What medications can treat chronic pain?
What medications can treat chronic pain?
Your healthcare provider may recommend certain medications to relieve chronic pain, including:
- Anticonvulsants (medications that prevent seizures) for nerve pain.
- Antidepressants such as tricyclic antidepressants.
- Corticosteroid.
- Muscle relaxers.
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or acetaminophen.
- Topical products (applied to the skin) that contain pain relievers or ingredients that create soothing heat or cold.
- Opioids (narcotics). Opioids can be addictive, and you can build up a tolerance to them over time. Because of this, healthcare providers usually try other pain treatment options before prescribing opioids.
- Sedatives to help with anxiety or insomnia.
- Medical marijuana.
Other medical treatments your healthcare provider may have you try include:
- Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): This procedure delivers small shocks through patches on your skin. The electrical impulses can relieve pain.
- Nerve blocks: For this treatment, your healthcare provider injects an anesthetic near the site of your pain to reduce feeling in the area. Nerve blocks can also sometimes provide diagnostic information and locate the source of your pain.
- Epidural steroid injections: This procedure is an injection of anti-inflammatory medicine — a steroid or corticosteroid — into the space around your spinal nerves known as the epidural space to treat chronic pain caused by irritation and inflammation of spinal nerve roots.