Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
One of the roles of the health care professional, as a member of the multidisciplinary team, is to work with
the patient to devise a drug regime that reduces the patient’s perception of pain to a minimum. The regime
should support the patient’s recovery and also maintain the mental and emotional well-being of the patient
in chronic or terminal pain.
The choice of drugs available to alleviate pain is very wide and the selection of a particular drug in a
particular patient or for a particular condition is governed by a number of factors including:
the severity of the pain;
the expected duration of the pain – whether it is acute short-term pain seen after surgery or an
accident, or longer term as in chronic pain and cancer;
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the patient’s previous response to analgesic drugs, particularly their tolerance to side-effects;
the patient’s emotional state and attitude to the cause of pain – this can be of paramount importance in
chronic pain or the pain of terminal illness.
There are six broad areas that will be covered in this chapter. They are:
1 mechanisms for drug actions;
2 analgesic choice;
3 drug effectiveness;
4 routes of administration;
5 duration of action;
6 main groups of analgesics.
Mechanisms for drug action An understanding of how drugs act is useful when
caring for individuals and when considering which
Once a drug is administered and absorbed into the
drugs an individual is to be prescribed; it can be crucial
body it has to exert a pharmacological action before
in terms of the drug’s intended effect and side-effects.
it is effective in relieving the patient’s illness.
For an easy digest on how drugs work in the body,
Most drugs act by one of only three major
the following is a useful source of information:
mechanisms:
www.doitnow.org/pdfs/223.pdf
More in-depth information can be obtained from
1 They replace or mimic the effects of a natural
the pharmacology texts included in the further read-
chemical messenger in the body: an example of
ing section at the end of this chapter. Within this
this type of activity would be the administering
chapter, we only intend to address the pharmacology
of morphine. Morphine replicates the effect of
of pain and will be giving an overview of the main
the body’s own naturally occurring opioids – the
areas of importance.
endogenous opioid peptides (EOP).
2 They block or prevent the actions of a chemical
messenger: an example of this is administering Choice of analgesia
adrenergic blocking drugs to block the effect of
Choosing a painkiller for pain management depends
adrenaline in patients with heart disease. This
on several different factors. These can be classified as:
results in a decrease in the work done by the
heart. patient-related;
3 They inhibit (and more rarely stimulate) drug-related;
enzymes: an example of this type of action is the prescriber/dispenser-related;
use of monoamine oxidase inhibitors to treat resource-related;
depression. legal and ethical issues.
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Prescriber/dispenser-related 1 absorption;
The prescriber is the person who decides which drug 2 distribution;
to give and the dispenser is the person who gives this 3 metabolism;
drug to the patient. This might be the individual 4 elimination.
themselves; for example, if they are taking paraceta-
mol at home. It might also be a doctor who prescribes Absorption
and a nurse who dispenses in a hospital setting or if
When pharmacologists talk about the absorption of a
the doctor is a general practitioner who prescribes it
drug into the body, they are describing the rate at
could be the pharmacist who dispenses the drug. In all
which a drug leaves its site of administration (i.e. oral
these cases there are some key elements that would
or injection) and the extent to which this occurs. For
influence the effectiveness of the drug:
most routes it is unsafe to assume that 100 per cent of
attitudes towards certain painkillers; a drug will be absorbed. This can be particularly true
beliefs about the strength or effects of certain after oral administration or the application of a drug
drugs or routes; to the skin in the form of a cream or ointment. In
what the dose is and how frequently the drug is practice, providing we know how much is absorbed
prescribed; from a particular route and as long as individual drug
how often the drug is given to, or taken by the responses do not vary greatly, all we need to really
patient. consider is the amount of drug that actually reaches
its site of action.
Absorption is influenced by many factors. These
Resource-related
include:
Major factors here are:
Drug concentration: higher concentrations tend to
the cost of a drug; be absorbed quicker.
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The area of body surface available: lungs have a Warfarin is a useful drug in preventing vascular
large surface area available for drug absorption. clotting in venous thrombosis and pulmonary embol-
Providing the concentration is correct, gases and ism. It is also a toxic drug (it is used as a rat poison)
vapours are absorbed at rates equivalent to an which in overdose can result in bleeding into the
intravenous injection. joints and under the skin, leading to marked bruising.
