Pain Management

Take a look back at the top 10 pain management news articles published on Drug Topics® this year.

Highlights included updates on COVID-19 vaccine tolerance in individuals with rheumatic diseases, the latest data on medical cannabis use in fibromyalgia, and more.

Mean days of therapy per 1000 patient-days were reduced across medication categories.

A coalition of 240 organizations came together to urge Congress to pass legislation to fight the opioid crisis.

By July 2021, the FDA had approved or tentatively approved 470 generic versions of medications.

Small towns have faced everything and overcome all manner of struggles—until the opioid epidemic came to town.

Pharmacists are a key part of the multidisciplinary approach that health care providers should take when tapering patients off opioid therapy.

Patients with fibromyalgia are turning to medical cannabis to improve sleep problems and other negative effects, according to a poster presentation at ACR Convergence 2021, the American College of Rheumatology’s annual meeting.

Nonprescription opioid use can significantly increase the risk of opioid overdose, according to a recent study.

Naloxone education often requires difficult but necessary conversations with patients.

Patients with diabetes and depression may have a lower risk of mortality and diabetes complications when taking antidepressants regularly, according to a new study.

Drug overdose deaths, including opioid-related deaths, have increased rapidly in the United States in recent years, according to preliminary data from the CDC.

When counseling a patient with constipation, it is important to review the patient’s medication list to determine the potential cause.

Become an expert in naloxone to help educate patients.

Individuals with opioid misuse disorders may be experiencing decreased access to naloxone during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A study presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 73rd Annual Meeting aimed to identify predictors of acute treatment optimization in individuals with migraine

A session held at the HOPA Annual Meeting 2021 discussed best practices for optimizing opioid treatment in patients with cancer pain.

A 25-year study examines triptan use as an acute treatment strategy for migraines in a Danish population.

Pharmacists can counsel on prescription and OTC options, as well as nonpharmacologic measures.

Keynote speaker Dan Schneider, from the Netflix documentary “The Pharmacist,” discusses his story and mission to end the opioid epidemic.

Americans in underserved communities face barriers to opioid use disorder treatment.

In addition to reducing the frequency of migraine days, galcanezumab may also potentially decrease disabling non-pain symptoms of migraine on days when migraine is present.

The relatively new biologic therapies for migraine demonstrated low immunogenicity rates and rare adverse events.

Patients reported more frequent and severe migraines, along with overuse of analgesics.

Tanvee Thakur, PhD, BPharm, recently completed a project focused on enhancing transparent opioid education.