This article is part of our series How You Can Benefit from Psychiatric Pain Management. Comprehensive pain treatment – seeing several different types of health care providers – works best. Why should you work with a health care team? 1. Pain is complicated and takes a team of experts to help get you better Pain is complicated and is caused by many […]

This is a series about psychiatric pain management. We’ll learn what it is and figure out if you might benefit from this treatment. If your doctor has recommended that you considering seeing a pain management psychiatrist or psychologist, it might not be clear exactly why this might be helpful. You might think, Does my doctor think my pain is all […]

This article is one in a series on Medications for Pain. What are your choices? How do various medications work? What are the pros and cons? How about side effects? Here are 2 promising advances in research for pain. 1. The first advance is studying multiple medications together. As you might know all too well, it’s […]

This article is in a series on Medications for Pain. What are your choices? How do various medications work? What are the pros and cons? How about side effects? What are some medication advances coming soon? 1. Improvements to opiates (narcotics) While opiates or narcotics are sometimes helpful, they have more than their share of negatives. Selective narcotics, […]

This article is in a series on Medications for Pain. What are your choices?  How do various medications work? What are the pros and cons? How about side effects? Antipsychotics are medications originally used for psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, where a person’s thinking becomes disorganized or delusional. Like many medication classes, antipsychotics aren’t FDA-approved for any […]

This article is in our series on Medications for Pain. What are your choices? How do various medications work? What are the pros and cons? How about side effects? Opiate medication, sometimes called narcotics are medications designed to treat both acute and chronic pain. Of all medications for pain, narcotics probably get the most press and cause the […]

This article is one in a series on Medications for Pain. What are your choices? How do various medications work? Pros and cons? How about side effects? Anti-Hypertensive Medication are drugs originally used to control high blood pressure. A common medication from this class that’s used for pain is Clonidine. Like muscle relaxants, anti-hypertensives indirectly decrease pain. They would be […]

This article is one in a series on Medications for Pain. What are your choices? How do various medications work? Pros and cons? How about side effects? Muscle Relaxants are drugs which help muscles relax and prevent muscle spasms. Common medications include Zanaflex and Baclofen. Some medications such anticonvulsants and antidepressants can directly reduce pain. Most muscle relaxants […]

This article is in our series on Medications for Pain. What are your choices? How do various medications work? What are the pros and cons? Side effects? The medication Ketamine is an anesthetic. Anesthetics are drugs which prevent sensations, particularly pain. Ketamine is an NMDA-receptor antagonist. Also in this class is Dextromethorophan (which is an active ingredient in cough syrup). These […]

This article is in our series on Medications for Pain. What are your choices? How do various medications work? Pros and cons? How about side effects? Anesthetics are medications used to prevent sensations, particularly pain. Within this class, there are many different medications, and many ways to use these medications, including: Topical (through the skin), for example, a […]