Formulation: medicines that are already dissolved Normally doses are adjusted to ensure that plasma
in solution are more rapidly absorbed than those binding sites are not fully occupied providing a ‘sink’
given in the form of suspensions or capsules. to bind any slight excess of warfarin that may natur-
Chemical properties: acids, such as aspirin, are ally occur. Also drugs which compete for these sites
poorly absorbed from the stomach as they are less are avoided. About 99 per cent of warfarin is bound to
soluble in the acid gastric juice. Many drugs are plasma proteins; only one per cent will be in solution
designed to be slightly acid so that they will be and pharmacologically active. As this 1 per cent is
absorbed from the upper section of the small intes- metabolized and excreted, more warfarin is released
tine and not the stomach. from the plasma protein, maintaining the ratio
Solubility: whether a drug dissolves in lipids or in between bound and unbound warfarin and sustaining
water will affect how rapidly it is taken up by the its therapeutic effect.
body’s tissues as cell membranes have a lipid layer If aspirin is taken, the two drugs compete for bind-
surrounding them. A lipid soluble drug gets to its ing sites and this displaces warfarin into solution so
site of action quicker but is also removed from the that the concentration of available warfarin rises. If
site more rapidly than a water soluble drug. See it increases by just a few per cent then there is a
the section on ‘lipid solubility’ on p. 96. danger of excessive bleeding. In severe cases, this
may be fatal. This is why bleeding time in patients on
Distribution warfarin is closely monitored.
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unchanged: a small number of drugs are not kidney function, drugs are excreted at a slower rate,
metabolized, but excreted unchanged. they remain in the body longer and the dose or the
timing between two doses must be adjusted accord-
Table 5.1 summarizes the activity of four drugs and
ingly. Kidney function generally decreases with age
their metabolites.
and this means that different doses may need to be
Drugs that are absorbed from the stomach or
given to older patients.
intestine pass through the liver before they reach
the general circulation. The resulting metabolism
inactivates most of the drug so that even if all of an Drug delivery
ingested drug absorbs from the gut a significant pro-
portion will be altered before it can reach its site of Compartments
action. This decrease in bioavailability is called ‘the A convenient way to think of drug delivery is to
first pass effect’. Most morphine-like drugs are consider the body as being composed of a series of
considerably metabolized but in some this is an compartments.
advantage. Codeine for example is metabolized into
morphine while morphine is transformed into the Single compartment model
metabolite morphine-6-glucoronide (M6G). M6G is
In a single compartment the drug simply needs to get
an active metabolite and is more potent than mor-
into the plasma to work. An example of this is the use
phine itself.
of normal saline for hydration. A simpler example is
drinking water; we just have to drink it and it is
Elimination absorbed into the blood stream across our gut. In the
The main route for drug elimination is through excre- case of saline we bypass this process by cannulating a
tion by the kidneys but there are other pathways, vein and putting fluid directly into the bloodstream.
such as the lungs, faeces and sweat glands. If there is This very simple model depends on three factors, the
disease or damage to the liver or kidney, the drugs or amount of drug that can be absorbed, the degree of
their metabolites are inefficiently eliminated; they distribution around the body and the amount that is
may accumulate or duration of action increases. excreted. The first will be determined by the solubility
It is important to know how much of the active of the drug and the second by the dose of the drug and
drug is excreted unchanged because any change in the the degree of first pass metabolism that occurs (see
pattern of excretion due to disease or organ damage Fig. 5.1).
will have a profound effect on the therapeutic
response to the drug. Clinical studies on healthy indi- Two compartment model
viduals indicate that 70 per cent of most drugs given In this model we have to consider that the drug not
intravenously are excreted unchanged (not metabol- only has to enter the body but must also enter a target
ized) in the urine. This information is used to calcu- compartment to work and be reabsorbed from this to
late how frequently a drug should be administered to be excreted. We therefore have two compartments,
maintain a consistent dose. Where there is impaired the central compartment or plasma and a peripheral
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compartment representing the site of drug action. tissues or where there are additional barriers in the
This closely approximates the action of non-steroidal way of a drug getting to its target. It helps to explain
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and paracetamol the action of opioids which act centrally, in the brain
which work in the peripheral tissues, muscle, connect- and spinal cord. These are protected by the meninges,
ive tissues, bones and skin. The time taken for the a tough protective barrier consisting of three layers of
drug to arrive at, enter and leave the target tissue lipid soluble tissue. Opioids, like other substances
determines how long a drug will act and what concen- such as oxygen and glucose, have to diffuse across this
tration needs to be in the plasma. Plasma concentra- barrier in order to reach opioid receptors in the central
tion levels therefore need to be maintained for nervous tissue (see Fig. 5.3).
