Hydromorphone

What it is used for

Hydromorphone hydrochloride tablets are indicated for the management of pain severe enough to require an opioid analgesic and for which alternative treatments are inadequate.

Limitations of Use

Because of the risks of addiction, abuse, misuse, overdose, and death, which can occur at any dosage or duration and persist over the course of therapy, reserve opioid analgesics, including hydromorphone hydrochloride tablets, for use in patients for whom alternative treatment options are ineffective, not tolerated, or would be otherwise inadequate to provide sufficient management of pain.

Side effects, and when to stop

The following serious adverse reactions are described, or described in greater detail, in other sections:

• Addiction, Abuse, and Misuse
• Life-Threatening Respiratory Depression
• Interactions with Benzodiazepines or Other CNS Depressants
• Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome
• Opioid-Induced Hyperalgesia and Allodynia
• Adrenal Insufficiency
• Severe Hypotension
• Gastrointestinal Adverse Reactions
• Seizures
• Withdrawal

Who should not take it

Hydromorphone hydrochloride tablets are contraindicated in patients with:

• Significant respiratory depression
• Acute or severe bronchial asthma in an unmonitored setting or in the absence of resuscitative equipment
• Known or suspected gastrointestinal obstruction, including paralytic ileus
• Hypersensitivity to hydromorphone, hydromorphone salts, any other components of the product, or sulfite-containing medications (e.g., anaphylaxis)

Other medicines and interactions

Table 1 includes clinically significant drug interactions with hydromorphone hydrochloride tablets.