Medical Treatments

There is a wide range of medications available for the treatment of pain. Your healthcare team can work with you to find out what will bring the best results in your situation. Sometimes other medical interventions, including surgery, are necessary in order to achieve the most effective pain relief.

Medications

Opioids (narcotics) are medications whose morphine-like qualities make them highly effective in treating severe pain. There is no upper limit on the dosage of opioids (narcotics) that can be given to relieve ongoing pain. This class of medications includes codeine (Tylenol 3), hydrocodone (Vicodin), fentanyl (Duragesic), hydromorphone (Dilaudid), oxycodone (Percocet), meperidine (Demerol), morphine and others. Be aware that some of these opioid medications contain other pain-relieving medications like acetaminophen (Tylenol) or aspirin that do have a limit on the amount you can take.

For milder pain your doctor or nurse may recommend non-opioid pain relievers (also called non-narcotic analgesics). Even though many of these medications are available without a prescription you should always talk with your healthcare team about using them. Non-narcotic pain relievers include acetaminophen (Tylenol, Datril) as well as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, like aspirin and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin).

Your doctor might also prescribe adjuvant analgesics. Analgesics are medications that treat pain. An adjuvant analgesic is a medication that is primarily intended for the treatment of other conditions, such as depression or seizures, but which also has pain-relieving properties in certain situations. If you use these medications it would not be for their primary purpose but to fight pain.

Other Medical Treatments

There are medical treatments available for pain relief in addition to the use of opioids and other medications. These treatments are more invasive and can be more complex than taking medicines, but they should be considered when other methods have failed to give good relief.

	Surgery can sometimes be performed in the case of blockage in the stomach, bowels, or urinary system, as well as on a large tumor or painful metastases (cancer that has spread to a new place in the body).
	Neurosurgery and nerve blocks also have potential benefit when pain is the result of damage to nerves.
	In cancer, radiation or chemotherapy may be recommended, not to cure the disease, but to shrink or slow down the growth of a tumor in order to relieve the pain it is causing.

Surgery can sometimes be performed in the case of blockage in the stomach, bowels, or urinary system, as well as on a large tumor or panful metastases (cancer that has spread to a new place in the body).

Neurosurgery and nerve blocks also have potential benefit when pain is the result of damage to nerves.

In cancer, radiation or chemotherapy may be recommended, not to cure the disease, but to shrink or slow down the growth of a tumor in order to relieve the pain it is causing.

My pain is pretty mild usually