://module3 Opioids and complex pain management  page 7/8                                                                                     <previous   next >

Adjuvant medications

Adjuvant medications may be used for several reasons.  These include:

• to treat the adverse effects of opioid analgesics (eg antiemetics, laxatives)
• to enhance pain relief (eg corticosteroids in nerve compression pain)
• to treat psychological disturbances such as depression, insomnia or anxiety (eg antidepressants, night sedation, anxiolytics)

We will not discuss all the adjuvant drugs in detail here, although some of the common drugs and their uses are summarised in the table below:

Drug	Uses	Dose (example)
Corticosteroids	Analgesia (nerve compression), improves appetite, antiemetic	Dexamethasone 2mg - 16mg daily. (higher end for nerve compression)
Diazepam	Analgesia (muscle spasm), anxiolytic	2-5mg up to TDS
Haloperidol	Anxiolytic, antiemetic	0.5-3mg up to TDS
Prochlorperazine	anxiolytic, antiemetic	5mg TDS
Amitriptylline	analgesia (neuropathic pain), antidepressant, anxiolytic	25-75mg od
Zoledronic acid	Bone pain (prophylaxis with metastases)	4mg infusion IV, every four weeks

This is a very small list of the many adjuvants available.  To learn more about these drugs and their use, you can check our links page.

To continue to the summary, click next.

<previous   next >