Drugs in the treatment of pain
Pain is complex. It is difficult due to its development, maintenance and the mechanisms that perpetuate it. In addition, there is the incomplete response of the treatments used against pain.
The first way to treat it is usually with common medications, which can be found in pharmacies without a prescription (according to El País); these are analgesic drugs.
Do we know how to use analgesic drugs correctly?
Ideally, they should be used with medical criteria based on a previous professional diagnosis of the pathology suffered. But in many cases, these drugs are used by patients following empirical procedures or simply because they have them at home.
They feel pain and, either from advertisements or recommendation from a family member or acquaintance, know that they are suitable to reduce symptoms.
Drugs for pain
According to one of IMS Health’s studies for El Mundo, on the most consumed drugs in Spain, the best-selling drug is an analgesic, metamizole, better known as Nolotil.
This may be due to the low gastrointestinal impact of the drug and its analgesic efficacy. It is the best-selling drug with more than 14 million doses, despite recommendations and warnings of possible side effects.
The top four drugs in the study are analgesics. Paracetamol is the second and third in two different presentations; the fourth is aspirin. Continuing with the study, the seventh is ibuprofen, the ninth again paracetamol, fifteenth paracetamol combined in an anti-influenza and the seventeenth and eighteenth, another presentation of ibuprofen.
We can conclude that a quarter of the 100 best-selling commercial brands of drugs marketed in Spain are analgesics.
Therefore, we should take a step towards reflection on how we should use and prescribe medicines; but also on what are the real treatment needs. We can see how health is a social problem, but it is also a business that moves money.
We must know and take into account that the indiscriminate use of painkillers is not harmless and can be counterproductive if they are not used correctly.