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Article: Methadone used for pain linked to sleep apnea: the sleep-disordered breathing seen in baby boomers being treated for chronic pain is severe.(Psychosomatic Medicine)
- Article from:
- Clinical Psychiatry News
- Article date:
- January 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Dr. Amanda A. Beck and her colleagues were puzzled by some of their patients at the University of New Mexico's Sleep Disorders Center in Albuquerque. The patients took methadone, but they did not have histories of drug abuse. They were middle-class baby boomers under treatment for chronic pain, and their nighttime breathing problems were severe.
They needed a variable positive airway pressure device, the VPAP Adapt, recently approved for the treatment of central sleep apnea, mixed sleep apnea, and periodic breathing. "We are getting this very complicated sleep-disordered breathing, which used not to be in our lexicon," Dr. Beck, director of adult services, said ...