Hi all,
I am just back from the Canadian Pain Society conference were I chaired a symposium with two other doctors, one from Germany and one from USA. This was about a new pain medication that uses multimodal therapy. It means that the same molecule has two different actions working on pain. One action is pure pain effect, an opioid action but not too strong opioid and the other is like the way anti-depressants work but with effect on pain. The sum of these two effects makes it a strong analgesic with lower side effects compared to Oxycodeine. I have participated in a few clinical trials of this medication and one of them was a one year open label study which means I knew what the patient was using comparing it to long acting Oxycodeine. Most of my patients on this new medication were very happy with it. It was effective in pain and improved their energy and sleep with less constipation or other usual side effects.
The opinion of the other two doctors from Germany and USA were the same as mine and both had good results with this medication. It is called Nucynta CR in Canada. It has been shown to be effective in Osteo-Arthritis and Peripheral Diabetic Neuropathy. It is now available in pharmacies and if they don’t have it, they can order it. For now it is not covered by ODB but it may be in future. Check it out with your doctors.
Dr.Kevin ROD