Opioids for Arthritis? Read This First.

I’m no stranger to pain.

But I’ve never experienced the chronic, life-altering pain that comes with osteoarthritis.

If you’re in that situation, I don’t blame you for trying ANYTHING just to get a little relief.

Just don’t let your doctor prescribe you an opioid.

Besides the fact that they’re highly addictive, researchers have recently uncovered something so shocking about them that no doctor should be prescribing them for osteoarthritis.

Opioids are responsible for the notorious opioid epidemic.

These drugs are so addictive that over 2 million Americans have a substance use disorder, which leads to tens of thousands of overdose deaths every year.

Prescription opioids include oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine, fentanyl, and others. And while these are an accepted form of pain relief in the modern world, make no mistake… they’re in the same class of drugs as heroine—and they’re every bit as dangerous.

Still, some doctors prescribe them when nothing else works. And too many people with OA find themselves in this category.

But opioids should never be an option.

Because in addition to being highly dangerous—they just don’t work.

Researchers reviewed 18 placebo-controlled studies involving over 9,000 people with hip or knee osteoarthritis.

They calculated numerous pain and function tests at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks.

• Ultimately, they determined that oral opioids only have SMALL benefits on pain and function in people with OA.
• Those minimal benefits decreased with time.
• And strong opioids consistently underperformed compared to weak or intermediate opioids.

In addition to these underwhelming results, they also found that the people taking opioids were more likely to experience adverse events like gastrointestinal discomfort and daytime drowsiness.

The bottom line?

Considering the dependency concerns, the potential discomfort, and lack of effectiveness, opioids are not a good option for people with osteoarthritis.

If your doctor tries to prescribe you an opioid (or if you’re already taking one), show him this study and talk with him about safer alternatives that actually work.