What is meperidine HCL used for?
Meperidine is used to relieve moderate to severe pain. Meperidine is in a class of medications opiate (narcotic) analgesics. It works by changing the way the brain and nervous system respond to pain.
Is DEMEROL black box?
Meperidine has several Black Box warnings: The potential risk of opioid addiction which can cause overdose and death. Physicians should evaluate their patients continuously for developing these conditions.
Why did they stop making meperidine?
Institutions are removing oral meperidine from formularies because of the poor bioavailability, increased risk for normeperidine toxicity with higher oral dosing requirements, potential for error when converting to parenteral dosage forms, and on increased awareness that meperidine is a poor analgesic for chronic pain.
Is meperidine same as DEMEROL?
DEMEROL contains meperidine, a mu-agonist opioid with an abuse liability similar to morphine and is a Schedule II controlled substance. Meperidine, like morphine and other opioids used in analgesia, can be abused and is subject to criminal diversion.
Is meperidine still prescribed?
Once the most widely prescribed opioid analgesic, meperidine is now used only for the prevention and treatment of postoperative shivering, drug-induced rigors, and short-term pain management in patients who can’t tolerate other opioids.
Why did Hospitals quit using Demerol?
Why Demerol Has Fallen Out of Favor Hospitals and outpatient clinics don’t use Demerol as often as they used to because of safety issues: Demerol can be toxic when taken in high doses, and it has a long list of side effects, which include: Respiratory depression (slowed breathing)
Why did Demerol fall from favor?
Meperidine (also known as pethidine) is falling out of favor as an opioid analgesic because of its many well-known side effects and the availability of safer agents such as morphine.