nalbuphine and Headache

Pain control is an important consideration after any surgical procedures. Especially in children, more attention and care are needed during the period of postoperative pain control, which must be both sufficiently safe and effective. In this respect, intravenous patient-controlled analgesia provides improved titration of analgesic drugs, thereby maintaining optimal analgesic status with few side effects. Thirty pediatric patients were randomly divided into two groups: the intravenous patient-controlled analgesia group (with nalbuphine HCl and ketorolac tromethamine) and the conventional pethidine HCl intramuscular group. The degree of analgesia was assessed every 4 hours until the second postoperative day. The intravenous patient-controlled analgesia group had significantly lower pain scores and took less time until they were able to walk to the bathroom, but as many side effects as the control group. We concluded that intravenous patient-controlled analgesia is safe and effective for pediatric patients who have moderate to severe pain after operations such as rib cartilage graft, iliac bone graft, and large flap surgeries.

Topics: Analgesia, Patient-Controlled; Analgesics, Opioid; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Bone Transplantation; Cartilage; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Headache; Humans; Injections, Intramuscular; Injections, Intravenous; Ketorolac Tromethamine; Male; Meperidine; Nalbuphine; Pain Measurement; Pain, Postoperative; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting; Safety; Statistics, Nonparametric; Surgical Flaps; Time Factors; Walking

Opioids given as adjuncts to balanced inhalational anaesthesia augment postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Tramadol, equipotent to pethidine, does not depress respiration, but can cause an increase in blood pressure and headache via its monoaminergic actions. Nalbuphine, ten times as potent as pethidine, has a ceiling respiratory depressant and ceiling analgesic effect at > 0.3 mg.kg-1. We compared the effects of equipotent doses of tramadol and nalbuphine (3.0 and 0.3 mg.kg-1, respectively) given as analgesic with induction of anaesthesia on emesis during recovery from anaesthesia and on PONV and headache until 24 h after ENT surgery, using saline (0.2 ml.kg-1) and an equipotent dose of pethidine (1.5 mg.kg-1) as controls.. The study population (N = 281) comprised 4 comparable subgroups (N = 69 to 71 each). Anaesthetic medications were standardised. Emesis during recovery from anaesthesia and nausea, vomiting, retching, headache and administrations of antiemetic and analgesics until 24 h after surgery were recorded.. Emesis and antiemetic requirements during recovery from anaesthesia were similar and infrequent in each group, as were the incidences of nausea alone (3 to 5%), vomiting alone (17 to 31%), and nausea with vomiting (10 to 22%) during the first 24 h after surgery. However, any complaint of PONV was least frequent in the saline and pethidine groups (32% and 37%, respectively) and most frequent in the tramadol and nalbuphine groups (49% and 52%, respectively; P < 0.05 versus saline, both comparisons; P = NS versus pethidine, both comparisons). The times to onset and severity of PONV were similar in each group, but patients given nalbuphine most frequently (P < 0.025) needed rescue antiemetic to treat PONV. Headache occurred with similar frequency in each group.. It is concluded that tramadol, nalbuphine and pethidine have similar emetic effect in the doses and manner used, and that tramadol does not increase the incidence of post-operative headache when used as peroperative analgesic.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Analgesics, Opioid; Anesthesia Recovery Period; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Headache; Humans; Incidence; Male; Meperidine; Middle Aged; Nalbuphine; Otorhinolaryngologic Surgical Procedures; Placebos; Postoperative Complications; Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting; Premedication; Sodium Chloride; Tramadol

The present treatment for acute attacks of headache is empiric. Intramuscular nalbuphine (Nubain) and hydroxyzine (Vistaril) were assessed for pain relief in a prospective, double-blind clinical trial. Ninety-four patients were assigned randomly to treatment groups receiving nalbuphine 10 mg, nalbuphine 10 mg plus hydroxyzine 50 mg, hydroxyzine 50 mg, or placebo. The treatment groups were found to be adequately homogenous with regard to age, sex, type and duration of headaches, and history of prior narcotic use. All data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance. Patients who had headaches diagnosed as other than classic migraine had significantly greater pain relief with nalbuphine compared to placebo (P less than .01). The combination of nalbuphine and hydroxyzine was not significantly more effective than other treatment groups. In 20 patients with classic migraine, none of the treatment regimens significantly outperformed placebo. There were no clinically significant adverse effects attributed to the study drugs. These findings are similar to others that showed a lack of efficacy of kappa receptor agonists in classic migraineurs. Nalbuphine appears to be clinically useful in other types of severe headache. This study does not support the routine addition of hydroxyzine for presumed synergistic effect.

Topics: Adult; Clinical Trials as Topic; Double-Blind Method; Female; Headache; Humans; Hydroxyzine; Injections, Intramuscular; Male; Middle Aged; Morphinans; Nalbuphine; Prospective Studies