Pain Management
Pharmaceutical pain management is complex. About 20 percent of people in the United States experience chronic pain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and about 8 percent of Americans experience “high impact” pain that frequently limits their work or life activities. Pain management helps these patients return to work and improve their quality of life.
Types of Pain
There are several types of pain, and each requires a different approach to pain management and pain management supplements. Neuropathic pain is the result of damage or disease affecting the nervous system, for example. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a type of chronic pain that affects one limb, such as an arm, leg, hand, or foot. Diabetic neuropathy is a type of nerve damage associated with diabetes.
Since everyone is unique, and there are so many types of pain, each person can experience pain – and relief from pain – in his or her own way. In many cases, standard therapies often provide inadequate pain relief when dosages are too low, or when a health condition makes it hard to swallow or keep down pills. Standard therapies can also expose patients to a number of uncomfortable or even dangerous side effects when dosages are too high or when taken in wrong combinations with other medicines.
Compounding pharmacies can help by creating compounded pain medications in exact dosages, in the right combinations, and available in customized delivery systems. The exact dosages help patients get the right amount of medication for complete pain relief and the lowest possible risk of side effects.
Compounded medicines using customized delivery systems help patients get the most medication possible. Transdermal pain cream compounding delivers analgesics through the skin, for example, which allows for smooth, continuous drug delivery and pain relief. Transdermal treatments also bypass the digestive tract to speed delivery and reduce stomach upset.
Infusion pumps, also known as “pain pumps,” infuse pain medications into patients’ circulatory systems. These pumps deliver a variety of common pain medicines, such as morphine, fentanyl, bupivacaine, baclofen, and ketamine. Most pain pumps introduce pain medicine intravenously (IV), although some pumps deliver painkillers subcutaneously through the skin, into an artery, or into the epidural space near the spinal cord. Formulation Compounding Center provides a wide variety of sterile formulations for pain pumps. Our team of specially trained pharmacists can work with your pain management providers to enhance your treatment options.
Experimental / Off-Label
Compounds
Formulation Compounding Center can utilize several non-narcotic pain-relieving drugs, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs):
Ketoprofen
Treats chronic pain and arthritis
Ibuprofen
Reduces hormones that cause pain and inflammation from a wide variety of conditions
Diclofenac
Treats mild to moderate pain and symptoms of osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis
Indomethacin
Used to treat moderate to severe osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gouty arthritis, or a type of arthritis that affects the spine, known as ankylosing spondylitis
Piroxicam
Used to reduce pain, swelling and joint stiffness from arthritis, and to alleviate foot pain associated with plantar fasciitis.
Transdermal Delivery
Transdermal delivery is beneficial in a number of ways. Unlike oral medications that deliver the analgesic to the entire body, transdermal delivery targets only the pain area. Someone with knee pain may want to treat just his or her knees and avoid whole-body treatments, for example. Targeting specific areas can help reduce the risk of side effects, such as stomach erosion, in body parts far away from the treatment area. Formulation Compounding Center pharmacists can formulate a drug delivery gel to deliver the therapeutic drug right to the target site without treating the whole body.
Alleviating Pain
Formulation Compounding Center of Lewisville compounds a wide variety of medications to alleviate specific types of pain. Capsaicin, tricyclic antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and local anesthetics effectively treat neuropathic pain, for example. These compounds may contain lidocaine gel, or amitriptyline coupled with ketamine. NSAIDs, beta-2 agonists such as anticonvulsants, clonidine, local anesthetics, tricyclic antidepressants, or NMDA antagonists such as ketamine, can treat complex regional pain syndrome. Compounded topical creams can play an outstanding role in alleviating diabetic neuropathy-associated pain and other chronic neuropathic pain. These creams may contain ketamine, baclofen, gabapentin, amitriptyline, bupivacaine, or clonidine.
Nasal Spray
Formulation Compounding Center also offers intranasal ketamine, a nasal spray that delivers medication to help manage both depression and pain. We are able to prepare up to 200mg per ml concentration for maximum efficacy. Our special formulation allows a more comfortable application for the nasal spray.
Formulation Compounding Center Affiliated Partners
