When you suffer from pain you have a variety of drugs to help in overcoming it. But different types of painkillers have different properties and are usually applied in different circumstances. It is important that you know the properties of each analgesics type because the effectiveness of pain treatment can be largely determined by what kind of drug you use. So it’s in your own interest to learn about the difference between various kinds of painkiller medications. Read the rest of this entry »

A recent analysis of the data provided by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has shown that the US citizens today are taking more painkillers than ever before throughout the history. The study comprised a ten year period, and since 1997 the was a 90 per cent increase in painkiller medication consumption as reported by hospitals, pharmacies, and individual doctors.

The figures show that in the last year of the study the US population has consumed over 200,000 pounds of such painkillers as codeine, hydrocodone, meperidine, morphine, and oxycodone. If put in per capita perspective that means that every American consumed about 300 milligrams of analgesics.

One of the most used painkillers from that number were those containing oxycodone, which is the active element in the painkiller OxyContin. There was an astronomical increase of 600 per cent in sales in only 8 years of the study. Previously oxycodone was called “hillbilly heroin” because it was primarily traded over the counter in the Appalachia region and used for recreational purposes. However, today it is widely sold in big metropolitan areas from East to West.

Specialists suggest that there is a set of reasons behind such a skyrocketing use of analgesics among US citizens:

• The nation becomes older in age group proportions.
• Drugs have become much wider and more aggressively marketed with almost a triple increase in advertising spendings during the last ten years.
• Painkillers have become the cornerstone of the way the pain is treated and managed nowadays.

The last reason draws up more concerns from the part of professionals. It seems like it’s easier for an individual to take Tramadol pill for example and forget about the pain, rather than address a doctor to see whether there’s a health issue to be concerned with. Not speaking of exercises and improvements in lifestyle. Painkiller pills have become the fast solution for any trouble, but can they stand up with the array of public health issues that may arise in the future due to such tendencies. We’ll see.

Pain is something that all of us has experienced and is fully aware of. But most of the time it is very hard to describe what your pain feels like and what really troubles you. Some people even find it hard to tell someone else that they have pain because of different cultural, individual, psychological and other stereotypes. However, knowing how to report and describe pain is crucial for the concept of pain management – a new set of techniques that was designed to help people overcome pain effectively and efficiently. Read the rest of this entry »

First of all you have to understand what are analgesics. Simply put and analgesic medication is a painkiller, meaning its primary intention and use is to eliminate symptoms of pain. Usually this is achieved in two ways. The first way is to block the pain signals transferred to the brain through the means of the nervous system. And the second one is making the brain interpret pain signals differently from what is common. Generally there are two types of analgesic medications: narcotics and non-narcotics.

Read the rest of this entry »

Whoever you ask, they will all tell you the same thing. Everyone knows pain is a warning signal. It’s telling you there’s something wrong with your body and you should get it fixed. That’s conventional wisdom and it’s right. Except, what are you supposed to do when you have received the message and have done what you can to treat the cause? Read the rest of this entry »

When a country is at war, it depends on its soldiers to deliver the goods. If the army is a volunteer force, morale is usually high and the soldiers make commitments above and beyond the call of duty. The usual expression is “walking wounded”. These are the soldiers who have sufficient mobility to carry on the fight despite the injuries. The U.S. has been engaged in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for some time now. We are now well into the “surge” in Iraq and the commitment of troops to the NATO command in Afghanistan is being increased. Read the rest of this entry »

Although my knowledge of life in Canada is limited to the stereotypes of Mounties chasing bad guys and the people’s love of ice hockey, I did see that their Therapeutic Products Directorate (TPD) (the Canadian equivalent of the FDA) has given a nod of approval to expanding the use of the once-daily version of tramadol. To date, it has only been indicated for the treatment of moderate pain. Now the TPD has accepted new evidence of its appropriateness in the treatment of moderately severe pain. Read the rest of this entry »

Arthritis, at its core is simply an inflammation of the joints. However, there are a lot of diseases associated with arthritis; such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. They range from mildly painful to intensely painful. For some of the mild cases simply taking a few aspirin gives enough comfort. But more intense cases require stronger medication. That’s where Tramadol stands out in the crowd.

Read the rest of this entry »

The longer the pain lasts, the more difficult it is to treat. The research strongly suggests that a mixture of physical and psychological therapies offers the best chance for improving outcomes. One of the most common forms of pain affects the lower back. Yet it is often the case that there is no biological evidence of the cause of the pain. No apparent external injury. No x-ray or other scan image of internal injury. The most usual association is with changes in mood, variations in the levels of anxiety or stress, or social episodes which trigger the sensation of pain. In other words, the way you perceive pain cannot be divorced from you as a person and the collection of memories and experiences that define you as an individual. So if pain persists despite the standard medical treatments (including the use of drugs such as tramadol), it is time to expand the range of treatment to include therapy. Read the rest of this entry »

Almost everyone will have experienced acute, short-term pain at some point in their lives. You fall, have the misfortune to be involved in an accident, or have surgery. In most cases, you know you will get better - cuts, bruises, strains and fractures heal and you can resume life as though nothing had happened. The confidence that the pain will soon be gone makes it easier to bear. If you do find it too much, almost all the drugs on the market will give you relief while your body mends. Read the rest of this entry »