enough of a drug to get to the target site (Fig 5.2). This adds an additional factor, getting into the cen-
tral nervous system (CNS), which determines drug
effectiveness and influences the duration and the
Three compartment model necessary dose to ensure a sufficient plasma
This model is helpful in considering the action of concentration.
drugs that have to enter certain structures within
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Figure 5.3 A three compartment model of pharmacokinetics targeting the central nervous system
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2 The oral equivalent of 5 mg of epidural mor- From Fig. 5.4 you can see that to be effective a
phine is 150 mg. The calculation is: 5 mg sufficient amount of drug has to be absorbed into the
epidural ≡ 50 mg parenteral ≡ 150 mg oral. plasma. If too little is absorbed the drug has either no
3 The intramuscular equivalent of 0.1 mg of therapeutic effect or a short duration of action. The
intrathecal morphine is 10 mg as follows: 0.1 mg plasma concentration must be high enough to ensure
intrathecal ≡ 1 mg epidural ≡ 10 mg that both an effective dose and duration of action is
intramuscular. reached. For analgesics the dotted line representing
the effective dose at target is known as the minimum
What we are referring to here is the amount of a drug effective analgesia concentration (MEAC) and is
required to produce an effect at the target site. If we defined as ‘the minimum plasma concentration at
can reduce the dose that is given by directly targeting which analgesia occurs when a drug is given by
specific tissue, then we can reduce the dose of a drug constant infusion’ (Charlton, 1997: 4)
and thus reduce its systemic effects. However, it
should be remembered that this does not eliminate
side-effects or risk of toxic effects as each equivalent Key point
dose is as potent as the next, and in certain cases such
The minimum effective analgesia
as intrathecal, because it is so close to the target tissue,
concentration (MEAC) alters with pain
may be even more likely to produce profound effects
intensity; this means that much higher doses
if dosing is not correct.
are required for severe pain than for mild
pain.
Plasma concentration
The graph shown in Figure 5.4 demonstrates the However, things are not that simple. Many
relationship between a drug’s plasma concentration analgesics when given in high doses have toxic
and its effect at its target site when a single dose is effects. Morphine toxicity is first characterized by
given. increasing drowsiness; this might be accompanied by
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a slightly reduced respiratory rate. As sedation and the volume of distribution (Vd) of a drug. Each
increases the respiratory rate begins to slow down drug has a specific Kel and t½.
and the patient becomes unrousable. Pupils will If a patient cannot clear a drug from their body: for
become pinpoint, respiratory rate continues to example, in liver disease where metabolism is reduced;
diminish as respiratory depression progresses and in renal disease where elimination may be comprom-
eventually a respiratory arrest may occur and con- ised; in the elderly who may not be as efficient in
sequently death. It is important to differentiate eliminating drugs because of loss of renal function; in
between a toxic effect and a side-effect. Drugs like the clinically obese where increased fat alters drug
morphine have other effects such as nausea and distribution; and in premature babies and neonates
vomiting or itching. Dysphoria, in the form of because their glomerular filtration rate is lower than
unpleasant visual hallucinations or nightmares, may normal adults; the Kel for the drug is altered and half
also occur. These are unwanted side-effects as they life will be longer.
occur at therapeutic levels and they can cause serious Conversely, in full term infants, renal function
problems for patients. A very common side-effect is approaches young adulthood within one week of birth
constipation. This occurs even at low doses of and doubles it by six months so that young children
morphine and may be the reason for administering and older infants may well have a shorter half life for
morphine in the first place as it is an effective anti- many drugs.
diarrhoeal medication.
When a drug is prescribed the dose has to be very
carefully considered. There should be a sufficient dose Activity 5.2
to produce a therapeutic effect that has a good dur- A patient is prescribed 20 mg of
ation of action while avoiding too high a dose which morphine. Morphine has a half life of
will cause toxicity. approximately three hours. Calculate the
amount of morphine still active at 24 hours
Duration of action after one dose of the morphine.
