The first urine test specific to opiod painkillers !
The NarcoCheck® PainKillers® Urine Test covers a broad range of opioid pharmaceutical molecules used in the fight against pain, including chronic pain.
Opioids and opiates are synthetic or natural molecules having similar effects than opium.
Because of their high addictive potential, it is often necessary to monitor people who have to stop their treatment, by testing the intake of these molecules.
Why testing the 8 main opioid painkiller molecules at the same time ?
Let's say that your person of interest (family, friend etc.) has issues to stop using fentanyl. If you monitor the fentanyl use only, it is then very easy for this person to use another opioid like oxycodone or even heroin. You would not see it with a single fentanyl test. With this multi-opioids urine test, the risk to miss this crucial information is highly reduced.
This test can also be used to verify that the use of opioid painkillers is limited to the only molecules that have been prescribed. For example, a person under Tramadol may be screened regularly to ensure that no other opioid painkillers such as Fentanyl or Oxycodone are used at the same time.
It is important to understand that the addiction caused by opioid painkillers is one of the strongest, and often the most atrocious, that can exist. It is quite similar to the addiction caused by heroin. In many cases, patients with little or no knowledge of these highly addictive properties may lose control of their use without even realizing it ... or too late. The fight against pain indeed pushes many patients, despite themselves, to increase the doses, more and more along time, until reaching extreme levels leading to total desocialization or to a lot of overdoses and deaths.
In the United States, in 2017, the "opioid crisis" caused nearly 72,000 deaths by overdose, more than road accidents and gun deaths combined.
In regard to this situation, the NarcoCheck® PainKillers® Urine Test can be a first vigilance tool, to control the cessation of use of these molecules or to check that their use keeps restricted to the prescribed molecules only.
This is test called "multi-drug". It includes of the following tests:
- MOR : Mophine, heroin, opiates
Opium products, such as morphine, codeine or heroin, are called opiates. Most of these opiates metabolize into morphine after being consumed, and it is these traces of morphine that the test will detect in the urine.
- FYL : Fentanyl
Fentanyl is a very powerful analgesic (painkiller). It is an opioid 100 times more powerful than heroin, which causes a fast and extremely strong addiction. More and more Fentanyl is trading on the black market because it is in high demand by people who have developped an addiction on it as a result of medical treatment.
- OXY : Oxycodone (OxyContin®, Percocet®, Oxycocet®, Endocet®)
Oxycodone is a very powerful opioid used to relieve severe pain or rebellious to other analgesics. The addiction to oxycodone can be very powerful and cause overdoses. Oxycodone is a major contributor to the "opioids crisis" in North America.
- TML : Tramadol
Tramadol is an analogue of codeine. It is an opioid analgesic that acts on the same type of receptors as morphine. It can cause side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, drowsiness or constipation. It can also be addictive.
- MPRD : Meperidine / Pethidine (Demerol®, Dolantine®)
Meperidine (also known as pethidine) is an opioid analgesic. It is indicated for the treatment of moderate to severe pain and can be administered in the form of hydrochloride salt (tablets), syrup or by intramuscular, subcutaneous or intravenous injection. It can trigger addiction, sometimes even after only a few days of treatment.
- PPX : Propoxyphene
Propoxyphene is an opioid used to relieve pain of moderate intensity, for example after surgery or dental surgery. Addiction to propoxyphene is observed, either by taking medication that some people will lose control on, or by misuse to increase the effects of tranquilizers, sleeping pills, antihistamines or antidepressants.
- BUP : Buprenorphine (Subutex®, Suboxone®, Temgesic®)
Buprenorphine is best known as an opioid substitution treatment used in the withdrawal of heroin addicts. Buprenorphine is also a powerful painkiller, whose administration is reserved for the care of very intense pain. Like all opioids, it can trigger powerful addictions.
- EDDP : Methadone (metabolite)
Methadone is an opioid analgesic used as a substitution treatment for drug users who are being weaned. But methadone is also used as an analgesic treatment for complex cancer pain in many countries.
