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Rarely-needed opiates

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Morphine, diamorphine and Fentanyl are easy to use and highly effective in the vast majority of patients and so other opiates are seldom used:

  • methadone is used only if there are problems with morphine: beware of its very long half-life
  • pethidine is not advised because of its short half-life and the problem of frequently repeated doses
  • papaveretum (Omnopon) is not advised: it is a mixture of natural opiates
  • buprenorphine (Temgesic) sublingually is occasionally helpful but antagonises other opiates
  • dextromoramide (Palfium) has a very short half-life and may be used to cover painful procedures

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