The margin between effective dosing and preventing
toxicity restricts how much of the drug can be given. The answer is 0.078 mg of morphine. The calcula-
However, as soon as a drug is absorbed the processes tion of half life is as follows:
of metabolism and elimination begin to clear it from
the body. The initial concentration of the drug and its 20 mg ÷ 2 = 10 mg at 3 hours
rate of clearance determine duration of action. In most 10 mg ÷ 2 = 5 mg at 6 hours
drugs the clearance rate is proportional to the drug’s 5 mg ÷ 2 = 2.5 mg at 9 hours
concentration. This means that when there is a high 2.5 mg ÷ 2 = 1.25 mg at 12 hours
concentration of the drug more is eliminated while 1.25 mg ÷ 2 = 0.625 mg at 15 hours
when there is a lower concentration the rate of elim- 0.625 mg ÷ 2 = 0.3125 mg at 18 hours
ination is much slower. The result is a steady rate of 0.3125 mg ÷ 2 = 0.15635 mg at 21 hours
reduction in plasma concentration of the drug known 0.15635 mg ÷ 2 = 0.078125 mg at 24 hours
as the ‘half life’.
The above activity assumes that clearance is con-
Half life (t1/2) stant and not affected by clinical concerns and that
the patient is a young adult.
Half life measures how long it takes for the concentra-
tion or amount of drug in the plasma to be reduced by
Repeat dosing
exactly one-half. It depends on the drug behaving in a
specific fashion known as a first-order reaction. If a Knowing the plasma clearance and half life of a
drug behaves in this way then we know that the rate drug is important when it comes to repeat dosing.
of elimination will follow a constant known as Kel for Repeating doses before the half life has passed will
that drug. This is determined by the plasma clearance increase a drug’s plasma concentration leading to
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toxicity. Where half life becomes extended due to causes adverse effects on a patient’s health (see
health problems or age, toxicity can be a real problem Chapter 7).
unless the time between doses is increased (see Fig.
5.5).
In contrast, repeating doses after the half life Activity 5.3
means that the drug concentration will reduce and the
Often analgesia is prescribed to be
level will fall below the minimum effective plasma
given at intervals that are longer than the
concentration between doses. Where an analgesic is
half life. This can cause the patient to
concerned this would mean a patient would experi-
experience unnecessary pain. If we
ence pain in between doses (Fig. 5.6).
consider morphine which has a half life of
The graph of repeat dosing shown in Fig. 5.6 is
three hours, under normal circumstances a
commonly seen when analgesia is given to patients.
single dose of 10 mg administered to a 75 kg
Because the dose is repeated after the half life has
man intramuscularly should provide
passed, an analgesic’s toxic effects are avoided and
effective analgesia for three to four hours,
patient safety seems to be maintained. This can be a
without reaching toxic levels once it has
very important consideration when the serious and
been absorbed from the muscle. Draw a
life-threatening toxic effects of many analgesics are
graph plotting the profile for the absorption
concerned. It makes sense to protect patients from the
and elimination of the first dose of this drug
adverse effects of a drug by ensuring the half life has
and then plot the profile for the ideal time to
passed before another dose is given. However, when
administer the second dose.
the timing of the repeat dose is well past a drug’s half
life, a patient will experience unnecessary pain
because the action of the first dose has long passed. Your graph should resemble the one below (see
We should also consider that aside from the ethical Fig. 5.7). As you can see the three hour half life of
issues, pain itself, particularly acute severe pain, morphine means that the patient can be kept safe and
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Figure 5.6 Repeat dosing of analgesia at intervals much greater than half life
quite comfortable as long as the dose is given every drug, its duration of action and the patient’s health
three hours. and age can reduce or eliminate the period of pain
Judiciously applying knowledge of the half life of a experienced between doses.
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Reason Explanation
Prescription is on demand Carers do not actively assess pain and patients therefore have to
request the analgesia and they only tend to do this when in pain
Many analgesics are controlled Controlled drugs are kept securely and must be checked and
drugs recorded in a controlled drug book by two members of staff.
