Asthma & narcotic painkillers - Asthma Message Board

SFangel · 09-06-2003, 07:00 PM

Hi,

I have asthma and I use narcotic painkillers for control of the severe chronic pain I have in my left knee/leg and in my neck. I would like to know if narcotics can cause asthma attacks or cause asthmatics to have trouble breathing.

Thanks.

scb411 · 09-06-2003, 09:02 PM

Some narcotics can suppress the respiratory system, so yes, it would cause respiratory problems. What med(s) are you on?

wrin · 09-06-2003, 09:06 PM

Well, they don't cause asthma *attacks* per se, but really really high doses of opioids (narcotics) can suppress the drive to breathe within your brain. But sticking to the dosage the doctoer gave ya should mean that this isn't a problem.

But they shouldn't make it seem harder to breathe -- in fact, they sometimes give it by inhalation to people with severe respiratory failure to kill the panicky-can't-breathe feeling they get.

SFangel · 09-07-2003, 12:51 AM

Hi, everybody

I did not know some narcotics could suppress the respiratory system or the drive to breathe within the brain. How would I know if this is happening and what should I do if this happens?

Scb411, the 3 narcotic painkillers I commonly use are Duragesic, Vicodin, and Tylenol with codeine #3 or #4.

Wrin, the doses of the narcotics I am on are not really really high but I am taking a low amount of different narcotics (the ones listed above). I never use more of these narcotics than ordered by my doctor.

scb411 · 09-07-2003, 05:10 AM

I am allergic to codeine and also vicodin, but I had tried them before. It took me a while to develop an allergy to it. I noticed that my breathing was being suppressed not by the way I felt or by the way I breathed, but because one day I went to do my hair and my lips were blue. That kinda' scared the living daylights out of me. Remember, cyanosis=ED (politically correct term for emergency room...emergency department). An increased amount of the times you take your inhaler/neb treatments is a large key that your respiratory system is being affected.