive new painkiller is coming down the pike. Can this be anything but an unmitigated disaster?
Could Medical Marijuana Reduce Patients’ Need for Opioid Painkillers?
A small, new study backs a long-standing claim of advocates of medical marijuana: pain patients can safely use cannabis while taking opioid painkillers, and may actually need fewer pills because of it.
Why Swearing Sparingly Can Help Kill Pain
Letting loose with a satisfying string of expletives can significantly reduce physical pain, research has shown. But according to a new study, it doesn’t work as well if you make a habit of cursing frequently.
The Healthland Podcast: Sexual Abuse, Memory and the Painkiller Epidemic
This week on the podcast, we use the Penn State and Herman Cain cases as a starting point for a discussion of the complicated relationships among sexual abuse, sexual harassment, trauma and memory. We also discuss the dramatic …
Michael Jackson Verdict: Is a Doctor’s Conviction an Indictment of Modern Medicine?
Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty on Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. With overdose deaths tripling in the past decade, should Murray’s conviction be a lesson to other doctors?
Are Doctors Really to Blame for the Overdose Epidemic?
Forty people die each day from what Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), calls an “epidemic” of prescription drug overdose. Frieden largely attributes the rise in overdose …
Fueled by Growing Painkiller Use, Overdose Deaths and Child Poisonings Are on the Rise
Drug overdose has now overtaken automobile crashes as the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., according to an analysis of government data. This is the first time that drugs have killed more people than car wrecks since …