New and old drugs
When you complain of headache or low back pain, the doctor may tell you to take two aspirins every 4 hours and stay in bed. Aspirin, one of the most universally used medications, is an excellent painkiller. It works by interfering with pain signals where they usually originate, at the nerve endings outside the brain and spinal cord: the peripheral nerves. Aspirin also inhibits the production of chemicals called prostaglandins that are manufactured in the blood to promote blood clotting and wound healing. Prostaglandins, released from cells at the site of injury, are pain-causing substances. They actually sensitize nerve endings, making them - and you - feel more pain. Along with increasing the blood supply to the area, these chemicals contribute to inflammation - the pain, heat, redness, and swelling of tissue damage.
Some investigators now think that the continued release of pain-causing substances in chronic pain conditions may lead to long-term nervous system changes in some patients, making them hypersensitive to pain. People suffering such hyperalgesia can cry out in pain at the gentlest touch, or even when a soft breeze blows over the affected area. In addition to the prostaglandins, blister fluid and certain insect and snake venoms also contain pain-causing substances. Presumably these chemicals alert you to the need for care - a fine reaction in an emergency, but not in chronic pain.
Drugs for stronger pain relief
There are several prescription drugs that usually can provide stronger pain relief than aspirin. These include the opiate-related compounds codeine, propoxyphene, morphine, and meperidine. All these drugs have some potential for abuse, and may have unpleasant and even harmful side effects. In combination with other medications or alcohol, some can be dangerous. Used wisely, however, they are important recruits in the chemical fight against pain.
In the search for effective analgesics (drugs that relieve pain), physicians have discovered pain-relieving benefits from drugs not normally prescribed for pain. Certain antidepressants are used to treat several particularly severe pain conditions, particularly that of facial neuralgias and shingles.
Antiepileptic drugs have been used successfully in treating trigeminal neuralgia. The rationale for the use of antiepileptic drugs (principally carbamazepine) is based on the theory that a healthy nervous system depends on a proper balance of incoming and outgoing nerve signals. Trigeminal neuralgia and other facial pains or neuralgias are thought to result from damage to facial nerves. That means that the normal flow of messages to and from the brain is disturbed. The nervous system may react by becoming hypersensitive.
Nondrug treatments
Treatment for pain can include counseling, relaxation training, meditation, hypnosis, biofeedback, or behavior modification. The philosophy common to all of these approaches is the belief that patients can do something on their own to manage their pain. That something may mean changing attitudes, feelings, or behaviors associated with pain.
There is much more to read about treatment of chronic pain at the following website:
1.) Enter: http://www.cchs.net/hinfo/
2.) Click: Conditions & Concerns
3.) Under Condition Super Centers: scroll to and click: Pain Center.
4.) Scroll down and click: Go
5.) Under "Living with Pain" - click: Treatment of chronic pain.