If you’ve ever been treated for severe pain from surgery, an injury, or an illness, you know just how vital pain relief medications can be.

Pain relief treatments come in many forms and potencies, are available by prescription or over-the-counter (OTC), and treat all sorts of physical pain— including that brought on by chronic conditions, sudden trauma, and cancer.

Pain relief medicines (also known as “analgesics” and “painkillers”) are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some analgesics, including opioid analgesics, act on the body’s peripheral and central nervous systems to block or decrease sensitivity to pain. Others act by inhibiting the formation of certain chemicals in the body.

Among the factors health care professionals consider in recommending or prescribing them are the cause and severity of the pain.

TYPES OF PAIN RELIEVERS

OTC Medications
These relieve the minor aches and pains associated with conditions such as headaches, fever, colds, flu, arthritis, toothaches, and menstrual cramps.

There are basically two types of OTC pain relievers: acetaminophen and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Acetaminophen is an active ingredient found in more than 600 OTC and prescription medicines, including pain relievers, cough suppressants, and cold medications.

NSAIDs are common medications used to relieve fever and minor aches and pains. They include aspirin, naproxen, and ibuprofen, as well as many medicines taken for colds, sinus pressure, and allergies. They act by inhibiting an enzyme that helps make a specific chemical.

Prescription Medications
Typical prescription pain relief medicines include opioids and non-opioid medications.

Derived from opium, opioid drugs are very powerful products. They act by attaching to a specific “receptor” in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. Opioids can change the way a person experiences pain.

Types of prescription opioid medications include

• morphine, which is often used before and after surgical procedures to alleviate severe pain
• oxycodone, which is also often prescribed for moderate to severe pain
• codeine, which comes in combination with acetaminophen or other non-opioid pain relief medications and is often prescribed for mild to moderate pain
• hydrocodone, which comes in combination with acetaminophen or other non-opioid pain relief medications and is prescribed for moderate to moderately severe pain

FDA has recently notified makers of certain opioid drugs that these products will need to have a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to ensure that the benefits continue to outweigh the risks.

Affected opioid drugs, which include brand name and generic products, are formulated with the active ingredients fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone, morphine, oxycodone, and oxymorphone.

FDA has authority to require a REMS under the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007.

Types of non-opioid prescription medications include ibuprofen and diclofenac, which treat mild to moderate pain.

USE PAIN RELIEVERS AS DIRECTED

Pain medications are safe and effective when used as directed. However, misuse of these products can be extremely harmful and even deadly.

Consumers who take pain relief medications must follow their health care professional’s instructions carefully. If a measuring tool is provided with your medicine, use it as directed.

Do not change the dose of your pain relief medication without talking to your doctor first.

Also, pain medications should never be shared with anyone else. Only your health care professional can decide if a prescription pain medication is safe for someone.

Here are other key points to remember.

With acetaminophen:

• Taking a higher dose than recommended will not provide more relief and can be dangerous.
• Too much can lead to liver damage and death. Risk for liver damage may be increased in people who drink three or more alcoholic beverages a day while using acetaminophen-containing medicines.
• Be cautious when giving acetaminophen to children. Infant drop medications can be significantly stronger than regular children’s medications. Read and follow the directions on the label every time you use a medicine. Be sure that your infant is getting the infants’ pain formula and your older child is getting the children’s pain formula.

With NSAIDs:

• Too much can cause stomach bleeding. This risk increases in people who are over 60 years of age, are taking prescription blood thinners, are taking steroids, have a history of stomach bleeding or ulcers, and/or have other bleeding problems.
• Use of NSAIDs can also cause reversible kidney damage. This risk may increase in people who are over 60 years of age, are taking a diuretic (a drug that increases the excretion of urine), have high blood pressure, heart disease, or pre-existing kidney disease.

With opioids:

• Use of opioids can lead to drowsiness. Do not drive or use any machinery that may injure you, especially when you first start the medication.
• The dose of an opioid pain medication that is safe for you could be high enough to cause an overdose and death in someone else, especially children.

KNOW THE ACTIVE INGREDIENTS

A specific area of concern with OTC pain medicines is when products sold for different uses have the same active ingredient. A cold and cough remedy may have the same active ingredient as a headache remedy or a prescription pain reliever.

To minimize the risks of an accidental overdose, consumers should avoid taking multiple medications with the same active ingredient at the same time.

All OTC medicines must have all of their active ingredients listed on the package. For prescription drugs, the active ingredients are listed on the container label.

Talk with your pharmacist or another health care professional if you have questions about using OTC medicines, and especially before using them in combination with dietary supplements or other OTC or prescription medicines.

MISUSE AND ABUSE
Misuse and abuse of pain medications can be extremely dangerous. This is especially so in regard to opioids. These medications should be stored in a place where they cannot be stolen.

