Medication for Back Pain

Millions of people around the globe have experienced back pain of one sort or another throughout their lives. Whether it's a sore back from over exertion, or damage from trauma, heavy lifting, or a degenerative disease, back pain does affect millions of Americans on a regular basis.

There are just as many back pain treatments and medication plans as there are patients, and each one of them is customized to a single individuals particular type of back pain.

While there is a wide spectrum of medication to choose from for persisting pain, certain drugs are designed to treat certain conditions. Others are extremely versatile and will work for muscle relaxation, spasms, and inflammation as well as basic pain relief. Some medications do have severe side effects, and you need to discuss your pain medication plan with a doctor before you begin any prescription or heavy dose of over-the-counter medication.

There are plenty of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory type drugs on the market, which are also known as NSAID's. This type of drug and pain relief includes aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen sodium, ketaprofen and of course many others. Most of these are available over-the-counter, and are anti-inflammatory drugs as well as pain relief drugs. Some common side effects can include gastrointestinal ulcers, ringing in the ears, heartburn and other problems. Doctors may prescribe a higher dose of a NSAID Vin your over-the-counter medication dose, and it's usually done without too many risks of severe side effects.

Analgesics such as acetaminophen, known over the counter as Anacin -3, Tylenol, Valadol and Phenaphen. These types of analgesics can be used for acute pain treatment, and also occasionally for chronic pain.

Opioids are an addictive pain treatment medication and are only prescribed in the most severe pain situations. When pain is to the point were it may cause seizures, permanent damage, opioids may be used. Not often prescribed, physicians in general feel they may cause more problems than relief. Common opioids include morphine, Demerol, OxyContin, and codeine and are usually used for short-term use.

There are also muscle relaxants , a different kind of pain management prescription drug and is used in severe cases. These types of medications include cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril), metacarbamol (Robaxin), diazepam (Valium), carasoprodol (Soma) and others. For optimum pain management your physicians guidelines must be followed to the letter in order for these types of medications to work properly.

There are many different ways to handle back pain, from medications, surgery, muscle relaxants and other painkillers. It's important if you have chronic back pain that you see your doctor or chiropractor as soonest possible, the sooner you start to halt the damage to the muscles and vertebrae in your back, the better off your going to be.