Tolerance develops to opioid sedation and nausea but not to constipation, so a bowel regimen continues for as long as the opioid is taken.
Missing Word
constipation
Constipation is infrequent or difficult passage of stool. Opioids slow gut motility, and because tolerance does not develop to this effect, nearly every client on long-term opioids needs fluids, fiber and a laxative regimen throughout therapy.
Category: Opioid Effects
Question 2
The subtype of nociceptive pain that arises from skin, bones and muscles and is usually sharp and well localized is called somatic pain.
Missing Word
somatic
Somatic pain is nociceptive pain from body tissues such as skin, bone and muscle. It is easy to pinpoint, unlike visceral pain from internal organs.
Category: Pain Types
Question 3
The neural processing of a harmful stimulus is called nociception, while pain is the person's subjective experience of it.
Missing Word
nociception
Nociception is the nervous system's detection and processing of noxious stimuli, from the nerve ending to the brain. Pain is how the person experiences that signal, which is why it is assessed by self-report.
Category: Pain Physiology
Question 4
The point at which a stimulus is first perceived as painful is called the pain threshold, and it differs from person to person.
Missing Word
threshold
The pain threshold is the level of stimulus at which a person first feels pain. Genetics, psychosocial support, the body's own pain-modulating chemicals and analgesics can shift it.
Category: Pain Physiology
Question 5
Acetaminophen relieves mild pain and reduces fever, so it acts as both an analgesic and an antipyretic.
Missing Word
antipyretic
An antipyretic is a drug that lowers fever. Acetaminophen is thought to inhibit COX in the central nervous system, giving it analgesic and fever-reducing effects.
Category: Nonopioid and Adjuvant Drugs
Question 6
A flare of pain that occurs despite a long-acting opioid taken around the clock is called breakthrough pain and is treated with a short-acting opioid.
Missing Word
breakthrough
Breakthrough pain is a temporary flare that breaks through otherwise controlled persistent pain. Clients often take a long-acting opioid for baseline pain and an immediate-release opioid as needed for these flares.
Category: Pain Types
Question 7
Pain that begins suddenly after an injury or surgery, has an identifiable cause and fades as the tissue heals is called acute pain.
Missing Word
acute
Acute pain has a sudden onset, is linked to a specific cause such as trauma or a procedure, and resolves with healing, whereas chronic pain persists beyond the usual healing time.
Category: Pain Types
Question 8
The prototype opioid agonist is morphine, the standard against which the potency of other opioids is compared.
Missing Word
morphine
Morphine is the prototype opioid agonist, used IV and orally for acute and chronic pain. Other opioids such as hydromorphone and fentanyl are described by how much more or less potent they are than morphine.
Category: Opioid Drugs
Question 9
In the step of pain processing called modulation, the strength of the pain signal is turned up by substance P or turned down by the body's own opioids.
Missing Word
modulation
Modulation is the adjustment of pain signal strength in the central nervous system. Substance P amplifies the signal, while enkephalins and endorphins dampen it, the same action opioid drugs mimic.
Category: Pain Physiology
Question 10
A feeling of intense well-being after an opioid dose, called euphoria, is one reason these drugs carry a risk of misuse.
Missing Word
euphoria
Euphoria is an exaggerated sense of pleasure or well-being. It is a recognized adverse effect of opioids such as morphine and part of what makes them prone to misuse.
Category: Opioid Effects
Question 11
The antiseizure drug carbamazepine, used as an adjuvant analgesic, is the only drug approved by the FDA for trigeminal neuralgia.
Missing Word
carbamazepine
Carbamazepine stabilizes overactive nerve membranes, which is why antiseizure drugs can act as adjuvants for neuropathic pain. Trigeminal neuralgia causes sudden, stabbing facial pain, and carbamazepine is the drug with an FDA indication for it.
Category: Nonopioid and Adjuvant Drugs
Question 12
In the phase called perception, the brain registers the pain signal and the person becomes aware of it and can respond.
Missing Word
perception
Perception is the step in which the brain recognizes the incoming signal as pain, allowing a response such as pulling a hand away from heat.
Category: Pain Physiology
Question 13
Applied as a patch over intact skin, lidocaine blocks sodium channels in nerve membranes and serves as an adjuvant for localized neuropathic pain.
Missing Word
lidocaine
Lidocaine is a local anesthetic that blocks sodium channels in nerve membranes. As a topical patch it quiets abnormal firing in painful nerves, making it an adjuvant analgesic.
Category: Nonopioid and Adjuvant Drugs
Question 14
In the first step of pain processing, called transduction, nociceptors change a harmful stimulus into an electrical signal.
Missing Word
transduction
Transduction is the conversion of a noxious mechanical, thermal or chemical stimulus into an electrical signal by nociceptors. Transmission, modulation and perception follow.
Category: Pain Physiology
Question 15
The stool softener docusate is often paired with the stimulant laxative senna in the bowel regimen for clients taking opioids long term.
Missing Word
docusate
Docusate is a stool softener that lets water enter the stool. Because opioid constipation is nearly universal with chronic use, a bowel regimen with fluids, fiber, a softener and a stimulant laxative is started early.
Category: Opioid Effects