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The first non-opoid painkiller

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Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#71

Post by dcminter »

bravesoul2 wrote: post #29
ggm wrote: post #2

Colloquially acetaminophen/paracetamol and ibuprofen are "painkillers" but this is in a different class, it's amazing to have something which performs like the opioid pain relief but without at least some of the side effects. It's the first non opioid painkiller applicable for situations like post operative use. I'd have loved this after my hernia op, the last thing you need with that is opioid induced constipation.

I also thought about epidural. Is that a non addictive way to give pain relief (extreme yes)

Epidural is surely just the method of administration (into the spinal fluid) where the actual painkiller administered is opioids, though, right?

Meanwhile my understanding of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS) was that they were exactly that by definition - Anti-Inflammatories with pain being reduced by reducing the immediate cause of it, inflammation, not by interfering with the actual mechanisms of pain.

I guess one could consider general anaesthesia (laughing gas, ether, and more modern successors) to be "painkillers" too but they're obviously not quite the same category of thing.

Anyway, I enjoyed the article - it would be interesting to hear the author give their own reasons for not accounting for NSAIDs.

Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#72

Post by perching_aix »

jjulius wrote: post #66
perching_aix wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to answer your first question before coming to the conclusion that I was using a false dichotomy. If I didn't already conclude that you presented a false dichotomy, why would I have inquired about why you did so? It's also not set in stone; from your reply I can just change my mind afterwards. But why do it in two rounds when I can do it in one? I understand if I came acro…

>Gosh I hate natural language. Especially when it's sometimes hard to read tone, even moreso from a stranger whose communication style we're unfamiliar with. Even harder still, comments online generally don't lend themselves well to nuance and assumptions can easily be made, such as my leaning too heavily on your use of the word "completely"! Should we hug it out? Hope you enjoy the rest of your day. :)

Cheers, no hard feelings.

Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#73

Post by bgeeek »

billforsternz wrote: post #40
ggm wrote: post #2

Colloquially acetaminophen/paracetamol and ibuprofen are "painkillers" but this is in a different class, it's amazing to have something which performs like the opioid pain relief but without at least some of the side effects. It's the first non opioid painkiller applicable for situations like post operative use. I'd have loved this after my hernia op, the last thing you need with that is opioid induced constipation.

Off topic complaint: I am guessing an absolutely massive amount of (admittedly minor in each instance) grief has been caused by the most widely deployed simple, inexpensive, useful and familiar drug unnecessarily having two different names acetaminophen / paracetamol. Finally figured this out this year (aged 64) after previously being confused why I couldn't find any damn paracetamol in pharmacies on my occasional vi…

I have a few prescription medications that are called different things in the US. I thought it was fairly common knowledge with paracetamol, though. Tylenol being one of the common brands names.

Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#74

Post by Eavolution »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #51
gorjusborg wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't feel the title is misleading, but it may be a cultural language difference. The term 'painkiller' is reserved for strong pain relief, and wouldn't include things like ibuprofen. That made me think immediately of a non-opioid pain blocker not just a pain reliever.

>The term 'painkiller' is reserved for strong pain relief Having claimed it was cultural. It have been helpful of you indicated which culture you felt this applied to. In UK I'd say painkillers includes ibuprofen and paracetamol. I suppose with ibuprofen it's also referred to as an anti-inflammatory. Not sure how else one would refer to paracetamol other than with synonyms (analgesics) or euphemism (pain relief table…

Paracetamol can be referred to as an antipyretic (fever reducing drug), and it's widely used for that in the same way ibuprofen is used as an anti inflammatory.

Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#75

Post by amalcon »

ggm wrote: post #2

Colloquially acetaminophen/paracetamol and ibuprofen are "painkillers" but this is in a different class, it's amazing to have something which performs like the opioid pain relief but without at least some of the side effects. It's the first non opioid painkiller applicable for situations like post operative use. I'd have loved this after my hernia op, the last thing you need with that is opioid induced constipation.

There are also local anesthetics like the lidocaine family. Some of those are usable for post operative pain in the very short term, but obviously can't be administered orally. That presents a problem for most surgeries, since either they'll want to send the patient home or it's located somewhere that's hard to inject.

Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#76

Post by pcthrowaway »

I'm always surprised that Kratom (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitragyna_speciosa) doesn't come up more in these conversations. In addition to being a powerful painkiller, it helps manage opioid withdrawals.

I believe it's still somewhat legal for consumption in the U.S., though other countries have been moving to ban it to varying degrees, since it can be used recreationally, though it isn't known to produce the same intensity of euphoria as opioids, and can also be addictive, though I don't believe it to produce as severe withdrawals as opioids.

All in all I think it's a sadly understudied and underutilized medicine, which is the unsurprising result of pharmaceutical companies having less incentive to study plant medicines

Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#77

Post by dcminter »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #51
gorjusborg wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't feel the title is misleading, but it may be a cultural language difference. The term 'painkiller' is reserved for strong pain relief, and wouldn't include things like ibuprofen. That made me think immediately of a non-opioid pain blocker not just a pain reliever.

>The term 'painkiller' is reserved for strong pain relief Having claimed it was cultural. It have been helpful of you indicated which culture you felt this applied to. In UK I'd say painkillers includes ibuprofen and paracetamol. I suppose with ibuprofen it's also referred to as an anti-inflammatory. Not sure how else one would refer to paracetamol other than with synonyms (analgesics) or euphemism (pain relief table…

Even in the UK it's not necessarily true. I wouldn't be surprised to hear it used that way, but I don't think my peer group in the UK would ever refer to NSAIDs as anything other than their brand or generic names.

I particularly disagree with the parent comment that calls this click bait. The topic's intrinsically interesting to anybody who'd be lured in by that title; it doesn't need "bait" and we all know NSAIDs exist.

The article's particularly good at citing its references inline, which I very much appreciated. Added this author to my RSS reader in fact.

Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#79

Post by petesergeant »

Eavolution wrote: post #74
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The term 'painkiller' is reserved for strong pain relief Having claimed it was cultural. It have been helpful of you indicated which culture you felt this applied to. In UK I'd say painkillers includes ibuprofen and paracetamol. I suppose with ibuprofen it's also referred to as an anti-inflammatory. Not sure how else one would refer to paracetamol other than with synonyms (analgesics) or euphemism (pain relief table…

Paracetamol can be referred to as an antipyretic (fever reducing drug), and it's widely used for that in the same way ibuprofen is used as an anti inflammatory.

ibuprofen is also antipyretic

Re: The first non-opoid painkiller

#80

Post by PaulHoule »

ggm wrote: post #2

Colloquially acetaminophen/paracetamol and ibuprofen are "painkillers" but this is in a different class, it's amazing to have something which performs like the opioid pain relief but without at least some of the side effects. It's the first non opioid painkiller applicable for situations like post operative use. I'd have loved this after my hernia op, the last thing you need with that is opioid induced constipation.

Breaking news: turns out acetaminophen has an active metabolite that acts on... sodium channels.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-acetaminophen-discove...

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