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Suggest Medication For Neuropathic Pain
Question: What is the safest non psychotropic medication you would recommend to treat nerve pain which i am currently experiencing in my right leg as well as lower back pain in my L4 and L5 disc?
Brief Answer:
quite a lot of choices.
Detailed Answer:
technically the safest is gabapentin, this non-addictive, anti-epileptic has no clear upper limit on how much can be safely given because .. well... we haven't found a dose that is truly dangerous. It damps down nerves and is effective on nerve pain. Side effect is a 1 in 3 chance of (mild) sleepiness.
Also quite safe is pregabalin. WHen it came out we thought it acted by being turned into gabapentin by the liver. It has other (overlapping) effects on nerves and is likely both a bit more effective for nerve pain AND is considered (lowest risk category) an addictive drug.
Amitryptiline is a non-addictive anti-depressant with very good pain effects through basically every way a nerve pill can act (anti-epileptic, lidocaine like, and spinal blocking of pain). BUT it's quite dangerous if taken as an overdose and quite often mild side effects of sleepiness, dry mouth, drying up of everything else, occur. But, it's pretty safe.
Cymbalta is similar. A bit better as an anti-depressant, a bit worse as a pain drug.
Lidocaine patches work, are safe, but work well ONLY on contexts where the pain is almost on the skin surface. Not great on disks
Tramadol is not entirely safe (moderately overtaking it can cause seizures) and somewhat habit forming and has some narcotic effects along with nerve effects.
That is all the usual ones; there are closely related ones that are rarely used like dilantin, but these are the main ones.
quite a lot of choices.
Detailed Answer:
technically the safest is gabapentin, this non-addictive, anti-epileptic has no clear upper limit on how much can be safely given because .. well... we haven't found a dose that is truly dangerous. It damps down nerves and is effective on nerve pain. Side effect is a 1 in 3 chance of (mild) sleepiness.
Also quite safe is pregabalin. WHen it came out we thought it acted by being turned into gabapentin by the liver. It has other (overlapping) effects on nerves and is likely both a bit more effective for nerve pain AND is considered (lowest risk category) an addictive drug.
Amitryptiline is a non-addictive anti-depressant with very good pain effects through basically every way a nerve pill can act (anti-epileptic, lidocaine like, and spinal blocking of pain). BUT it's quite dangerous if taken as an overdose and quite often mild side effects of sleepiness, dry mouth, drying up of everything else, occur. But, it's pretty safe.
Cymbalta is similar. A bit better as an anti-depressant, a bit worse as a pain drug.
Lidocaine patches work, are safe, but work well ONLY on contexts where the pain is almost on the skin surface. Not great on disks
Tramadol is not entirely safe (moderately overtaking it can cause seizures) and somewhat habit forming and has some narcotic effects along with nerve effects.
That is all the usual ones; there are closely related ones that are rarely used like dilantin, but these are the main ones.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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