Researchers block morphine’s itchy side effect

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jaurk

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Itching is one of the most prevalent side effects of powerful, pain-killing drugs like morphine, oxycodone and other opioids. The opiate-associated itch is so common that even women who get epidurals for labor pain often complain of itching. For many years, scientists have scratched their own heads about why drugs that so effectively suppress pain also induce itch.

Now in mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown they can control opioid-induced itching without interfering with a drug’s ability to relieve pain. The discovery raises tantalizing possibilities for new treatments to eliminate itch in cancer and surgery patients as well as others who rely on opioids to relieve chronic and severe pain.

http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22805.aspx

Hope that the receptor which also induces euphoria wasn't the one which caused the itchiness.
So this means future opiod drugs without itchiness!

Or maybe.. without euphoria?
It's not mentioned in the article, but I think we can see new drugs to come.
All of you opiate lovers should hope you can still get high, though I'm pretty sure that you still could.

It also seems that it's not just morphine, it's all opiod drugs that are altered to not use the "itchy receptor" wonder how street heroin will do.. if they could make it without the itchy, who knows but it's still an interesting article.

Not sure if this forum discourages article posting or not.
 
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I'm not an opiate lover so I have never prooved this theory but I always assumed benadryl would cure this?
 
they already figured this out years ago. scientists synthesized oxy and hydro (both codone and morphone) in an effort to reduce the high-profile of side-effects associated morphine and its derivatives.

this thread should be moved to Drugs in the Media, and not really appropriate for ADD
 
i heard they were gonna make oxycodone instant release (roxys) anti abusable, iv heard it about a year ago then again in the summer, i dont see how they can make them not abuseable because i heard they were gonna make them like th OP oxycontins but that will just make it extended relase like the OPs soo patients wont get relife for break through pain which makes me belive they can do much, theyve already spent millions with no results.. i can see them makiing all extended releases such as palladone (extended realese hydromphone) with something like timerx in the extended relase opanas.. i dont see what they can do with the instant release besides maybe preveting them to be shot, maybe make them a syrup or idk i think roxys hydromorphone and oxymorphone instant release are gonna be around for a bit longer..

what do you guys thinkk?
 
darkestxredx said:
i heard they were gonna make oxycodone instant release (roxys) anti abusable, iv heard it about a year ago then again in the summer, i dont see how they can make them not abuseable because i heard they were gonna make them like th OP oxycontins but that will just make it extended relase like the OPs soo patients wont get relife for break through pain which makes me belive they can do much, theyve already spent millions with no results.. i can see them makiing all extended releases such as palladone (extended realese hydromphone) with something like timerx in the extended relase opanas.. i dont see what they can do with the instant release besides maybe preveting them to be shot, maybe make them a syrup or idk i think roxys hydromorphone and oxymorphone instant release are gonna be around for a bit longer..

what do you guys thinkk?
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I think that you can still acheive a high even if they are Extended Release.
But I can't speak much as I'm only experienced with Oxycodone and Codeine.

I've only done highschool biology and chemistry and I don't really see how they can make the anti-abusable as I think the same receptor that blocks pain also releases dopamine so.. unless they're nifty and can somehow block the release of dopamine without affecting the numbing the pain nerve signals.. then I don't see them become anti-abusable.

Though I wouldn't take anything of what I've said seriously as I've never researched this subject.
 
darkestxredx said:
i heard they were gonna make oxycodone instant release (roxys) anti abusable, iv heard it about a year ago then again in the summer, i dont see how they can make them not abuseable because i heard they were gonna make them like th OP oxycontins but that will just make it extended relase like the OPs soo patients wont get relife for break through pain which makes me belive they can do much, theyve already spent millions with no results..
Click to expand...

