Several non-drug approaches can reduce the need for medication: massage, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), exercise, heat/cold applications, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, and therapeutic touch. By including these therapies in a pain management program, drug reactions and medical costs decrease.

If you are suffering from neck pain, back pain, arthritis, or any kind of joint pain, physical therapy may help you rehabilitate the affected areas of your body. Physical therapy usually consists of specialized exercises that work to strengthen the parts of the body that are injured. But while physical therapy is a great program that is geared towards recovery, it often does not offer instant pain relief. Fortunately, there are OTC and Prescription medicines available that do bring on instant pain relief.

Why your Doctor won't prescribe Opiod Medication

Because pain is hard to verify objectively, the conflict between drug control and pain relief is inevitable. It can be alleviated through regulatory reform, but it can never be eliminated. A system that completely prevents nonmedical use of prescription drugs would also leave millions of patients in agony. Conversely, a system that enabled every patient with treatable pain to get relief would also allow fakers/addicts to obtain narcotics for their own use or for sale to others. In deciding how to resolve this dilemma, it's important to keep in mind that people who use prescription drugs to get high do so voluntarily, while patients who suffer because of inadequate pain treatment have no choice in the matter. So, any regulartory reform should focus on identifying the real patients from the "fakers".

One reason for the slow progress in regulatory reform is that advocates of better pain treatment have been fighting deeply rooted prejudices. Societt has and always had mixed feelings about psychoactive substances. To deal with our ambivalence, we tend to divide drugs into neat categories: good and bad, legal and illegal, therapeutic and recreational. Doctors are not comfortable with drugs that straddle categories, as the opioids do.

Most pain patients will find a deep reluctance on part of their Doctor to prescribe Opiod-based pain relief medication. Thus, pain patients have little choice but to make the most of OTC and presription pain medication in the NSAID and COX-2 categories.

Choosing Pain Relief medication

Physicians most often recommend or prescribe oral medication for relief of acute pain. Acetaminophen in doses up to 1,000 mg is recommended as the initial choice for mild to moderate acute pain. Acetaminophen is probably the safest pain and fever medication available and is the drug of choice for children. It has minimal side effects on the stomach, but it does not treat the cause of the pain and fever. Heavy users of alcohol can develop liver damage from taking Acetaminophen. Kidney problems also have been reported when large doses have been taken many days in a row.

Aspirin is an excellent pain and inflammation reliever and a good fever reducer - especially for those with an iron stomach. Coated or buffered aspirin may relieve the mild stomach upsets, but those with a history of gastrointestinal bleeding or ulcers should stay away from aspirin. Those who take low-dose aspirin as a blood thinner should use another medication for pain.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are medicines that impair the production of prostaglandins in the body. Prostaglandins are natural compounds that are responsible for producing fever, pain, and inflammation. NSAIDS are called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs because they reduce inflammation without the side effects of steroids. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Tramadol, Fioricet, Butalbital) had been the mainstay treatment for arthritis , pain, headaches, inflamed muscles, toothache, and other musculoskeletal ailments. NSAIDS are quick acting and effective but tend to cause stomach irritation and ulcйration, especially when taken in large doses and over prolonged periods.

Ibuprofen (Motrin) is a strong pain reliever NSAID that is fairly easy on most stomachs, especially if taken with food or antacids. Ibuprofen, like the other drugs discussed, can cause liver damage and the best way to avoid complications is to keep the duration of use at one or two days and to not exceed manufacturer specs on dosage. Keeping the duration low, switching between different medications, and using lower doses also prevents pain rebound, which in the case of headaches is caused by the pain reliever itself. Other NSAIDs have failed to demonstrate consistently greater efficacy or safety than Ibuprofen.

The NSAID subgroup COX-2 inhibitors were created with the hope of avoiding stomach problems while still providing good pain and inflammation relief. These COX-2s are prescription drugs which have been prescribed by doctors to millions of patients till date. However, recent studies have shown that patients on COX-2 drugs, especially Vioxx, had higher incidences of heart attack and stroke. Resultantly, Vioxx was withdrawn from the market voluntarily by its manufacturer, and patients were directed to their doctors to look for an alternate medication. Studies show that COX-2 drugs prevent the body's ability to produce a natural blood thinner. Without this substance, clots can form more easily in the vessels that carry blood to the heart and brain, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Even over-the-counter medication needs to be taken with caution and as directed because all medications, over-the-counter or prescribed, carry potential side effects. Celebrex and Bextra, which did not have as high a complication rate as Vioxx, are still on the market. For those who don't have cardiac risk factors, an extremely sensitive stomach, or a high degree of arthritis pain, these still may be the best drugs. Many of these medicines are available in low-dose forms without a prescription. You need to tell your doctor if you are taking any of these medicines regularly.