According to the National Institutes of Health, studies have shown that properly managed medical use of opioid analgesic compounds (taken exactly as prescribed) is safe, can manage pain effectively, and rarely causes addiction.

But the abuse of opioids is a significant public safety concern. Abusers ingest these drugs orally, and also crush the pills in order to snort or inject them.

Commonly abused opioid pain medicines include prescription drugs such as codeine, and the brand-name products Oxycontin (oxycodone), Vicodin (hydrocodone with acetaminophen), and Demerol (meperidine).

Addiction is just one serious danger of opioid abuse. A number of overdose deaths have resulted from snorting and injecting opioids, particularly the drug OxyContin, which was designed to be a slow-release formulation.

USE OPIOIDS SAFELY:  3 KEY STEPS

1. Keep your doctor informed. Inform your health care professional about any past history of substance abuse. All patients treated with opioids for pain require careful monitoring by their health care professional for signs of abuse and addiction, and to determine when these analgesics are no longer needed.
2. Follow directions carefully. Opioids are associated with significant side effects, including drowsiness, constipation, and depressed breathing depending on the amount taken. Taking too much could cause severe respiratory depression or death. Do not crush or break pills. This can alter the rate at which the medication is absorbed and lead to overdose and death.
3. Reduce the risk of drug interactions. Don’t mix opioids with alcohol, antihistamines, barbiturates, or benzodiazepines. All of these substances slow breathing and their combined effects could lead to life-threatening respiratory depression.

This article appears on FDA’s Consumer Health Information Web page (www.fda.gov/consumer), which features the latest updates on FDA-regulated products. Sign up for free e-mail subscriptions at www.fda.gov/consumer/consumerenews.html.

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Tags: acetaminophen, aches, allergies, arthritis, brand-name products, cancer, chemical, chemicals, constipation, cough, cramps, dietary supplements, drowsiness, fever, food and drug administration, generic products, headache, headaches, heart disease, high blood pressure, ibuprofen, kidney disease, machinery, OTC, OxyContin, pain, pains, peripheral and central nervous systems, pharmacist, respiratory depression, surgery, toothaches, www.fda.gov/consumer, www.fda.gov/consumer/consumerenews.html

Osteoarthritis is a problem that many people suffer from and it can cause a lot of discomfort and in fact can lower your quality of life becasue you are stopped from doing many of the activites that you would like to do.

Osteoarthritis medications can ease the pain. The most common type of medication doctors recommend reduce swelling as well as pain. As a group, these drugs are called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Examples of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are ASA, ibuprofen, and naproxen. These drugs give relief, but they do not cure the disease or stop it from getting worse. If used for a long time, NSAIDs can cause stomach problems, such as ulcers or bleeding. Acetaminophen relieves pain without causing stomach problems, but it does not reduce inflammation.

Steroid medications can be injected directly into the joint with a small needle to reduce inflammation and pain, but are usually not a permanent solution. Artificial joint fluid can be injected into joints to help relieve pain and make movement easier.

Many people take herbal remedies and supplements such as glucosamine, chondroitin, devil’s claw, and antioxidants. Because supplements have the potential to interact with other medications or to have an effect on other health conditions, it is important to discuss any supplements you are considering with your doctor or pharmacist.

Heat and cold treatments can help reduce pain. So can mild exercise. Splints and braces can be used to support weak joints, but they should be used only if recommended by your doctor, because incorrect use of a brace can cause joint damage. In severe cases of osteoarthritis, surgery may be recommended to replace or repair the damaged joint.

Tags: acetaminophen, antioxidants, chondroitin, glucosamine, Herbal Remedies, ibuprofen, inflammation, joints, mild exercise, naproxen, nsaids, osteoarthritis, pain, pharmacist, reduce swelling, relieve pain, steroid medications, surgery, treatment of osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, which means the body’s own immune system attacks itself. In addition to the joints, Rheumatoid arthritis can also affect the skin, blood vessels, heart, and lungs.

Rheumatoid arthritis can occur at any age, from toddlers to seniors, but usually appears between the ages of 25 and 50, It occurs three times more often in women than in men. The joints most affected are in the wrist, fingers, knees, ankles, and feet.

When the immune system attacks healthy joints, it causes inflammation of the joint lining. Inflammation of this lining can be very painful, making it difficult to walk or do regular activities such as cooking. If the disease is not treated and controlled, it can lead to permanent damage, such as joint deformity and disability.

