Articles: analgesics.
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Aspirin and acetaminophen are the mainstays of oral analgesic combinations. One group of combinations is composed of antipyretic-analgesics combined with each other. ⋯ On the other hand, there is substantial evidence that combinations of an optimal dose of aspirin or acetaminophen with a narcotic (eg, codeine, hydrocodone, or oxycodone) produce an additive analgesic effect greater than that obtained by doubling the dose of either constituent administered alone. There is also some evidence that the adverse effects produced by such combinations are less than would be produced by an equianalgesic dose of a single constituent.
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Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
An evaluation of the analgesic efficacy of three opioid-analgesic combinations in postoperative oral surgery pain.
The analgesic efficacy of a hydrocodone-acetaminophen combination, a codeine-acetaminophen combination, a codeine-APC (aspirin, phenacetin, and caffeine) combination, and a placebo was evaluated in outpatients who had moderate or severe pain after the surgical removal of impacted third molars. Each of the active medications had a significant effect on essentially all measures of total and peak analgesia; they did not differ significantly on any measure of analgesia. Adverse effects were transitory and, in general, appear to have been related to the centrally acting component of each combination analgesic.
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NIDA research monograph · Feb 1981
Relative analgesic potency of intramuscular heroin and morphine in cancer patients with postoperative pain and chronic pain due to cancer.
Heroin hydrochloride is approximately twice as potent as morphine sulfate, and acts slightly faster but for a shorter duration than morphine. Although patients with chronic pain due to advanced cancer differ from cancer patients with postoperative pain in terms of their degree of tolerance to the analgesic effects of morphine and heroin and their reports of various elements of mood, there is, thus far, no indication that heroin has any unique advantage over morphine in terms of side effect occurrence or effects on mood at equianalgesic doses. Both drugs improve mood provided they are administered in doses which result in analgesia. ⋯ The use of visual analog scales concurrent with categorical pain and pain relief scores provides a means for the finer estimation of relative analgesic potency and time action. The results of these studies are in general agreement with those of other investigators. Where apparent differences exist they can usually be explained on the bases of differences in methods and subject populations.