No one ever wants to see kids in pain. Everyone wants to do everything they can to protect children, but sometimes situations occur in which some pain is necessary. Certain surgeries can vastly improve a child’s quality of life, or even save it in some cases. After a surgery, the road to recovery can be long and painful. In an attempt to decrease the amount of time that a child is in pain and the severity of that pain, some doctors have been wildly increasing the amount of opioids they prescribe. These prescriptions can have harmful side effects that might do the child more harm than good.

What studies show

A study summarized at the alma-mater of both Dr. Koorosh Joshua Elihu and Dr. Ash of Culver Pain, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health quarterly journal discusses opioid use in children who underwent uncomplicated umbilical hernia repair.  While most of the doctors in the study said that the children should be fine with non-narcotic pain medications, over half of the pediatric patients still received opioid prescriptions. The article also states that since 2011, opioid prescription rate has significantly increased for this procedure. Many different opioids are prescribed for this procedure, with the most common being hydrocodone, codeine, and oxycodone. The lead surgeon on the study warned that excessive opioid prescriptions can have harmful side effects on the patient. Opioid medication can cause respiratory depression in children, and unused opioids can be abused by the patient’s friends and family.

Why Culver Pain

At Culver Pain, our physicians always elect for multidisciplinary non-opioid treatments whenever possible. We use advanced pain interventions such as sympathetic nerve blocks, epidural steroid injections, and spinal cord stimulators to keep your pain managed without having to resort to opioids. If you are experiencing post-op pain, schedule a consult with one of our physicians, and they will treat your pain without the use of opioid medication.  We serve the greater Los Angeles area and have multiple locations, including Culver City, Beverly Hills and Long Beach.