The Rheumatoid arthritis disease can start slowly with fatigue or a sudden attack of flu-like symptoms. There may be a slight fever. Joints may feel warm to the touch and look red or swollen, They may be stiff and become painful as time passes, Pain is usually worse in the morning, when the body has been inactive for a while. Other symptoms may include loss of appetite, swollen glands, burning eyes, and difficulty breathing. If you have any of these symptoms, it is important to see a doctor. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: acetaminophen, arthritis, autoimmune disease, deformity, fatigue, fever, inflammation, lifelong treatment, nsaids, Oral, pain, physical therapist, physical therapy, rheumatoid arthritis, surgery, treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

You may have heard that the FDA has cautioned gainst giving any kind of cold medicine to kids saying that it does not do any good anyway. I am not too sure about this as we have always given stuff to our kids to help them sleep at night when they have a cold or congestion but we have never bothered to give it to them during the day. I guess maybe we will have to research this a little better and thankfully both kids are quite healthy these days.

Anyway I grabbed the following tips from MSNBC that was attached to the article about this very subject.

With the safety and usefulness of cold medicines now in doubt for children under 6, what alternatives can parents try? Old-fashioned remedies are poised to make a comeback.

You have to wait out a cold; treating symptoms, at any age, doesn’t make the cold go away faster.

But to make stuffy tots feel better and help them rest, pediatric specialists recommend:

 

— Plenty of liquids, from water to chicken soup.

— Suction bulbs can gently clear infants’ clogged noses.

— Saline nose drops loosen thick secretions so noses drain more easily.

— A cool-mist humidifier in the child’s bedroom.

— Some chest creams can ease stuffiness with menthol or other fragrances, but check labels for age restrictions.

— Acetaminophen or ibuprofen, as recommended by your doctor, to alleviate pain or discomfort — but check that they don’t contain extra ingredients like decongestants or antihistamines.

Tags: acetaminophen, antihistamines, check labels, cold medicines, decongestants, nose drops, old fashioned remedies, pain

Glucosamine & Chondroitin Double Strength

I know that many people have back or knee problems and that joint pain is a real big problem in north america today…actually my wife is one of those that suffers from back pain. One of the supplements tha people are using successfully to help alleviate joint pain is Glucosamine with Chondroitin One of the things that you can try is
Glucosamine & Chondroitin Double Strength

Here is more info on the double wammy of these to great supplements:

Glucosamine and chondroitin are building blocks of connective tissue and are key components of the joints.

For detailed discussions of these nutrients, please see the individual articles for glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate.

Glucosamine is a simple molecule that is available as a supplement in several forms: glucosamine sulfate, glucosamine hydrochloride and N-acetyl-glucosamine (NAG). The glucosamine sulfate (GS) form (stabilized with a mineral salt, such as sodium chloride or potassium chloride) is the only form consistently shown in clinical trials to be effective for people with osteoarthritis (OA).

Chondroitin sulfate(CS) is a much larger and more complex molecule than GS. Like glucosamine, it is a major constituent of cartilage and has been the subject of many clinical trials. CS supplementation has proven to be an effective treatment for people with OA.

When to take glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, or both: The popular idea that GS is clinically “preferred” over CS, or that CS is “not necessary,”1 has not been examined (let alone supported) by appropriate comparative research. An analysis of controlled clinical trials evaluated the independent effects of GS and CS in the treatment of OA.2 The authors concluded that the overall efficacy in trials of CS for people with OA exceeded the overall efficacy of GS for people with that condition. However, more than one-third of CS supplements have been reported to contain less than 40% of the amount of CS listed on the label.3 Moreover, no single clinical trial has compared the effects of the two supplements.

Many people with osteoarthritis take combinations of CS and GS or glucosamine HCl. This practice may be based on the suggestion, made in a best-selling book,4 that GS and CS in combination have stronger effects than either supplement alone. Although this idea may sound appealing, and may be harmless, it is based only on anecdotes and hypotheses. The theory that GS and CS work synergistically in the treatment of osteoarthritis remains unproven. To date, no clinical trials have compared glucosamine/chondroitin combinations with either of the supplements taken individually.

One preliminary trial found that the combination of glucosamine HCl (1,600 mg per day), CS (1,200 mg per day), and calcium ascorbate (1,000 mg per day) was effective at reducing joint noise, pain, and swelling in people with osteoarthritis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ, or jaw joint).5 However, this study was not well controlled and the outcomes measured were highly subjective. Moreover, participants in this study were allowed to use aspirin and ibuprofen, so the exact effects of the nutrient combination cannot be accurately assessed.

Similarly, the combination of glucosamine HCl (1,500 mg per day), CS (1,200 mg per day), and manganese ascorbate (228 mg per day) was evaluated in a double-blind trial and was associated with significant symptom reduction and improvement on x-ray for osteoarthritis of the knee (less so for spine). However, subjects were allowed to use acetaminophen for pain, and comparative effects of a glucosamine HCl/chondroitin sulfate combination and the individual nutrients were not examined.

health, fitness, supplements

Tags: acetaminophen, back pain, osteoarthritis, pain, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, treatment of osteoarthritis, x-ray