Hematologic Abnormalities and Pain during Acute Opiate Abstinence Syndrome

Opiate addicts receiving nonmethadone, symptomatic, chemotherapeutic treatment for the abstinence syndrome (at Terros' Opiate Detoxification Program), complained of pains that appeared unrelated to abstinence. The pains reported were primarily lumbosacral pains, joint pains, abdominal cramps, and muscle cramps in the lower extremities. Admission laboratory tests on 150 addicts were used in an attempt to correlate the blood chemistry with the type of pains described. Results of this preliminary screening indicate that a high uric acid level and a low blood urea nitrogen (BUN) may be related in females with joint pains and males with lumbrosacral pains. Values obtained from the nomogram indicate that all addicts have less than 50% of the total serum calcium in ionized form, and the low serum ionized calcium content is associated with abdominal and muscle pains, although 72% of all the addicts studied were within the 3.5 to 4.0 mg range. Hyperproteinemia, low BUN, high uric acid, and low serum ionized calcium were the most significant of the blood chemistry values. Blood glucose levels were not included due to the fact that test were not necessarily fasting results.