As the most common symptom for patients seeking medical help, chronic pain affects over 20% of the adult population, with more than half of those failing to receive adequate treatment. No matter the underlying disease, chronic pain must be determined by the severity and frequency of their pain and associated symptoms, to diagnose and treat the condition properly. With the myriad of causes and perpetuating factors, pain treatments are most often produced by drug companies and manufactured in large quantities, leading to those treatments being less effective for others in need of individualized medicine.
Compounding medications provide a solution for those with chronic pain by making pain management a multidisciplinary approach to meet the patient’s needs.
What is a compound medication?
Compounding medication is the process of mixing, combining, and altering the ingredients to create a customized medication. Compounded drugs can provide pain relief for patients who don’t benefit from FDA approved medications. Patients with allergies to certain ingredients, such as penicillin or aspirin or those with conditions that prevent them from taking the drug in its original form, can affect the patient’s ability to receive the right type of pain treatment cases. With compounding, those medications can be altered to accommodate those needs.
Is compounding medication legal?
Compounding pain medications operate under FDA regulations, outlined in Section 503A and the Compounding Quality Act, which oversee compounded medications’ processing and distribution. These medications are also supervised by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which regulates drug substances such as narcotics and amphetamines. Alongside federal regulation, organizations such as the United States Pharmacopeial Convention to issue standard regarding their safety and quality. Many pharmacies also require accreditation with the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board before administering compounded drugs. Under these rules and regulations, compounding drugs are legal when supervised.
Treating Pain with Compounding Solutions
At our facility, we will provide an initial pain management assessment for characterizing your pain by its location, intensity, and other factors that aggravate and alleviate your pain. We provide compound pain medications through consistent forms of pain measurement to help monitor your therapy and treatment plan over time. While NSAIDs and opioid analgesics provide the main classes of medication for pain management, your pain medication can be customized and utilized by healthcare professionals for pain-relieving properties, such as anesthetics, antiviral agents, anticonvulsants, and anti-depressants. Some options for dosage forms include:
- Transdermal – For trans-dermal treatments, topical options such as gels and creams can allow you to absorb the medication through trigger point application and dermatome maps and allow patients to bypass the gastrointestinal system to avoid side effects caused by the drug.
- Oral – Oral dosages can be customized by changing its dose and size to meet these needs. Oral dosages such as chewable, edibles, smaller pill varieties, and liquid forms can be accommodated.
- Nasal – Medications for pain management can also be adjusted in nasal forms, such as sprays, gels, and drops, to increase its efficiency in delivery and absorption.
- Rectal – Suppositories, such as solutions, enemas, and gels, can help ease the treatment of rectal problems such as hemorrhoids and other conditions.
Effective pain management comes with an approachable, professional team of physicians and pharmacists to help control your pain and alleviate your ailments. Contact our facility today to see if our pain management options can work for you. Please ask us any concerns you have regarding our services, and we’ll be happy to assist you.
