What are adjuvant pain medications?
An adjuvant pain drug is a medication used mainly for another condition but can also be prescribed for pain. It is used when the first choice of drug does not fully relieve pain. Adjuvant pain drugs are often prescribed in combination with typical pain-killing drugs such as NSAIDs or opioids. How effective are they against pain? Some studies show these drugs are effective against some types of pain when used alone or together with other medications. But adjuvant pain drugs may or may not be FDA-approved for use in pain. Many of them are prescribed “off label.” That means that the FDA has approved them for another condition, such as depression or epilepsy, but they are not yet approved for treating chronic pain. What are the different types of adjuvant pain medications? There are several different categories. Antidepressants and anti-seizure drugs are the most common types of adjuvant pain medications. Antidepressants for pain Antidepressants were first prescribed to relieve the depress
