Research led by the University of Colorado Boulder found opioids like morphine actually caused an increase in chronic pain in lab rats, a finding which may spell bad news for humans.
According to CU-Boulder Assistant Research Professor Peter Grace, PhD, and Distinguished Professor Linda Watkins, PhD, just a few days of morphine treatment caused chronic pain for several months in the rats by increasing the release of pain signals from specific immune cells in the spinal cord.
That means the recent escalation of opioid prescriptions in humans may be both an outcome of chronic pain as well as a contributor to chronic pain, according to Dr. Grace.
To learn more, check out audio clips of the findings here.
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