Medications for Managing Pain

Denver Spine Insitute | Lakewood, CO

Due to rapid advances in medicine, a wide variety of medications and treatments are available for acute, chronic and cancer pain. Patients often will be prescribed medications before receiving other forms of therapy. In addition, your pain medicine doctor may conclude that a combination of medication and treatments may be right for you. Your therapy plan will be tailored to your specific needs and circumstances.

Types of pain relief medications:

Common pain relievers - Nonaspirin pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol®) can relieve headaches and minor pain but do not reduce swelling. They are sometimes used in combination with other drugs to provide greater pain relief.

Anti-inflammatory drugs - Aspirin (Anacin®, Bayer®), coated or buffered aspirin (Ascripton®, Bufferin®) and aspirin with acetaminophen (Excedrin®) may be used to reduce swelling and irritation as well as to relieve pain. There also are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, commonly called "N-sayeds") such as ibuprofen (Advil®, Motrin®) and naproxen (Aleve®). Anti-inflammatory drugs are used to relieve pain, inflammation and fever. There also are steroidal drugs (like cortisol and prednisone), available only by prescription, that are used to treat more serious inflammatory conditions such as chronic arthritis.

Opioid pain medications - Morphine-like drugs called opioids are prescribed to treat acute pain or cancer pain. They are occasionally used for certain chronic, noncancer pain as well.

Anti-depressants - These drugs were originally used only to treat depression. Studies now show, however, that they also can relieve certain pain. Available only by prescription, they often are used to help you sleep better at night.

Anti-seizure medicines - These medications are used to relieve what some patients describe as "shooting" pain by decreasing abnormal painful sensations caused by damaged nerves.
Other medicines - The doctor may also prescribe other types of medication that will be helpful for your specific pain problems. In addition, medications that counteract the side effects of opioids or treat the anxiety and depression associated with pain may also be prescribed.

Medical Marijuana - Medical marijuana can help with chronic pain treatment and chronic pain management. Chronic pain treatment and management are challenging for patients and doctors, but medical marijuana may be able to provide chronic pain relief where many traditional chronic pain medications do not. Cannabinoids have well-documented analgesic properties that make medical marijuana an effective medicine to treat many cases of chronic pain syndrome. In scientific studies, most medical marijuana patients experience pain relief. Medical marijuana as a chronic pain management tool can reduce patients' pain and improve quality of life, without the same serious side effects associated with use of some pharmaceutical pain relievers.

Pain relief is one of medical marijuana's most well-known benefits. In fact, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Public Health Association, the American Nurses Association, and even The New England Journal of Medicine endorse the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of severe chronic pain.

In a 2000 study, 70-80% of patients experienced pain relief when using medical marijuana. For chronic pain patients, one of the most unpleasant aspects of traditional chronic pain treatment is the long-term use of opioids. These drugs have many side effects in the short and long term. They can also be difficult for many people with chronic pain to obtain in sufficient quantities to provide adequate chronic pain management. Medical marijuana can replace or reduce the use of opioids in chronic pain treatment, as it did for a 47-year-old woman in a 2003 case study, who experienced less pain with reduced doses of three opioids and a small amount of medical marijuana, compared to large doses of opioids only.

The Institute of Medicine found in 1999 that, "THC is significantly superior to placebo and produces dose-related analgesia peaking at around 5 hours, comparable to but out-lasting that of codeine." Side effects were minimal and dose-related, including slurred speech, sedation and mental clouding, blurred vision, dizziness and ataxia. By comparison, many opioids, including codeine, can have side effects including hallucination, seizures, difficulty urinating, and a rapid or irregular heartbeat. People with chronic pain can often manage their pain using medicinal marijuana while regulating their own dosage in order to avoid side effects.

Cannabis is even seen as an effective treatment for one of the most mysterious and challenging types of chronic pain, chronic neuropathic (nerve injury) pain. In 2006, medical marijuana was named the most promising treatment for neuropathic pain by a group of elite pain researchers convened at a MedPanel summit.

Using Medical Marijuana As Part of Your Chronic Pain Treatment and Management Plan
If you're interested in using medical marijuana to treat your chronic pain, you'll need to talk to our doctor and give information on your current treatment, your medical history, and what you hope to accomplish by using medicinal marijuana to manage your chronic pain. An appointment for consultation can be scheduled only after the doctor has spoken to you on the phone.
Once you've obtained a recommendation, you'll need to find a dispensary and/or a medical marijuana distributor to help you obtain your medicine. Depending upon your type and severity of chronic pain, you may need to make several adjustments to your dosage, with the guidance of your doctor, in order to obtain effective chronic pain treatment with medical marijuana with minimal side effects.

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Call Denver Spine Institute in Lakewood, Colorado at (303) 456-4466 to find out how they can help relieve your pain.