Types of pain relief: how do I choose?

This is the first step on the pain relief ladder, and with relatively few risks or side effects if taken as instructed. It’s well-tolerated and may be sufficient for occasional mild pain that occurs for just a brief time. For a drug that’s been around for more than 100 years, it’s not well understood how acetaminophen works or in which area of the brain it works, but it likely stops chemical neurotransmitters from transmitting a pain message.

It’s most effective if taken regularly, and for a short period of time, up to a few days. It’s preferred over NSAIDs as it’s considered safer, but it offers a similar level of pain relief.

It’s less likely to help if you have longstanding or chronic pain, such as chronic back pain or arthritis. It’s worth trying, but evidence suggests it may not help everyone with post-operative pain or a tension-type headache, but it will help some.

You should be careful to take no more than the recommended maximum, and beware of other products that might contain acetaminophen such as cold and flu treatments, so you don’t double-dose. It’s cleared by the liver, so if you have any liver problems, you should check with a doctor first. It causes liver toxicity if taken above the recommended dose.

Rarely people may experience stomach upset, a rash or blood disorders. You don’t need a prescription for acetaminophen, it’s available to buy from any pharmacy. But you should consult your doctor if you’re taking it for more than a couple of weeks, or needing to use it very often.

NSAIDs are another first step class of medications that reduce pain and also reduce inflammation. Ibuprofen and naproxen are available to buy from any pharmacy, but stronger NSAIDs such as diclofenac or indomethacin require a prescription. You can alternate the acetaminophen and an NSAID, or combine the two. Acetaminophen can also be taken with a stronger prescription NSAID.

NSAIDs have a similar effect on pain as acetaminophen, but can be particularly effective in cases such as arthritis, where a joint is inflamed, causing much of the pain. They are also effective for an acute flare of gout, where one joint such as the toe is inflamed and can be extremely painful for a few days or weeks.

They act on prostaglandins, a hormone released in inflammation and present in high levels in period pain. NSAIDs are the class of choice to effectively combat period pain and are best if taken a couple of days before period pain is anticipated. The ones above are effective, but mefenamic acid is another NSAID that is often prescribed.

NSAIDs can cause increased acid production in the stomach, causing some discomfort, so you should always take them with food. Because of this, they carry the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, which means those with a history of bleeding or a stomach ulcer, or the elderly, should avoid them. If taking for several weeks or more, your doctor may prescribe a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), to reduce the risk of a stomach ulcer forming.

Newer medications specifically target COX-2 receptors, which reduces the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, but these require prescription.

NSAIDs may also trigger certain types of asthma and can exacerbate existing kidney disease, so should be avoided in these cases.

Aspirin is sometimes included in the NSAID group but has fallen out of favor as a preferred pain relief, and its anti-inflammatory actions only kick in at a higher dose. It’s still regularly used at low dose to reduce the risk of heart disease, but this is anti-platelet action rather than anti-pain or anti-inflammatory.

Opioids include a wide-ranging scope of pain relief, from codeine at the mildest end, to tramadol as a medium strength, and different forms of morphine at the strongest end. Mild to moderate opioids are considered step two of the pain relief ladder and strong opioids are considered step three. Side effects become more pronounced with stronger doses – commonly constipation, drowsiness and feeling dizzy, sick or slightly out of it. Certain people seem more susceptible to this “wooziness” than others.

Strong opioids are particularly good for ischemic pain (after a heart attack), visceral pain (organ-related, after an operation), and palliative care, when a patient has pain with a terminal illness.

Opioids carry with them a burden of addiction if taken for a long period of time – the higher the dose, the stronger the dependency. They also produce tolerance, which means that quite quickly you need to take a higher dose for the same effect.

They can become drugs of abuse. The street drug heroin is a strong opioid, used for its “high” or feeling of euphoria, but carries a risk of reduced breathing rate. In an overdose, a person may stop breathing and die unless they receive an emergency antidote (naloxone). We don’t understand the brain very well, but it’s a known phenomenon that when opioids are taken by people really in pain, such as those with a terminal illness, it targets the pain center of the brain, and they are less likely to suffer euphoria or mental disturbance, or dependency and tolerance. Risk of reduced breathing rate with strong opioids is weighed against the benefits of reduced pain in patients nearing the end of their life. Nausea can be a problem, but they can be given medications to avoid this side effect.

Nerve pain is approached in the same stepwise way with the ladder of pain relief. If the above medications are having only minimal effect, or you’re needing a long-term solution, or side effects or risks are not acceptable, your doctor may recommend medications that specifically target nerve, or neuropathic, pain. These are only available by prescription. They can be used in place of or in addition to other pain medications.

Neuropathic pain is usually more complex in its nature and is often longstanding, therefore it’s more difficult to treat effectively. You should expect to be more comfortable with pain but probably not pain-free.

The oldest of these are amitriptyline and nortriptyline, which were commonly used in higher doses to treat depression. They can make you feel drowsy, groggy and sluggish, and for that reason many people find them intolerable.

Gabapentin is an alternative that is usually less sleep-inducing, but at higher doses may cause grogginess. Along with carbamazepine, they can treat epilepsy, but seem slightly better tolerated than amitriptyline. They seem to block a neurotransmitter that activates the pain pathway, but it’s not well understood. A newer version of gabapentin with less side effects is pregabalin.

These have a cumulative effect, meaning you need to take them regularly for a few days until you see results, and build up the dose gradually until effective, then continue them regularly to keep pain under control. They may be used to reduce reliance on other pain relievers, or you could turn to the other classes for so-called breakthrough pain at times.