We audited how long this took. The quickest time was just over
15 minutes and the average was 45 minutes
The patient refuses the medication When a painkiller is working, the patient is comfortable and
often does not realize that the best plan of action is to anticipate
the pain and repeat dose before it returns
The patient is asleep It may seem cruel to wake someone in order to give them
analgesia but in circumstances where they are likely to feel
severe pain, taking analgesia by the clock will actually mean
they experience more rest and less distress
Other factors affecting repeat dosing of the drug begins to be eliminated. A problem with
analgesia maintaining a steady state in many opioids is that the
metabolites such as M6G are active opioids as well.
There are many other reasons why analgesics might
These contribute to the effects of the drug and means
not be given frequently enough to maintain the min-
that after a few hours toxicity will occur (see the dot-
imum effective analgesia concentration. Table 5.3
ted line) unless the infusion rate is adjusted. Main-
identifies some of the most common.
taining a steady state using intravenous infusion
The optimum timing of a drug for repeat dosing
requires regular and close monitoring for early toxic
should therefore ensure that the half life has passed
effects, such as drowsiness, with the infusion rate
but that the duration of action is maintained. That is, a
regularly adjusted.
balance between clearance and absorption occurs so
Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) is another
that a high enough plasma concentration is main-
technique which can produce a steady state if the
tained for effective analgesia without any toxicity.
patient is taught titration of their analgesia dose
This balance is termed a ‘steady state.’
against their pain and this is covered in more depth in
Chapter 7.
Steady state
In activity 5.3 a steady state was achieved over two The three main groups of analgesics
doses. However, Table 5.3 shows that organizational
The three main groups of analgesics are:
and other difficulties are likely to interfere with main-
taining this over a long period of time. If a person
1 NSAIDs;
requires long-term analgesia, then technical solutions
2 paracetamol;
can be used to maintain a steady state of a drug.
3 opioids.
One such method is to use a continuous infusion of
drug. In Figure 5.8 a graph represents a continuous
NSAIDs
intravenous infusion of morphine. In this example a
steady state is achieved when the clearance rate and This is a diverse group of drugs that have different
the infusion rate correspond. We can see that an initial clinical structures but share similar therapeutic
peak occurs when the infusion commences and then actions and side-effects (see Table 5.4). This makes it
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convenient to treat them together. Commonly used the brain, stimulates the hypothalamus to raise body
examples of these drugs are aspirin, diclofenac and temperature in fever. When it is synthesized in the
ibuprofen. stomach it reduces gastric acid secretion and increases
gastric mucosal lining. Inhibiting this when pyrexic
NSAIDs’ mechanism of action will reduce a fever; however, inhibition may also pro-
The effect of NSAIDS and their side-effects arises duce gastric ulceration. The adverse effects of NSAIDs
from their ability to inhibit the enzyme cyclo- on the stomach are more marked in elderly females.
oxygenase, preventing the synthesis of prostaglandins This is because oestrogen and progesterone have
from arachidonic acid. The prostaglandins are bio- beneficial effects on the gastric mucosa and these
logically active fatty acids involved in many physio- hormones are lost after the menopause. Thinning of
logical functions. One, P.G.E.2, when synthesized in the gastric mucosa occurs in both sexes with age and
Action Explanation
Anti-pyretic Lowers body temperature in fever, has no effect on normal body
temperature
Anti-inflammatory They are powerful drugs in the treatment of conditions such as
rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis
Analgesia Providing mild to moderate pain relief.
More effective in headaches, bone pain and arthritis than visceral pain
Blood platelet aggregation Aspirin is a first line of treatment for patients recovering from a heart
inhibition attack and for prevention of a thrombosis in ‘at risk’ groups
May produce dose-related gastric ulceration and bleeding
this probably results in the stomach becoming more Information required before starting treatment
susceptible to damage from the ingestion of NSAIDs. with NSAIDs
Another, thromboxane, mediates platelet aggrega- Before treatment starts you should check for contra-
tion. Inhibiting this suppresses clotting. This is useful indications. Common ones are haemophilia and gas-
if you want to prevent thrombi formation but harm- trointestinal ulceration. However, breastfeeding and
ful if a gastric ulcer is present. using aspirin in children is also contra-indicated, due
Prostaglandins are not stored within cells but are to an association with Reye’s syndrome.
