What are the chronic pain relief drugs

The most common over-the-counter antipyretic and analgesics that everyone comes into contact with every day are ibuprofen and acetaminophen. When chronic headaches, shoulder and neck pain, and lumbar pain occur, many people’s first reaction is to take two pills. Let me talk about a case that impressed me deeply. I had a 42-year-old Internet programmer come to the outpatient clinic before. He suffered from chronic back pain for 2 years. He kept ibuprofen in his work desk drawer all year round. He was so painful that he couldn’t type code so he took 2 pills. Last year, his physical examination showed an abnormal increase in creatinine. Only then did he find out that long-term use of such drugs increased the metabolic burden on the kidneys and caused slight erosion of the gastric mucosa.

If this type of conventional analgesics cannot suppress the pain, or the pain feels like pinpricks, electric shock, or throbbing pain when touched, it is most likely caused by nerve damage, such as post-herpetic pain and diabetic peripheral neuralgia. Taking ibuprofen at this time is basically useless. There was a 70-year-old man who suffered from pain for almost 8 months after herpes zoster cleared up. Even when a pure cotton T-shirt rubbed against his skin, he gasped in pain. He ate nearly 50 boxes of ibuprofen at home, but it didn't relieve him at all. Later, the doctor gave him pregabalin, which he took together with nerve-nourishing drugs. After a week or so, he was able to wear pajamas and go out for a walk normally.

There are still many chronic pain patients who are confused when they get the medicine. Why are they prescribed "antidepressants" like duloxetine? Did the doctor prescribe the wrong medicine? In fact, it’s not true. When chronic pain lasts for a long time, the neural pathways that manage pain signals in the brain have long been messed up, just like aging wires running wildly and sparking. Drugs like duloxetine help regulate disordered neurotransmitters and bring overly sensitive pain signaling pathways back to normal levels. They are not used to treat depression. After taking it, many patients not only feel less pain, but also relieve the problem of being unable to sleep all night because of the pain.

As for the opioid analgesics that scare everyone when they hear it, clinical control is now very strict, and the controversy is not small: many patients shake their heads like a rattle when they hear that these drugs are prescribed, for fear that they will become addicted and unable to quit. There are also clinical views that patients with moderate to severe chronic pain If other drugs are of no use and are taken in small doses in a short period of time and as directed by the doctor, the addiction rate is less than one in a thousand. On the contrary, many people bear the pain and dare not take the medicine, or buy over-the-counter medicines and take them blindly. In the end, the pain makes them unable to live a normal life, and they also suffer from liver and kidney damage and gastric ulcers.

In fact, if the pain symptoms last for more than 3 months, it is really important not to blindly try medicines at home. First go to the pain department to see a doctor to evaluate the cause of the pain. Only the right medicine can be really effective. Don’t waste money and suffer unnecessary side effects.