How to Manage Dilaudid Addiction

Posted on January 23, 2010 | Category: Health Trivia

The analgesic (pain relieving) drug hydromorphone is marketed today under many trade names, including Palladone and Palladone SR, but it was originally manufactured in Germany in 1924 before being released to the general public in 1926 under the trade name of Dilaudid.

Hydromorphone fares well when compared to other analgesics like diamorphine (heroine) and morphine as it is not as addictive, it has fewer side effects and it acts far quicker. It is also easy to dissolve and does not cause the same level of nausea that several other analgesics are known to do. It is for these reasons that hydromorphone is becoming many countries’ pain reliever of choice for chronic and severe pain, and research has shown that it can also be used to treat dry and painful coughing.

Although hydromorphone’s side effects are less severe than those experienced with certain other analgesics, they do exist and the most dangerous include circulatory and respiratory depression. Further side effects include constipation, light-headedness, vomiting and sweating and patients have also been known to experience nausea and dizziness. A state of euphoria (extreme happiness) is another often observed side effect of the drug, but it is not yet known whether this is caused by chemical factors or whether it is a natural reaction of moving from a state of pain to being pain free but in either case it can result in addiction to dilaudid.

An hydromorphone overdose could lead to total circulatory collapse and death and, although it is not as addictive as certain other analgesics like morphine, it is still addictive and withdrawal symptoms after ingestion of the drug has ceased will resemble those experienced by morphine addicts but will be both more intense and of shorter duration. A patient who is addicted to lower doses of hydromorphone could work through the withdrawal cycle in as little as 72 hours, and withdrawal for a patient who is addicted to higher doses will take even less time.

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