# Analgesics --- **Analgesics** or **painkillers** are [[medicine|medicines]] that help relive the symptom of [[pain]]. Unsurprisingly there are a wide variety of types of painkillers out there. - non-opioid analgesics are meds taken to relieve pain that are not opioids - [[acetaminophen]] is very common, but can harm the liver if taken in too high doses. - [[NSAIDs]] such as ibuprofen, and aspirin are also common, but these can affect the kidneys in high doses. - [[opioids]] are very powerful but one can quite quickly build up a tolerance to them, which reduces their effectiveness. - local anesthetics affect only a small area - lidocaine patch 5% - [[anticonvulsants]] can help pain that is caused by muscle spasms - Gabapentin, pregabalin - antidepressants - TCAs: desipramine, nortriptyline - SNRI: duloxetine, venlafaxine - sedatives - ketamine (very powerful) ## Patient-Controlled Analgesia **Patient-controlled analgesia** or **PCA** is a device that is attached to a patient intravenously (or, more rarely subcutaneously or epidurally) that delivers an infusion of pain medication immediately when the patient pushes a button. They use more frequent but smaller doses of medication, and are quite effective in managing pain, and free up some time for the nurses. ___