Tolerance to pain medication

[booster11373]

Dr. Steve

Can tolerences to medications built up over time, for example painkillers, go away with time? or can other things like wieght loss effect it?

Can a mod please move this to the weird medicine forum I wasnt allowed to post in there for some reason

[Dr Steve]

Dr. Steve

Can tolerences to medications built up over time, for example painkillers, go away with time? or can other things like wieght loss effect it?

Can a mod please move this to the weird medicine forum I wasnt allowed to post in there for some reason


For future reference, just post to the "Ask Dr Steve a Question Here" thread and I'll split it out and make it its own thread (usually in 6 weeks or less...I am the worst Mod you've ever seen)

Tolerance to narcotics is a well-researched medical fact. As time goes on, higher doses of the medication are needed to produce the same effect. This is not the case with things like blood pressure medications and other meds (except perhaps for insulin, for different reasons in type II diabetes, but that's another thread...).

For people on chronic pain medications, tolerance can be an on-going problem. There are emerging strategies to deal with this problem, though. One of them involves the "N-Methyl, D-Aspartate" receptor (NMDA). Don't be put off by the name...it's just a description of the receptor itself to allow people to name the stupid thing.

Anyway, blocking the NMDA receptor seems to decrease the amount of narcotic medication needed to create the same effect. This effectively erases the phenomenon of tolerance. Medications are being tested today for this exact reason.

Methadone, as an aside, blocks NMDA on its own. This is why a lot of methadone users find that they can stay on the same dose for years.

does this answer your question?


your friend,



steve