Our focus on pain management here at Pleasant Hills Pharmacy is a customer-centric approach that’s designed around your particular challenges and complications.

We view pain as its own disease, related and caused by other diseases, but requiring its own attention and treatment. Pain can come in so many forms—from emotional discomfort to physical injuries, and from mild pain to utterly severe. Pain itself is a protective mechanism of the body, encouraging healing by inspiring the body to stay away from the causes of pain. Sometimes, however, this pain is too strong of a signal or complicates our lives so severely that we will soon lose other things that bring sustenance or happiness to our lives (such as a job, family, etc.).

At Pleasant Hills Pharmacy, we work with many types of pain management. We help our customers with everything from braces and medication to wheelchairs and specialty shoes. Some of the more common pain-inducing disorders with which we work include:

• Fibromyalgia
• Arthritis/Osteoarthritis
• Peripheral  Neuropathy
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
• Inflammatory Pain
• Myofascial Pain
• Tendonitis
• Acute Sports Injuries
• Back Pain Axial Back/Post-Laminectomy
• Chemotherapy
• Induced Peripheral Neuropathy
• Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
• Diabetic Neuropathy
• Epicondylitis
• Musculoskeletal Pain
• Phantom Limb Pain
• Plantar Fasciitis
• Post Herpetic Neuralgia
• Trigeminal Neuralgia

Compounding Medications for Pain Management

Compounding medications for pain management allows a compounding pharmacy, such as the Pleasant Hills Pharmacy, to create specific medications and delivery systems that work best for the individual.

No one feels pain in exactly the same way—while we are all human, our bodies are constructed uniquely, and that individualism translates different pain disorders and the medications that treat such pain in their own way. All one needs to do is ask his or her friends about the time they had their wisdom teeth removed—some found it to be rather pain-free, others suffered for days. The treatment for such was varied, too–some took their pain medications and had to get another prescription, while others never even took one pain pill. Some of the people you ask will likely have switched medications or stopped taking them due to side effects.

A common problem in pain management and medication with standard pharmacies is that they take the “standard sizes” approach. This works well enough for the majority of people, so large drugstore chains  benefit from offering standard sizes. This doesn’t work for some people, and it doesn’t work well enough for even more. Sometimes people are still left suffering because the side effects of a pain medication prevent them from taking enough for the dosage to be effective. Others have to skip medications all together and “tough it out.”

Treating Pain Has Never Been Easier

Compounding medications is the perfect solution to these challenges. In working with you and your doctors, we’re able to develop medications that specifically address your needs. We’ll find and custom-make medications that your body and its unique makeup will tolerate, so you can enjoy the effectiveness of your medicine without side effects.

Topical and Transdermal Delivery of Compounded Pain Medications

Another strong advantage of compounding pain medications is that we can create a transdermal delivery mechanism. The creams and gels can be formulated to provide a high level of local concentrations at the site of the pain (for example, NSAIDs applied directly to your joints). These topical medications can also be formulated to allow for systemic absorption for treatment of whole-body pain. Furthermore, we can compound pain medications into creams and gels that contains a combination of pain medications.

This compounded, “applied-through-the-skin” method of pain medication delivery allows you to reduce or eliminate the potential side effects commonly found when taking the medications orally.

Compounded Pain Medications for Children

We can also compound pain medications into other forms and flavors. Young children and teenagers (and even adults) may have difficulty swallowing larger pills, typically found in medicating pain. We can compound those pain medications into liquids, smaller pills, specific dosages, specific flavors, chewable forms, and even lollipops!

One of our specialties is the compounding of transdermal formulations, containing nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents or NSAIDS, muscle relaxants, analgesics, anesthetics, anticonvulsants, antivirals, etc. These transdermal compounds bypass the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and significantly reduce systemic absorption by being applied topically and directly to the problem area. This can be helpful for patients with previous GI bleeds and other complications, such as reduced kidney or liver function.

Hospice Care Pain Management

Our compounding division can also work with your physician or hospice agency to meet the needs of a patient with either long-term pain or a terminal illness.

In circumstances where neither the oral nor the rectal route are available to administer medication, we are able to prepare topical gels which carry medication through the skin to help provide relief from pain symptoms or other conditions, such as nausea, vomiting, dizziness, or excessive secretions.

When the oral route is available but the patient is unable to swallow, there are numerous medications that can be prepared in troche form. A troche is placed between the cheek and gum and melts slowly, releasing the drug inside the mouth where it is absorbed through the many blood vessels under the tongue.

We also have the ability to compound multi-medication rectal suppositories to treat symptoms of a variety of illnesses.

A partial list of some of the compounds available for hospice care applications:

• Analgesic Suppositories
• Anti-Nausea Suppositories
• Sublingual Atropine Solution