actively manufactured by a wide range of agents; at
times of inflammation and tissue damage, they can be
produced in excess and this leads to increased swell- Paracetamol
ing, tissue damage and pain through the development Paracetamol is not a NSAID although many of its
of nociceptive hypersensitivity. These include, brady- actions are similar. It will reduce temperature in fever
kinin, cytokines and Substance P. NSAIDs suppress and is an effective analgesic but it does not have anti-
the production of prostaglandin thereby disrupting inflammatory actions and only weakly inhibits cyclo-
this process and reducing stimulation of nociceptors. oxygenase. Although it does have a toxic metabolite it
produces very few side-effects at normal doses, as this
Other side-effects is quickly conjugated and bound with glutathione
NSAIDs produce a variety of renal effects, including which neutralizes the metabolite. In higher than
decreased renal blood flow and glomerular filtration. recommended doses however it can form a toxic
For this reason NSAIDs are contra-indicated or metabolite which actively reacts with liver cells caus-
should be used with caution in patients with impaired ing hepatic necrosis. Acute overdose may cause a fatal
renal function. Sodium retention can also occur, partly liver damage at a dose level of l0 g, which is two or
due to decreased glomerular filtration but also due to three times the maximum dose of 4 g per day recom-
inhibition of renal prostaglandin synthesis, which mended for pain control in adults.
augments sodium reabsorption. This can impact on
hypertension, especially in the elderly who have
Opioid analgesics
reduced renal function.
In high doses NSAIDs also produce tinnitus and The term ‘opioid’ is used to describe a group of
hearing impairment. drugs that are opium-like or morphine-like in their
properties. These mimic the action of a group of
Drug interactions natural substances called enkephalins, endorphins and
dynorphins that act on the CNS to modify nociceptive
NSAIDs are widely prescribed in the elderly for con-
pathways and reduce the sensation of pain. These are
ditions such as osteoarthritis. However, this group of
the endogenous opioid peptides and they are found in
patients is also likely to have multiple health prob-
the brain and other areas of the body.
lems and may be taking several other drugs. Some
particular NSAIDs have unique side-effects and inter-
action with other drugs. However, there is a wide Mechanism of action of opioids
range of drug interactions that can occur with any Opioids act centrally. They bind on opioid receptors
NSAID and it is always worth checking out inter- within the CNS and throughout the body and have
actions before commencing NSAIDs or using new no action at the site of the pain. These receptors are
drugs with existing NSAIDs. Earlier we considered binding sites for the naturally occurring opioids that
interaction between warfarin and aspirin; this is suppress day-to-day aches and pains or are produced
seen in all NSAIDs. Other notable interactions are as a result of exercise. There are several opioid recep-
decreased renal clearance of digoxin and metho- tors including mu (µ), kappa (κ) and delta (δ) recep-
trexate, a commonly prescribed drug in rheumatoid tors. The most important for pain relief are the mu
arthritis. receptors. Opioid receptors are mainly located in the
mid-brain and the posterior horn of the spinal cord.
101
When stimulated they suppress or inhibit pain When given to people who are not in pain or in doses
transmission. Interaction with the receptors takes larger than required to control the pain – as may occur
three forms: in pains that are non-responsive to opioids – mor-
phine acts on the respiratory centre in the medulla
1 Stimulation: this happens with many opioids oblongata to reduce its responsiveness to carbon
such as morphine, diamorphine and pethidine – dioxide. Opioid responsive or nociceptive pain prob-
this is an agonist effect. ably inputs into the respiratory centre and as a result
2 The receptor is partially stimulated and par- death from an overdose of morphine is normally the
tially blocked: this occurs with buprenorphine – result of respiratory depression.
this is a partial agonist effect. Use of morphine in the short term, for acute pain,
3 The receptor is blocked: this occurs with does not affect the production of endogenous opioid
naloxone – this is an antagonist effect. peptides. Longer-term use in chronic pain or palliative
care will suppress endogenous opioid peptides; this
The mu (µ) receptor reduces the pain response may lead to increased opioid tolerance requiring dose
through the CNS and produces the feeling of increases and difficulty in withdrawal because of exist-
euphoria associated with this group of drugs. ing pain.
Unfortunately, this receptor also initiates a reduction Opioid addiction occurs in individuals who have no
in the carbon dioxide drive of the respiratory centre pain but abuse opioids; there is no evidence that
resulting in respiratory depression. appropriate medical use of opioids for nociceptive
pains produces drug-seeking behaviour associated
with illicit drug use (McQuay, 2008).
