Treatment Strategies for the Opioid-Dependent Patient

This review is intended to help the headache physician think through and plan for management issues concerning the use of opioids. We ask the headache physician to consider if there are instances where prescribing or continuing prescriptions of opiates is plausible, and if so, how can the physician proceed as safely as possible. Our goal is to start a conversation regarding the inevitable encounter with a patient on opiates or requesting opiates.

The use of opiates in our society has reached a crisis in staggering death and addiction rates. Recent guideline published by the CDC can assist us in developing an algorithmic approach towards opiate use. Recent advances in addiction medicine can also assist us in protecting our patients. Every headache physician will undoubtedly encounter patients on opiates. There still are appropriate reasons to treat patients with opiates. Every headache physician may need to prescribe opiates and they may be indicated. It is important to learn the correct way to approach, manage, and treat patients on opiates.