Despite technological advancements, many challenges remain in getting a drug from lab to pharmacy shelf. Reframing what is a “medicine” could expand treatment options for researchers and patients.
A variety of pain-relieving drugs are available both over the counter and by prescription.
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Different painkillers provide relief in different ways. The most effective medication is the one that best targets the type of pain you’re experiencing with minimal side effects.
The improper prescription of opioids for pain treatment is one of the central drivers of the opioid epidemic.
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Chronic pain is everyone’s problem. It’s costly, debilitating and, according to new statistics, increasingly common. Reversing the trend is achieveable but far from easy.
From colonial poppy fields to pharmatrash, southern Africa offers a fascinating history of drug regimes – one that helps us make sense of drug policies and legislation today.
Ambulance call-outs associated with the misuse of pregabalin (Lyrica) have increased tenfold in Victoria since 2012, mirroring an increase in prescription rates.
The biological pathways related to physical and emotional pain overlap.
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People who use painkillers for non-medical reasons often justify it as a form of self-medication for legitimate medical diagnoses such as depression, anxiety and stress.
In short, pain medicine is able to block the processes that cause the feeling of pain. To understand why, you need to know a bit about how pain works.
At present, surgeons vary widely in their approach to opioid prescription and some patients use opioids for prolonged periods post-surgery.
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Surgeons are big prescribers of opioids. But while guidelines are in place for dentists and for doctors who prescribe opioid-based painkillers for long-term pain, there are none for surgeons.
There is growing evidence for the use of cannabis in treating opioid addiction.
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As Canada moves towards legalization of cannabis in 2018, there is growing evidence of the drug’s potential to treat opioid addiction itself, as well as the chronic pain that often drives it.