Medical Options

There are many different treatment options for pain.  These treatments range from medications, procedural interventions, therapies and alternative options.  Your practitioner will help you decide which treatment or combination of treatments will work best for your type of pain.  Below are listed each type of treatment though this list is not a complete overview.  Please discuss further with your practitioner.

Medications

There are three basic types of medications that are used to treat pain:  non-opioid, opioid, and adjuvant.  The type(s) and amount of medication used will depend on the type and severity of your pain.  The following list of medications is NOT a complete list.  If you would like information about a medication not listed here ask your pharmacist, practitioner or email us at info@nhpain.org.

Non-opioid medicines are used to treat mild pain and sometimes they are used in combination with other medications.  Non-opioid medications include such medicines as Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Naprosyn, and Aspirin. 

Opioid medications are used to treat moderate to severe pain.  Opioids can be combined with non-opioids, as in Percocet which is acetaminophen and oxycodone, or they can be given alone, as in Morphine.  Other opioids are hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), fentanyl (Duragesic), and Methadone.

Adjuvant medications are all other medicines that can treat pain.  Common types of adjuvant medications are anti-seizure, anti-depressants, and muscle relaxers.  Anti-seizure and anti-depressants are frequently used to treat neuropathic pain.  Muscle relaxors are used to treat muscular injuries. 

Interventions

Interventions used for pain are almost always performed by a specially trained pain management specialist.  This generally requires a referral from you primary care provider.  Interventions can be simple trigger point injections (for muscular pain) to epidural injections and spinal cord stimulators and many in between.  For a complete list of all interventional procedures please click on the following site and see pages 48-58 www.painfoundation.org/Publications/TreatmentOptions2006.pdf.   For more information please email us at info@nhpain.org.

Therapy

Several types of therapy can be beneficial to people with pain.  The three most common therapies used in pain management are physical therapy, occupational therapy and physiatry. The kind of therapy prescribed for you will depend on the reason for your pain.  Please discuss these options with your medical provider.  For more information on types of Physical Rehabilitation for Pain Management please use the following link and see pages 25-34, www.painfoundation.org/Publications/TreatmentOptions2006.pdf.