Prescription opioids affect everyone differently, but there are side effects commonly connected with this group of medicine. In fact, 80% of people who take opioids for three or more months will experience a negative side effect.¹

Side effects include:²

To learn more about the possible side effects, hover your mouse over the various areas of the body below and click to find out more.

DIZZINESS

Prescription opioids can reduce your blood pressure and heart rate, as well as increase the sensitivity of your balance system to head movements. These changes may cause dizziness and affect your ability to drive or operate machinery and may increase likelihood of falls.

IMPAIRED
COORDINATION

Prescription opioids can make you feel drowsy, impair thinking and judgement, affect reaction times, and muscle strength contributing to impaired coordination.

MOOD
CHANGES

Prescription opioids can change the brain's reward and pleasure system and can change certain hormone levels involved in mood. These changes can contribute to depression.

DROWSINESS

Prescription opioids affect the brain and can make you feel drowsy and sleepy and affect your ability to drive or operate machinery.

DRY MOUTH

Prescription opioids can reduce the amount of saliva there is in our mouth. This can contribute to tooth decay, mouth sores and gum disease.

TROUBLE
BREATHING

Prescription opioids affect the brain to slow down breathing and make breathing shallow, especially if you have sleep apnoea. This may cause you to have trouble breathing, slower breathing or even stop breathing.

NAUSEA
AND VOMITING

Prescription opioids slow down our intestines, stimulate a part of the brain that triggers nausea and vomiting, and increase the sensitivity of your balance system to head movements. These changes can cause nausea and vomiting.

MUSCLE
WEAKNESS

Prescription opioids can decrease the level of hormones that help maintain muscle strength. Drowsiness, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, low mood and constipation caused by opioids can make you feel less like doing physical activity, further contributing to muscle weakness.

CONSTIPATION

Prescription opioids slow down the movement of your intestines, making the stool hard and more difficult to pass.

IMPAIRED
SEX DRIVE

Prescription opioids can decrease the level of sex hormones, such as testosterone, and this may reduce your sex drive and affect bone strength.

HIP FRACTURE
FOR 65+

Prescription opioids can cause you to feel off-balance and increase your risk of falling. Opioids can also reduce the levels of some hormones that help keep  bones strong. These changes can increase the risk of hip fracture especially in people aged 65 years and older.

ITCHINESS

Prescription opioids can cause histamine to be released in your body which may make  you feel itchy.

If you are experiencing any side effects, or if you are concerned, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. It’s important to not stop or change your medication suddenly.

Head: impaired coordination, anxiety, depression
Eyes: Drowsiness
Mouth: Dryness
Skin: Itchiness
Lungs: Respiratory depression (including increasing sedation +/- slower or shallower breathing)
Body: Reduced immune system
Bones: Increased risk of fractures
Muscular: Weakness, loss of muscle mass
Sexual organs: Impaired sex drive, infertility
Lower stomach: Constipation
Upper stomach: Nausea, vomiting

It’s also important to consider the potential risks associated with impaired mental function, such as a 42% increased risk of road trauma.³

If you’re aged over 65, research also shows your risk of a hip fracture more than doubles when you start taking an opioid and remains high while you take it.⁴

For some, longer-term opioid use can lead to tolerance as well as a condition known as opioid-induced hyperalgesia, lowering the body’s pain threshold and actually increasing pain.⁵

Watch Garry tell his story about his experiences with prescription opioids.

The dangers of combining opioids with other drugs (including alcohol) can be serious, even deadly. For more information about combining your opioids with other medications and alcohol, click here.

[1] NPS MedicineWise (2019), Chronic Pain.

[2] Nicholas R (2019), Pharmaceutical opioids in Australia: A double-edged sword. National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University.

[3] Nicholas R (2019), Pharmaceutical opioids in Australia: A double-edged sword. National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA), Flinders University.

[4] Veteran’s Medicine Advice and Therapeutics Education Services (2018), Medicines; the hidden contributor to falls and hip fractures.

[5] The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (2017), Prescribing Drugs of Dependence in General Practice – Part C1: Opioids.

For further support

If you have any further questions about prescription opioids speak to your doctor or pharmacist or check out our Help and Support page.