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Articles on Opioids and pain

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Opioid neurotransmitters are located in many areas of the body, including the brain, spine and gut. ALIOUI Mohammed Elamine/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Your body naturally produces opioids without causing addiction or overdose – studying how this process works could help reduce the side effects of opioid drugs

Unlike opioid drugs like morphine and fentanyl that travel throughout the body, the opioids your body produces are released in small quantities to specific locations.
Opioids can help reduce the amount of medication needed to achieve anesthesia. gpointstudio/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Why opting out of opioids can be dangerous in the operating room

Non-opioid directives allow patients to refuse opioids in all health care settings. For surgical procedures that require anesthesia, however, this may do more harm than good.
Instructor Sensei Giuseppe of Kids Kicking Cancer Italy, teaching a young cancer patient in Bergamo, Italy, on June 6, 2018. Elimelech Goldberg/Kids Kicking Cancer Italy

Treating pain in children can teach us about treating pain in adults

Children with cancer often experience terrible pain. Adults who treat them are determined to lessen their suffering. Can the lessons from helping kids with cancer pain inform treatment for adults in pain?

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