(51) Further justifying
opiophobia are recent findings that suggest that continued opioid use may increase sensitivity to pain.
prescription opioids: (1)
opiophobia; and (2) fear of regulatory
[32] This is the result of combinations of regulatory restrictions, a general lack of knowledge, lack of healthcare provider training on the use of opioids in palliative care and so-called '
opiophobia' due to misplaced fears of digestive side-effects and addiction.
Perhaps in Colombia we have problems with the availability of opioids in general (5,6), and being a country where social inequality is frequent, not only misinformation and widespread
opiophobia, coupled with the lack of training tools for health providers who are also uninformed, explain the two most likely dangerous extremes (6): First, inadequate availability, prescription and monitoring of opioids in clinical settings where they are effective and safe (5).
There are other reasons too, of course, like '
opiophobia' -- the fear that allowing the drugs to be used in hospitals will lead to addiction and crime in the community.
Third, and perhaps most important, is
opiophobia. The misplaced fear that allowing opioids to be used in hospitals will fuel addiction and crime in the community has led to tight restrictions on their use, and clinicians are not trained to provide them when they are needed.
In some countries, doctors get no palliative care training; in others, legislators or police oppose importing narcotics or deliberately make prescribing them difficult because of what the report deems "
opiophobia".
Carr, "
Opiophobia as a barrier to the treatment of pain," Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy, vol.
This is related to the older concept of
opiophobia (fear of
These include problems of supply and distribution, a misplaced '
opiophobia' among both patients and providers, a related limited understanding of how and when to use opioids, and the restriction of prescribing powers to doctors, rather than extending them (as in Uganda) to appropriately trained nurses working in rural areas.
(25) The main reason for not prescribing these drugs is still
opiophobia among health professionals.
Auret and Schug (2005) defined
opiophobia as "customary underutilization of opioid analgesia based on irrational and undocumented fear" (p.
