Publications by authors named "T Meeks"

Article Synopsis
  • Buprenorphine is an effective treatment for opioid use disorder, but the rise of fentanyl has led some practitioners to prescribe higher doses (24-32 mg daily) than the recommended maximum of 16 mg, despite limited evidence for its long-term safety and efficacy.
  • High doses of buprenorphine can lead to notable side effects such as sedation, constipation, and hormonal issues, which may hinder patients' overall well-being and adherence to treatment.
  • After a period of stabilization, it is advisable for healthcare providers to consider tapering down the dose of buprenorphine to align with standard recommendations, ensuring a balance between effective treatment and minimizing complications.
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Background: Perioperative management of formulations of buprenorphine used for the treatment of opioid use disorder and/or pain are common clinical challenges. Care strategies are increasingly recommending continuation of buprenorphine while administering multimodal analgesia including full agonist opioids. While this "simultaneous strategy" is relatively simple for the shorter-acting sublingual buprenorphine formulation, best practices are needed for the increasingly prescribed extended-release buprenorphine (ER-buprenorphine).

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Personality disorders are pervasive patterns of maladaptive behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that often go unrecognized and can wreak havoc in the patient's interpersonal life. These inflexible patterns of managing the world can be disruptive when an individual is admitted to the hospital, causing distress for both the patient who lacks the skills to deal with the expectations of the hospital environment and the treatment team who can feel ill equipped to manage such behavior. Having a personality disorder has implications for an individual's healthcare outcomes; those with a personality disorder have a life expectancy nearly 2 decades shorter than the general population for a multitude of reasons, among them trouble interacting with the healthcare system.

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