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Pain medications

Pain medications

Overview

Not all pain medications are alike and each person is slightly different in the way they respond to a pain medication. Specific types and causes of pain may respond better to one kind of pain medication than to another kind.

Review Date 10/25/2022

Updated by: Frank D. Brodkey, MD, FCCM, Associate Professor, Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.