Rare and Serious Side Effects in Chronic Pain after Opioids

Abstract

Opioids have been used since centuries for relief of both acute and chronic pain. The known and established side effects associated with usage of opioids such as nausea, vomiting, pruritis, respiratory depression, constipation, urinary retention, sedation and addiction constitute the main limitation while titration of the doses. Besides these established side effects, newer side effects of opioids are being reported with prolonged usage which has been rarely mentioned in the literature. These side effects are diverse in their presentation and have virtually involved every organ system ranging from cardio-vascular, pulmonary, immunologic, endocrine, musculo-skeletal, central nervous system, peripheral nervous system and so on. The present review elaborates in detail about these new serious side effects which have been reported rarely till now.