WHO Analgesic pain ladder

[MAS_Nurse]

Hi, this is for one of the members, and anyone else interested in the World Health Organisation Analgesic 3- step pain ladder. This was developed in 1986 for pain management of cancer patients but is widely used today for general pain management. As you can see the lowest and mildest level are non-opiods e.g. paracetamol and the highest and strongest are opiates e.g Morphine. In CKD there are concerns that some medicines e.g NSAIDs long-term use can damage the health of the kidneys. For those people trying to manage long-term chronic pain, this can be a problem. So it is worth doing your homework and then discussing alternative, safer options with your health professionals. Many OTCs (Over-the-counter) medications e.g aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen, carry risk to the uninformed. Having a safe medicines discussion with your doctor or pharmacist can put you back in control of your pain and your kidney health. Take a look at these websites for more information:

Kidney Research UK - OTCs: kidneyresearchuk.org/health...

Electronic Medicines Compendium: medicines.org.uk/emc/search...

WHO Pain ladder: who.int/cancer/palliative/p...

Hope this gives you some food for thought and a way forward.

MAS Nurse and Moderator

[Dangermom13]

In states where medical marijuana is legal, physicians recommend EDIBLE pain relief. It has no damaging side effects on the organs.