Mayo Clinic Minute: Limiting opioids for postoperative pain management

Opioid painkillers are highly addictive. After just five days of prescription opioid use, the likelihood that you'll develop long-term dependence on these drugs rises steeply — increasing your risk of eventual addiction and overdose.  Dr. Kelechi Okoroha, a Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon, says the opioid epidemic in the U.S. started in the 1990s, when patients were prescribed opioid pain relievers at an increased rate. This in turn led to widespread misuse and devastating consequences, including…
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