Farewell to opioids

Abstract

Up till recent times, various opioid products have been the main stay for pain management during surgeries and in the postoperative period. The clinicians had to adopt multiple ways to control the troublesome side effects associated with opioid use; especially the ileus and nausea / vomiting.  Wide spread use of in-hospital and prescription use of opioids lead to an alarming rise in the addiction rates, ultimately termed as opioid epidemic. The clinicians had to think about other effective but safe methods to control pain. This invited editorial throws some light on this topic with an aim to involve clinicians in this debate.

Key words: Addiction; Opioids; Opioid epidemic; Pain

Citation: Zahid MA. Farewell to opioids (Editorial). Anaesth. pain intensive care 2023;27(1):150−153.

DOI: 10.35975/apic.v27i2.2179

Received: February 19, 2023; Reviewed: February 28, 2023; Accepted: February 28, 2023