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December 2, 2008 9:13:22 AM CST


morphine

morphine news stories

3 Stories

Hot Sauce
Could Be the New Morphine

Chemical in chili peppers that burns
also numbs—for days

(Newser) - Doctors think they have a hot lead on an alternative to opioid pain killers like morphine: chili peppers. California-based researchers are dripping what is essentially a sterile version of hot sauce—containing capsaicin, the chemical that gives peppers their bite—directly into open wounds during surgery. Just like biting into a pepper, it burns at first, the AP explains, but then numbness sets in—for days. More »

More about:  painkiller chili peppers opioids morphine anesthetic

Painkiller Is Denied to Poor

Morphine is cheap
and available, but it's withheld because of 'opoid phobia'

(Newser) - Though morphine is cheap, effective, and widely available, most people sufferering extreme pain don't  get it, the New York Times reports. The poorest 80% of the world’s population consumes only 6% of the pain-killer . Why? Because health care workers in poor countries are afraid to prescribe morphine, or not allowed to. "Opiod phobia" is what one hospice chief in Sierra Leone calls it. More »

More about:  health Africa drugs health care poverty drug abuse morphine

Moms Warned of Codeine Risk in
Breast Milk

FDA: Watch out for signs of overdose in babies

(Newser) - The Federal Food and Drug Administration has warned nursing mothers using codeine to be on the lookout for any signs of unusual drowsiness in their babies. A significant number of women have a gene that can concentrate high levels of the painkiller in their breast milk. Last year, a Canadian newborn died of a morphine overdose traced to a mother with the gene. More »

More about:  baby mothers infant breast feeding nursing morphine breast milk

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