The time release mechanism of the OPs is separate from the anti-abuse mechanism. There's an article here somewhere that explains that the new roxys would still have the same oral absorption rate as the old roxys (I think if you forum-search the word "niacin" you'll find it).

edit: here it is: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/...Resistant-Oxycodone-(Oxecta)?highlight=niacin
 
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(zonk) said:
I'm not an opiate lover so I have never prooved this theory but I always assumed benadryl would cure this?
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its does, so I don't understand what they really found out that is so new? take a friggin benadryl and bam, no more itches!
 
isnt the itch caused by histimine release?
one time i used oxycodone I was itching to the point of it being painful and i noticed i had hives almost...
 
I was lucky when I got Dilaudid via IV and didnt get itchy. .8mg every 6 minutes :D
That was about the only time (minus a few isolated cases) where heavy opioid use didnt get me itchy. That was also some of the best 4 days in the hospital, ever. Was sad to see it go, but getting rid of it, meant I could get out sooner and after 9 days already in, you kind of want to gtfo.
 
I'm "allergic" to codeine. Itching, Flushing, Hives, its like a huge numbing heat wave. ONly it isn't an allergy in that there's no allergic reaction cascade simple a massive release of histamine. I can avoid it by taking a benedryl. I'm also not sure if this article belongs in this category.
 
This is interesting, but why don't they spend their time trying to identify the specific action of the molecule that is responsible for reward and response and try to modify that receptor subtype in order to create a non-addictive painkiller?
It seems like a paradigm shift is needed in the field of analgesics as opiates have been the standard for the entirety of human history, and despite all the ways we can modify these opiates, we have not found one that lets us modify the component responsible for addiction.
 
theblueletters said:
I'm "allergic" to codeine. Itching, Flushing, Hives, its like a huge numbing heat wave. ONly it isn't an allergy in that there's no allergic reaction cascade simple a massive release of histamine. I can avoid it by taking a benedryl. I'm also not sure if this article belongs in this category.
Click to expand...

I origionally put it in ADD, but it was moved to Drugs in the Media.
If they block the histamine release, that in-theory means you could use future modified opiates.
 
muvolution said:
This is interesting, but why don't they spend their time trying to identify the specific action of the molecule that is responsible for reward and response and try to modify that receptor subtype in order to create a non-addictive painkiller?
It seems like a paradigm shift is needed in the field of analgesics as opiates have been the standard for the entirety of human history, and despite all the ways we can modify these opiates, we have not found one that lets us modify the component responsible for addiction.
Click to expand...

I do agree, the funding for this study;

"Funding for this research comes from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases and from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)."

I very much agree the money should've been spent towards making it non-addictive, but perhaps it was urged towards the histamine because that's what the people who funded it wanted.

But who knows, overall I still think it's a great leap in opiod drugs, and I hope the next big leap is non-addictiveness.

Also, the addiction from opiates is just the brain's natural way of saying "Well, I don't need to make endorphines and such anymore, it's all here."
It's goign to be pretty tricky to stop the brain for making that decision.
 
Morphine is addictive in two mutually exclusive ways: it reinforces itself via the brain's dopamine-dependent reward system, and it makes itself necessary by down-regulating mu receptors. I suspect you can't remove both of these processes without completely sacrificing the analgesic efficacy.

On the other hand, the narcotic component of morphine makes life more bearable for the significantly disabled patient.
 
This seems like a waste of time to me for the most part. I mean is morphine suddenly the only drug prescribed for pain? I know people who can't take morphine or codeine but they can usually take something else like demerol, oxycodone, hydromorphone, fentanyl, etc. There's always hydroxyzine as well which works better then diphenhydramine for the itches.
 
This is kinda cool. I get real itchy when I first shoot, but it usually goes away pretty quick, although sometimes it can be really intense, so relief from that would be nice. I personally don't like to take benedryl with opiates because I tend to nod odd 10X worse than when I don't and I don't like being that obviously intoxicated and it would also hinder my ability to drive somewhere if needed. Hopefully this doesn't lead to finding a way to eliminate euphoria from the drugs, as that would be a tragedy, but I think that would be extremely difficult.
 
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