Eclipse Mental Health Services

11. Clinicians should avoid prescribing opioid pain medication and benzodiazepines concurrently whenever possible (recommendation category: A, evidence type: 3).

Benzodiazepines and opioids both cause central nervous system depression and can decrease respiratory drive. Concurrent use is likely to put patients at greater risk for potentially fatal overdose. The clinical evidence review did not address risks of benzodiazepine co-prescription among patients prescribed opioids. However, the contextual evidence review found evidence in epidemiologic series of concurrent benzodiazepine use in large proportions of opioid-related overdose deaths, and a case-cohort study found concurrent benzodiazepine prescription with opioid prescription to be associated with a near quadrupling of risk for overdose death compared with opioid prescription alone (212). Experts agreed that although there are circumstances when it might be appropriate to prescribe opioids to a patient receiving benzodiazepines (e.g., severe acute pain in a patient taking long-term, stable low-dose benzodiazepine therapy), clinicians should avoid prescribing opioids and benzodiazepines concurrently whenever possible. In addition, given that other central nervous system depressants (e.g., muscle relaxants, hypnotics) can potentiate central nervous system depression associated with opioids, clinicians should consider whether benefits outweigh risks of concurrent use of these drugs. Clinicians should check the PDMP for concurrent controlled medications prescribed by other clinicians (see Recommendation 9) and should consider involving pharmacists and pain specialists as part of the management team when opioids are co-prescribed with other central nervous system depressants. Because of greater risks of benzodiazepine withdrawal relative to opioid withdrawal, and because tapering opioids can be associated with anxiety, when patients receiving both benzodiazepines and opioids require tapering to reduce risk for fatal respiratory depression, it might be safer and more practical to taper opioids first (see Recommendation 7). Clinicians should taper benzodiazepines gradually if discontinued because abrupt withdrawal can be associated with rebound anxiety, hallucinations, seizures, delirium tremens, and, in rare cases, death (contextual evidence review). A commonly used tapering schedule that has been used safely and with moderate success is a reduction of the benzodiazepine dose by 25% every 1–2 weeks (213,214). CBT increases tapering success rates and might be particularly helpful for patients struggling with a benzodiazepine taper (213). If benzodiazepines prescribed for anxiety are tapered or discontinued, or if patients receiving opioids require treatment for anxiety, evidence-based psychotherapies (e.g., CBT) and/or specific anti-depressants or other nonbenzodiazepine medications approved for anxiety should be offered. Experts emphasized that clinicians should communicate with mental health professionals managing the patient to discuss the patient’s needs, prioritize patient goals, weigh risks of concurrent benzodiazepine and opioid exposure, and coordinate care.

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