OPIATE AND OPIOID USE IN PATIENTS WITH REFRACTORY HEADACHE

Opiate and opioid analgesics are commonly used for pain in general and presumably for headache. Codeine, oxycodone and propoxyphene, among t he most commonly prescribed, do carry some risk of abuse, and their ef ficacy in headache patients has not been well studied. In many patient s with other kinds of pain, however, both of neoplastic and non-neopla stic origin, chronic opiate use has been demonstrated to be of benefit without adverse side effects. The type of headache patient with intra ctable pain who needs frequent opiate analgesic and who does not devel op addiction or drug abuse is an important subject for research.