David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Medication For Pain
How To Cope With Pain Blog
September 6, 2010
Medications:
When I work with patients with pain, I talk about the many aspects of pain treatment. These include:
2. A comprehensive treatment plan may include:
3. What is your goal?
For many people, medication isn’t curative, nor does it reduce pain to zero. But that doesn’t mean it’s not helpful. The goal of pain treatment is to reduce pain as much as possible AND to function as fully as possible. Don’t lose sight of the second because of only focusing on getting rid of pain.
4. Medication treatment is an art as well as a science
We know some things about medications, but there’s a lot we don’t know! For many of the medications we use, or use in combination with others, we don’t know enough about what types of pain they’re best for, what combinations work best for what types of pain, etc.
FDA approval of a medication for a certain disease is the best level of assurance that a medication might work well for you. Unfortunately, many of the medications we use aren’t FDA approved – we’re just not there yet in our research. That doesn’t mean they’re not good – we just don’t know for sure.
The second best level is when there’s some research and a lot of clinical experience, but just not FDA approval. After that comes medication that a physician has some experience with, but a lot is still unknown. Obviously the farther you get away from FDA approval, the more you have to weigh the possible risks with benefits.
Combination treatment – using multiple medications at one time – also has varying degrees of research backing it up. Unfortunately again, it’s mostly on the “little research” end. But that’s beginning to change – there are more and more studies looking at combination treatment. So we’re getting somewhere!
How To Cope With Pain Blog
September 6, 2010
Medications:
- NSAIDS (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)
- Anticonvulsants
- Antidepressants
- Anesthetics
- NMDA receptor antagonists (e.g. Ketamine)
- Muscle relaxants
- Blood Pressure Medication
- Anti-Psychotics
- Narcotics (Opiates)
- Medication Advances Coming Soon
- Research Advances
When I work with patients with pain, I talk about the many aspects of pain treatment. These include:
- treating the underlying medical problem
- decreasing pain sensations
- coping with remaining pain
- living life despite pain
2. A comprehensive treatment plan may include:
- other medical treatments like injections, infusions, and spinal cord stimulators
- psychological treatment including relaxation, guided imagery, and visualization
- physical therapy, including treatments, TENS, and pacing of activities
- family support
- evaluation and treatment of psychiatric problems that pain may cause, for example, depression or anxiety
- work to increase functioning, in whatever ways are meaningful and possible
3. What is your goal?
For many people, medication isn’t curative, nor does it reduce pain to zero. But that doesn’t mean it’s not helpful. The goal of pain treatment is to reduce pain as much as possible AND to function as fully as possible. Don’t lose sight of the second because of only focusing on getting rid of pain.
4. Medication treatment is an art as well as a science
We know some things about medications, but there’s a lot we don’t know! For many of the medications we use, or use in combination with others, we don’t know enough about what types of pain they’re best for, what combinations work best for what types of pain, etc.
FDA approval of a medication for a certain disease is the best level of assurance that a medication might work well for you. Unfortunately, many of the medications we use aren’t FDA approved – we’re just not there yet in our research. That doesn’t mean they’re not good – we just don’t know for sure.
The second best level is when there’s some research and a lot of clinical experience, but just not FDA approval. After that comes medication that a physician has some experience with, but a lot is still unknown. Obviously the farther you get away from FDA approval, the more you have to weigh the possible risks with benefits.
Combination treatment – using multiple medications at one time – also has varying degrees of research backing it up. Unfortunately again, it’s mostly on the “little research” end. But that’s beginning to change – there are more and more studies looking at combination treatment. So we’re getting somewhere!