Properties of opioid-like drugs
Because all opioid-like drugs share a similar spectrum
of pharmacological activity, we will look at the Effects on the gastrointestinal tract –
pharmacology of morphine in detail as a representa- long-term use
tive drug for the whole group. We will then mention Morphine has the effects on the gastrointestinal tract
one or two of the other drugs to indicate where they shown in Table 5.5.
differ significantly in their effects from morphine.
Effect Mechanism
Constipation Inhibition of intestinal propulsive peristalsis,
decreased gastric motility, leading to longer
transit time which coupled with fluid
reabsorption produces hard impacted stools
Decreased secretion of hydrochloric acid in the Delayed food digestion
stomach and biliary, pancreatic and intestinal
enzymes
Constriction of the Sphincter of Oddi Causes an increase in pressure in the bile duct.
Patients with biliary colic may experience an
increase rather than a decrease in pain when
given opioids
surface blood vessels leading to flushing. Also, patients this effect is not seen on subsequent
the release of histamine in the skin can produce administration.
pruritus or itching.
Other opioids
Therapeutic action of opioids
Other opioids display the same characteristics as mor-
As you have seen, opioids have widespread pharmaco- phine with variations in their lipid solubility, half life
logical actions. Three major therapeutic uses for and effect at receptor sites that may make them more
opioids are as follows: useful than morphine in certain clinical situations.
1 analgesia;
Diamorphine (heroin)
2 controlling diarrhoea;
Diamorphine is modified from morphine. Its analgesic
3 cough suppression.
potency is three times greater than morphine’s. It has
a more rapid onset of action but a shorter duration of
Adverse reactions
action. In the UK it is the drug of choice for sub-
Earlier in this chapter we discussed the toxic effects of
cutaneous administration due to its high water
morphine and we differentiated these from its side-
solubility. This permits the administration of high
effects: Some of the commonest side-effects that can
concentrations of the drug in a small injection vol-
occur at therapeutic doses include:
ume. Diamorphine is a very powerful drug of depend-
Constipation: this occurs, to a greater or lesser ence. Its manufacture, sale and use, even in clinical
extent, in most patients receiving these drugs. The situations, are illegal in the USA. Diamorphine is
use of regular prophylactic laxatives is there- normally used when morphine is ineffective in pain
fore always indicated when opioids are control.
administered. Diamorphine is particularly useful to relieve the
Respiratory depression: this is also common. It is acute pain of myocardial infarction and left ven-
dose-dependent and results from depression of the tricular failure when pulmonary oedema is present.
respiratory centre in the medulla oblongata. Diamorphine depresses the exaggerated effects of
Nausea and vomiting: on first-dose administra- respiratory effort, reduces patient distress and anxiety
tion, morphine stimulates the chemoreceptor trig- and helps to redistribute blood volume to the per-
ger zone in the medulla oblongata to produce a ipheries. Diamorphine is also less likely to induce
feeling of nausea and even vomiting. In most nausea and vomiting.
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Pethidine Fentanyl
Pethidine is an older synthetic drug that is used as
Fentanyl is a synthetic morphine-like drug but with
both an analgesic and an antispasmodic. It has a
considerable higher potency. Its use during induction
shorter half life than morphine, approximately two
of anaesthesia allows a reduction in the anaesthetic
hours. Pethidine has been advocated as a drug with a
drugs but requires care due to the high risks of
reduced effect on smooth muscle in comparison to
respiratory depression. It has a relatively long half-
morphine. Consequently, it has been and still is advo-
life lasting – about 6–8 hours – although in the elderly
cated for hepatic and renal colic and in surgery in
this may increase to 15 hours. Fentanyl is useful in
these areas, such as cholecystectomy or for acute
anaesthesia as it has a rapid onset and is also used
management of pancreatitis, although the evidence
transdermally in palliative care because of its higher
base is inconclusive in supporting this.
lipid solubility.
