Is It Safe To Combine Pain Medicine With Other Medications?

— -- Question: Is It Safe To Combine Pain Medicine With Other Medications?

Answer: Combinations of medications are often a good thing when it comes to controlling pain, and commonly physicians will prescribe combinations of medication such as anti-inflammatory drugs plus opiod drugs such as hydrocodone or Vicodin, as an example. Those combinations are very effective in controlling pain and using two such medications together often maximizes pain relief for a given person. Pain medications in combination with other drugs that are not pain medications, the primary concern there is sedation, and that is drowsiness effects from combining such medications as pain relievers in the opiod categories such as morphine or Percocet-type drugs with other drugs such as anti-anxiety drugs, muscle relaxants, and other medications that also have sedating properties such as anti-convulsant drugs. The additive effect in causing sedation can be a problem. It's something that your physician should carefully consider when prescribing those types of drugs together.

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