Journal of pain & palliative care pharmacotherapy
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Caring for the Caregiver is information for persons helping to care for people with cancer. The emphasis is on what caregivers can do to help themselves at this stressful time. ⋯ The information is written on a basic level and it is very suitable for health professionals to share with persons helping to care for family members or friends who have cancer. The National Cancer Institute posted this information on its website last June 29.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2008
ReviewOpioid side effects and their treatment in patients with chronic cancer and noncancer pain.
Opioids are the foundation of standard analgesic regimens for moderate to severe pain due to life-threatening illnesses such as cancer, and are increasingly employed in chronic noncancer pain of the same severity. Opioids are frequently used for long periods in these populations, sometimes for years. However, side effects are common and may reduce quality of life, or become life threatening, and frequently cause patients to discontinue opioid therapy. ⋯ General management strategies include switching opioids ("opioid rotation"), discontinuation of concurrent medications that exacerbate side effects, and symptomatic treatment. In addition, recently recognized adverse events that occur after long-term opioid therapy are discussed. High-quality evidence is lacking for the treatment of most side effects, and the true incidence, underlying mechanisms, and clinical implications of long-term responses to opioid therapy are not yet fully understood.
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J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother · Jan 2008
Comparative StudyThe NIH Glucosamine/Chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT).
Americans continue to spend millions of dollars annually on glucosamine and chondroitin for symptoms of osteoarthritis. These agents are classified as dietary supplements, not as drugs, per se. Therefore, they do not meet the requirements of the FDA to be classified as drugs. ⋯ For a subset of participants with moderate-to-severe pain, glucosamine combined with chondroitin sulfate provided statistically significant pain relief compared with placebo, about 79% had a 20% or greater reduction in pain versus about 54% for placebo. According to the researchers, because of the small size of this subgroup these findings should be considered preliminary and need to be confirmed in further studies. For participants in the mild pain subset, glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate together or alone did not provide statistically significant pain relief.
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Current approaches to the management of pain due to amputation are presented by two Spanish pain specialists with additional commentaries on care of such patients by pain specialists from Belgium and the United Kingdom. Contemporary pharmacotherapy and nondrug interventions are described.