Jun 22, 2016 11:02 AM EDT By Anita Valencia, UniversityHerald Reporter

Opioid painkiller have long been known in pain management but the new study claims that the long-term opioid treatment can actually make the pain worse.

Johns Hopkins researchers tested opioids painkillers in patients with sickle cell disease

Opioid painkiller are given when the blood vessels get clogged. However, researchers find that it develops to chronic pain condition due to the long time opioid treatment.

The study examined 83 participants diagnosed with sickle cell disease. The painkiller drug was then used to treat the chronic pain. However, the pain management was not used in 54 patients. After recording the daily pain and condition, researchers found that patients prescribed with opioids painkillers experienced clinical pain with 32 percent higher levels.

The standard measures include the pain intensity and the unpleasant pressure they experienced. The opioid treatment is said to cause the increase in pain sensitivity in central nervous system, Science Daily reported.

On the other hand, patients who did not go through the opioid treatment, reportedly had less pain. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Sickle Cell center for Adults suggest reconsidering the doses of opioid treatment in sickle cell disease patients if it is no longer effective.

Opioid treatment in sickle cell disease

Sickle cell disease is a rare blood disorder often found in black Americans. The disease results the changed shape of red blood cells and clogs the vessels, making the oxygen unable to flow. The disease causes chronic pain in more than a hundred thousands of people in the US, News Medical reported. So far, patients are treated with opioid painkillers in high dose due to the difficulty in treatment and recurrent crises. The origin of the disease is said to come from Middle East countries, Africa and India.

Sickle cell diseases is one of the most expensive health condition in America, along with mental health disorder and heart related diseases, University Herald reported.

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