Pethidine has one distinct disadvantage to mor-
phine. Its metabolite norpethidine has a longer half
life than pethidine and duration of action than mor- Tolerance, dependence and withdrawal
phine and when given in repeated doses or to patients symptoms
with impaired renal function, it will accumulate and In pharmacological terms the three characteristics of
irritate the CNS and can cause convulsions. tolerance, dependence and withdrawal seen in opioids
Pethidine is widely used for occasional administra- relate to different aspects of their action as drugs and
tion during labour. Its shorter half life may mean that are not adverse effects or side-effects. However, these
the mother is able to metabolize more of the drug and characteristics are often linked together and are
that less crosses the placenta to have an effect on commonly confused.
neonatal respiration. However, there is no evidence
for this and the use of pethidine in labour in the Tolerance
UK continues, as a tradition, mainly because it is a
Tolerance to the pharmacological or therapeutic
drug that midwives are allowed to prescribe and
effects of a drug is a widespread phenomenon. It is
administer.
seen in situations where increasing concentrations of
the drug have to be given to maintain the same level
Mixed agonist/antagonist opioids of efficacy or effectiveness as originally seen with a
These drugs were developed in an attempt to produce lower dose. It does not occur where a patient’s condi-
morphine-like analgesic drugs which do not produce tion is deteriorating and they report an increased
euphoria and which are therefore less liable to abuse. severity or intensity of pain which requires an
In varying degrees they share all the pharmacological increase in dose. It occurs because the metabolism of
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the opioid increases due to enzyme activity in the used for pain relief. Why such drugs should act as
liver, making less of the drug available in the first analgesics in some patients is not always clear, and
place or because the nervous system adapts to the their use in palliative care often involves non-licensed
concentration of opioids by producing more opioid indications, routes and dosages. Not all patients
receptors so that the drug is utilized more rapidly or respond to these drugs and they are always intro-
reduces the production of endogenous opioid peptides duced into treatment as an adjuvant after treatment
requiring more of the administered drug to be used when powerful drugs such as morphine have failed to
for background purposes. This may be dealt with provide complete pain relief for the patient. When the
either by dose escalation or changing the opioid or the decision has been made to use adjuvant drugs, the
route. starting dose should be low and the patient should be
carefully monitored. These include:
Dependence
Dependence refers to a state of physiological adapta- Anti-convulsants
tion, with the patient needing to use the drug to pre-
Anti-convulsant drugs are useful in some types of
vent withdrawal effects. The risk of drug dependence
neuropathic pain. Until recently there has been no
is low in the therapeutic use of opioids; when the pain
drug of choice but carbamazepine and sodium val-
ceases patients no longer require analgesia. Depend-
proate are commonly used. However, in the elderly,
ence is often erroneously confused with addiction
anti-convulsant drugs used in relatively high doses
which describes an abusive pattern of behaviours that
can produce sedation and dizziness. Two drugs that
may or may not be driven by physical or psycho-
have been shown to be efficacious in neuropathic pain
logical dependence that can be described as an over-
even in these vulnerable groups are gabapentin and
whelming and compulsive need to use the substance
pregabalin. They are now the drugs of first choice.
of abuse.
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Summary
Having briefly examined the mechanisms for drug action, this chapter explored the absorption,
transport, metabolism and elimination of drugs and explained how these properties impact on the
drugs’ ability to fulfil their action. The last section of the chapter has explored the analgesic effects
of many of the drugs commonly prescribed in practice. The nature and actions of the drug have
been considered together with what drugs should be prescribed in a variety of different patient
scenarios.
For a more detailed account of their actions refer to the further reading section at the end of this
chapter.
From the areas we have explored you should be able to:
understand the main ways drugs act;
identify the main routes of administration;
relate routes of administration to action and effectiveness;
identify the three main groups of analgesic drugs;
explain the main functions of non-opioid drugs;
explain the main mechanisms of opioid drugs;
discuss the use of adjutant drugs.
Reflective activity
As a conclusion to this chapter consider how knowledge of this theory will help you in your
future practice. Try to be specific and use the following points/questions as a guide.
State which elements of the chapter will help you in your future practice.
Elaborate: be specific in terms of how this knowledge and understanding can be used in
practice.
Give examples: of care events which would benefit from what you have learnt.
What are the implications if you change the way you practise.
You may prefer to use a reflective model such as Gibbs’s (1988) to guide your reflection (see
Appendix at the end of this book). Think of a specific example as the starting point; for example, a
patient’s pain management where an opioid had been prescribed. When analysing the situation
draw on this chapter’s theory to support your discussion and demonstrate your understanding. As a
result of your reflection you should evaluate:
the appropriateness of the drug prescribed;
the impact of the dose, route and frequency on the effect and side-effects exhibited by the
patient.
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