The Egyptian Medicines Authority warned that some types of painkillers may cause fluid retention in the body and affect kidney function, which leads to a significant increase in blood pressure.
The German Society of Neurology had indicated in a study a few days ago that taking headache painkillers and migraine medications excessively leads to the opposite result. Where the troubles worsen and the headache becomes more severe, and it may reach a medical condition known as “medication overuse headache”.
For his part, Ahmed Nasr El-Din Hindi, assistant professor of brain and neurology at the Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, said that taking painkillers must be under medical supervision.
Hindi added to “Sky News Arabia” that the types of analgesics available are:
• Opioids are strong analgesics that reduce the feeling of pain. They may be given to patients following surgeries or to patients with tumors. They include opioid drugs such as tramadol, and local anesthetics such as lidocaine. Local anesthetics cause loss of feeling in a specific area of the body for a short period of time.
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and others, which reduce inflammatory activity that worsens pain.
• Other non-opioid pain relievers such as acetaminophen and ketamine.
• Other psychoactive drugs that are used to treat pain, especially nerve pain, including midazolam, the anti-anxiety drug, and drugs such as amitriptyline, venlafaxine, gabapentin, or the anti-convulsant pregabalin.
The doctor, who obtained a doctorate from the University of Saraland in Germany, explained that analgesics, in terms of indications for use, are divided into:
• Morphine analgesics In cases of severe surgeries, burns or orthopedic operations, it is addictive when overused.
• Ordinary painkillers Some of them are used for psychological and neurological treatment.
• Special analgesics Ordinary pains such as joint pain and others
Hindi pointed out that analgesics differ in terms of their doses and types, according to several factors such as the health condition, the type of pain, the patient’s age, and the nature of his complaint. Most notably:
- Addiction to painkillers, especially to morphine derivatives such as tramadol, and Lyrica.
- Ulcers.
- Liver failure.
- Kidney failure.
- Convulsions and disorders of the nervous system.
- Gastrointestinal ulcers, flatulence and diarrhea problems.
- Loss of concentration and convulsions.
- Nervous system problems such as recurrent epileptic seizures, inattention, and cerebellar ataxia.
An Indian advises to treat the causes of pain instead of resorting to analgesics, not to use analgesics except under medical supervision, and not to make it easier to take an analgesic drug, and in the case of severe and chronic pain, to resort to local analgesics or doctors specializing in the treatment of chronic pain, and in the event that it is necessary to resort to the analgesic temporarily until it is presented to him. The doctor should choose a safe analgesic such as paracetamol, because it has less side effects.