What Kind of Medication is Normally Used to Treat Nerve Pain?

Last Updated on July 3, 2018 by Paula

People who suffer from neuropathy are given a cocktail of different kinds of powerful drugs that they need to consume on a daily basis in order to keep their condition from becoming too unbearable. The exact dosage for these medicines varies depending on how severe is a person’s condition, but in every case, the patient pretty much becomes dependent on these medicines for life. It is important to be familiar with the effects of any medicine before you start taking it, especially if the medicine is strong since stronger medication always comes with side effects.

There are four major types of medication that doctors prescribe to people with neuropathy, all of which have anti-inflammatory and pain supressing capabilities. The first type of medication consists of antidepressants; antidepressants have been used for treating chronic pain for quite some time now, antidepressants promote sounder sleep by regulating the body’s serotonin levels. The downside of taking antidepressants is that they come with side effects such as constipation, dizziness, nausea and a lack of appetite.

Anticonvulsants can be powerful drugs that are usually prescribe to patients with advanced symptoms of neuropathy. Due to their potency, doctors hardly ever assign anti-seizure drugs to patients from the start. Apart from being potent, anti-seizure medication is not commonly used for neuropathy due to the fact that there is very little scientific evidence to prove that they help in treating neuropathy. They are known to enhance treatment for neuropathic patients in some cases, but their use is accompanied with harmful side effects such as blood dyscrasias, liver dysfunction and minor side effects such as drowsiness and dizziness.

Pain management is a major area of neuropathic treatment since more than 70% cases of neuropathy involve extreme nerve pain. Opioids are prescribed as an effective pain management medication, however, they can be incredibly harmful in the long run as they are addictive and can lead to respiratory complications if used too much. Due to their addictive nature, opioids are only prescribed when all other painkillers fail at providing relief.

Generally, over the counter pain killers are assigned to cull the pain, they manage to control mild to moderate nerve pain but only provide short term relief and eventually become ineffective once a patient’s neuropathy becomes more advanced.

All of these medicines have side effects that majorly impact the user’s quality of life in the short run and can even lead to lasting damage in the long run, meaning that relying on a mixture of antidepressants and pain killers is only going to result in more health problems later on in your life. Along with being risky to use, these medicines are also expensive, in the US, a month’s worth of antidepressants alone can cost as much as $400 and anti-seizure medication costs can surpass $500 per month. Keeping physician fees and over the counter refill expenses aside, one can easily spend more than $1000 on their medication every month, and should you decide on going for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) for pain management then your monthly expenses for managing neuropathy can easily amount to $1800.

The worst part is that none of these treatments provide a cure for your condition, they only help you manage the pain and other symptoms that come with neuropathy. Most patients that continue to rely on mainstream treatments for neuropathy only get sicker and sicker until they reach a point where they are unable to support themselves. If you do not want to end up spending thousands of dollars on medication only to see your condition worsen then visit https://neuropathycure.org to learn about more effective ways of treating neuropathy.