Medication-overuse headache is a well-documented phenomenon – but the good news is it’s often reversible.
Articles on Painkillers
Displaying 1 - 20 of 47 articles
Cloves: antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and possibly pain-relieving. Here’s what centuries of tradition – and modern science – say about them.
Stress, exercise and even sex can reduce pain.
The FDA has approved suzetrigine, a groundbreaking non-opioid painkiller that targets pain at its source, offering a safer, addiction-free pain-relief treatment.
Long-anticipated changes to how Australians buy paracetamol are on their way in a bid to reduce harms. Here’s what’s changing.
Surgical patients are opting out of opioids due to concerns about side effects and addiction. Combining methods to manage pain can take these fears into account without compromising on care.
Here are some steps you can take to use opioids more safely and effectively at home.
Despite technological advancements, many challenges remain in getting a drug from lab to pharmacy shelf. Reframing what is a “medicine” could expand treatment options for researchers and patients.
Different painkillers provide relief in different ways. The most effective medication is the one that best targets the type of pain you’re experiencing with minimal side effects.
Ending the opioid epidemic requires addressing not only treatment gaps in addiction and overdose, but also inadequate pain management.
When headaches strike, many people reach for a painkiller. Probing the reasons behind the pain is often a better idea.
A new Nice guidance suggests exercise, talk therapy and acupuncture to treat chronic pain. Where does this leave those dependent on painkillers?
Chronic pain is everyone’s problem. It’s costly, debilitating and, according to new statistics, increasingly common. Reversing the trend is achieveable but far from easy.
From colonial poppy fields to pharmatrash, southern Africa offers a fascinating history of drug regimes – one that helps us make sense of drug policies and legislation today.
Advice from the people who’ve reviewed all the latest evidence about the effectiveness of these painkillers.
Ambulance call-outs associated with the misuse of pregabalin (Lyrica) have increased tenfold in Victoria since 2012, mirroring an increase in prescription rates.
People who use painkillers for non-medical reasons often justify it as a form of self-medication for legitimate medical diagnoses such as depression, anxiety and stress.
Middle-aged and elderly people taking up exercise shouldn’t be put off by joint pain. It will pass.
In short, pain medicine is able to block the processes that cause the feeling of pain. To understand why, you need to know a bit about how pain works.
Surgeons are big prescribers of opioids. But while guidelines are in place for dentists and for doctors who prescribe opioid-based painkillers for long-term pain, there are none for surgeons.
Top contributors
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Conjoint Clinical Associate Professor, Deakin University School of Medicine and Specialist Pain Medicine Physician, Deakin University
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Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol
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Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Adelaide University
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Honorary Professor of Pharmacology, UNSW
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Research associate, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
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Munk Global Journalism Fellow, University of Toronto
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Palliative Medicine Physician, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Visiting Clinical Research Fellow in older people's substance use and mental health, King's College London
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Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney
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Professor of Psychology, University of Bath
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PhD student in Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia
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Professor of Musculoskeletal Health, Head of Musculoskeletal Program, George Institute for Global Health
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Resident Physician in Emergency Medicine, Brown University
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Professor in Health Psychology, Lancaster University
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Ric Day is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, UNSW