New news for patients who suffer with chronic pain. A new medication was introduced to the market place approximately 2 weeks ago. It is so new that many pharmacies do not stock the medication yet but usually can order and receive it within 24 to 48 hours.
This new medication is called Nucynta, generic name is tapentadol. It is used every 6 hours and as of this time there is not a long acting version of the drug. I am of the opinion that a long acting form of this medication will be available in the not too distant future. Patients would rather live their lives and take a medication when the arise in the morning and than before they go to bed at night rather than having to take a medication three to four times a day. This tapendatol is a totally new molecule in the pain management genre of medication. It is both a mu opioid receptor blocker, fancy name for a substance that blocks the transmission sites that are agitated during the sensation of pain, and a norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. The latter part of the previous sentence means that the substances in our brain that absorb, like a sponge, the enzyme norepinephrine are blocked from doing so. Therefore the norepinephrine in your systems stays in the bloodstream and that helps to mediate the pain sensations we all suffer. Tapentadol is the first new product acting in two ways to control pain in a patient. It works in the way the some physicians add antidepressants to the pain medication patients are on to augment the pain blocking sensation of the opioid a patietn maybe on. These medications are known as selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors or SNRI’s.
So far testing of this medication demonstrated less side effects and less withdrawal symptoms that some of the more commonly used older medication.
Ask your pain mangement or primary care physician if you maybe a candidate to switch over to this new medication. We are doing so with some of our patients and results are coming back favorable.
Dr. Sanford M. Epstein
Health and Pain Management of Florida
“Pain is inevitable, bit suffering is optional”