ext_121658 ([identity profile] kidsnurse.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] kidsnurse 2007-11-23 03:51 pm (UTC)

easy to forget that he's always hopped up on

accck! no, he's not 'hopped up'--ever [unless he supplements with, say, lsd. or morphine] and yeah, here comes [livejournal.com profile] kidsnurse, getting on her soapbox with yet another mini-lesson as regards chronic pain, and its treatment: the opioids [especially the milder ones, like Vicodin] are surprisingly ineffective for treatment of acute pain, especially when the patient is already opioid-dependent and has built up a tolerance over the years. so house's 'usual' doses of vicodin would have little to no effect upon the 'new', acute pain the candidates inflicted on the poor man.

even when people who are not chronic pain patients are given opioids for pain relief, say after surgery, they're normally first given stronger pain meds via the parenteral route while the post-op pain is still in the acute phase, before it settles into the chronic phase where it can more easily be controlled through the use of oral narcotics.

[livejournal.com profile] kidsnurse is shutting up now... we can all stop rolling our eyes! ;)

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