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Doctors told to limit opioid pain relievers

Patients should not be prescribed long-acting or extended-release opioid pain relievers unless they need daily, round-the-clock care for pain that can't be managed by any other means, the Food and Drug Administration has told doctors.

Patients should not be prescribed long-acting or extended-release opioid pain relievers unless they need daily, round-the-clock care for pain that can't be managed by any other means, the Food and Drug Administration has told doctors.

The new guidelines - meant to stem the country's growing epidemic of opioid abuse and addiction - will not place formal new restrictions on prescriptions by physicians, but administration officials hope to chasten physicians who prescribe the medications for anything other than ongoing, intractable pain.

"The goal here was to make every patient taking extended-release and long-acting opioids to have a conversation about whether these products are helping them," said Douglas Throckmorton, an FDA deputy director. "I hope this encourages physicians and patients to be more thoughtful and more careful as they use these medications." - Los Angeles Times