What are the Advantages/Risks of Compounded Topical Formulas used for Treatment of Pain Management?

If you’ve ever suffered from pain issues – whether chronic or acute, you know that immediate relief is of the utmost importance. Pain interrupts your life, disrupts your mood, and depletes your body of its stress reserves.

The chances are great that your doctor has prescribed a medication to help you cope with your pain. However, other options exist besides traditional oral pain medication.

Traditional Pain Relief Comes with New Pain

Pain can be caused by a wide range of conditions. Neuropathic pain is pain resulting from damaged tissues and nerves. Other chronic pain may be the result of inflammation, such as in the case of rheumatoid arthritis. Whatever the cause, pain is no walk in the park, and no doubt you’re willing to do whatever it takes to stop it. Depending on the type of pain you have, your physician may prescribe one or more medications to control it.

However, traditional pain management is not without cost. Dollar amount aside, pain medications such as Celebrex, Percocet, Oxycontin, Tramadol, and others often cause a wide array of side effects since they are designed as a bullet relief plan that fits as many situations as possible.

These medications, when taken orally, must pass through your digestive tract and be absorbed into your blood stream before the benefits can be felt at the pain site. This allows for ample opportunity for those fun side effects you hear about on TV – nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain (yes, a pain medication that causes pain), intestinal ulcers, and headache, to name a few.

The added “bonus” is the mood disturbances that may result from a digestive tract that has been adversely affected. Since the majority of your mood-supporting neurotransmitters are formed in the gut, you may start to feel depressed or anxious as well.

Of course, not to be overlooked is the annoyance of taking several medications at once – one for pain, one for inflammation, and one to counteract whatever side effect you experience as a result of the pain medication.

So, hold on a second… are you supposed to just live with the pain as opposed to managing it with medication? Of course not! That’s where compounded prescription formulas come in.

Why Consider Topical Pain Relief Formulas?

Did you know that your skin is the largest organ in your body? As such, it has the ability to absorb whatever is applied to it. This works very well for the management of pain. Why? Because topical creams or gels can be tailor made and applied to the skin right at the sight of the pain. This mode bypasses the digestive tract and, as a result, many of the disturbing side effects that come from oral pain medication usage.

Additionally, compounded prescription formulas can combine several medications into one easy-to-use cream. Perhaps you need inflammation control more than pain management. Compounded formulas can be personalized to adapt to your needs. For instance, diabetic patients may suffer from neuropathies, blood sugar issues, and cholesterol problems. A compounded formula can be tailored to the patient to not only ease pain immediately, but also reduce inflammation, as well as lower the number of medications the patient has to take.

If you’re unsure whether compounded formulas are right for you or not, get in touch with us today. During your free consultation, we’ll examine your needs together and see how best to reach your health goals!