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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, one of the first things you may wonder about is pain. How much pain are you likely to be in? How will you cope with it? What can your doctors do about it?The good news is that there is a lot that you and your doctors can do to keep pain at bay. You have multiple options, one of which is medication.When it comes to medications for pain management, there are two broad categories: opioids, which dull pain systemically, throughout the body; and adjuvant analgesics, or helper medications that can target specific types of pain, often by fighting inflammation.Opioid medications are available only by prescription. There are several opioid drugs that palliative care physicians most commonly prescribe for moderate to severe pain in the context of a serious, life-threatening illness. They are known as opioid analgesics:codeine (only available in generic form)fentanyl (Abstral, Actiq, Duragesic, Fentora, Onsolis)hydrocodone (Hysingla ER, Zohydro ER)hydrocodone/acetaminophen (Lorcet, Lortab, Norco, Vicodin)hydromorphone (Dilaudid, Exalgo)meperidine (Demerol)methadone (Dolophine, Methadose)morphine (Kadian, MS Contin, Morphabond)oxycodone (Oxaydo, OxyContin)oxycodone and acetaminophen (Percocet, Roxicet)oxycodone and naloxone These drugs can be taken in a number of different ways. If the person can swallow, all can be given by mouth. Some medications can be given intravenously, and some by subcutaneous injection.There are other options as well, including intranasal options. "With a compounding pharmacist's support, we can mix an opioid with a gel to deliver it topically, through the skin," says Muir. "There are also formulations of fentanyl, for example, that can be delivered by patch or through a cheek film that crosses the mucous membranes in the mouth."Although opioids are excellent in controlling pain, they do have side effects. Among the most common are:Constipation. This is the one you can't get around. Most people
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