Topic: Pain ReliefChronic pain
Chronic pain refers to pain that persists after an injury heals, pain related to a
persistent or degenerative disease, and long-term pain from an unidentifiable cause.
It is estimated that one in three people in the United States will experience chronic pain at some point
in their lives. Of these people, approximately 50 million are either partially or completely disabled.
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Osteoarthritis : Pain Relief and Functional Improvement
Symptomatic treatment of OA traditionally involves administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs) with the intention of employing their anti-inflammatory effects in addition to any
analgesia they may provide.
During the last few years, gastrointestinal and renal adverse effects of NSAIDs have been recognised
as the most significant drug-related health risk, particularly in the elderly. New insights into the
pathophysiology of OA and the search for better tolerated therapeutic alternatives have generated
new interest in pure analgesics such as paracetamol and centrally acting analgesics.
- Celebrex is a drug that helps relieve pain associated with osteoarthritis and adult rheumatoid arthritis.
The reason that Celebrex has become so popular is because it is easier on the stomach than other anti-arthritis medications.
- Tramadol is a centrally acting analgesic with a dual mechanism of action. It has weak agonist activity
at m-opioid receptors and in addition enhances the activity of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine
(noradrenaline) and serotonin within the descending inhibitory pain pathways, via a reuptake inhibitory
effect. These two mechanisms act synergistically to produce pain relief.
As a consequence, Tramadol
possesses analgesic effectiveness comparable to that of the strong opioids.
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