Medication 

The best person to discuss your use of medication with is your GP. 

No change of medication should be made without discussion with your GP.

For many people with acute injury (or post-surgery) or a chronic pain condition pain-management simply means pharmaceutical medicine, e.g. analgesics such as codeine, paracetamol, tramadol, etc. However there can be side effects with any medication, e.g. codeine can cause constipation and drowsiness in older people. Asthmatics can be sensitive to anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen, diclofenac, aspirin, etc). It's always a good idea to check with your pharmacist and ask questions.

Recent research seems to suugest that paracetamol is ''ineffective for lower back pain, and indeed is minimally effective for people with osteoarthritis''.
(For the actual Research paper about this, from the British Medical Journel, you may wish to click here.) The reasoning here is that although paracetamol is an analgesic and antipyretic (a substance that reduces fever) paracetamol is not an anti-inflammatory  -  or more precisely a non steroid anti inflammatory (or nsaid)

Back pain (certainly from arthritis) is inflammatory in nature -  and for this non steroid anti-inflammatory drugs are thought to work better (paracetamol is not one of these).  For more on the differnt kinds of arthritis (and acupuncture treatment for this - you may wish to see this page.  A major cause of some kinds of back pain are the seronegative arthritis such as ankylosing-spondylitis (for more on this you could visit this page).

Of course, much back pain is 'mechanical' in nature (known as 'mechanical back pain') and any inflammation here may be miniumal.  For more on this please see Inflammatory vs mechanical back pain.  Scoliosis - which simply means a sideways spinal curve of the spine -  would be something that may frequently result in 'mechanical back pain'.  However, there are many, perhaps quite minor conditions of asymmetry and muscle imbalance (e.g. a pelvic torsion, or leg length difference) that could also result in mechanical back pain. It is for these conditions that Osteopathy is nearly always an excellent treatment intervention.  In summary, for conditions of 'mechanical back pain' Osteopathic Treatment can be particularly helpful.  Of course, Acupuncture (or Acupuncture together with Osteopathy) is nearly always helpful, in nearly all kinds of back pain, whatever the cause.

Over the counter combinations are: Neuromol (ibuprofen & paracetamol), Neurofen (ibuprofen & codeine).
The good news is that these days it is possible to look up all your medication on the internet and check the research and that it is ideally suited for your condition. This can sometimes be a bit scary reading the medical literature, so please remember that you do not have all these things, or all these symptoms. Nor will the medication you are taking necessarily have any side effects at all for you. There is a reason you have been prescribed this medicine and your doctor will have weighed things up very carefully before making his or her choice about what's best for you. It's also very helpful to have a good GP to discuss any concerns with, and talk about possible alternative medications if you would like to. 
No change of medication should be made without discussion with your GP.

You might want to watch this short video (2:30) about a more modern, comprehensive approach to pain-management that does not emphasize medication alone, and looks at other factors that effect our pain perception and experience:

It is, of course possible to buy anti-inflammatory medication over the counter without a prescription.
Neurofen contains ibuprofen (together with codeine).

Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant, and is effective when used in this way — at least as effective as the newer SSRIs (according to one study, 2001, see amitryptyline link). However, Amitriptyline is often prescribed in a low does (10mg) for muscle and joint pain, and fibromyalgia. Amitriptyline may also be prescribed for other pain conditions, and conditions such as Carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndrome, compression of the median nerve at the wrist with tingling in the fingers, can sometimes respond very well to both Acupuncture, Osteopathy and physical therapy. The causes of this condtion are various and not fully understood. Nerve compression at the wrist is Carpal tunnel syndrome, however there can be other nerve compression sites in the arm, and also in the chest, first rib, clavicle or neck. This is called Thoracic outlet syndrome.

So you may be prescribed Amitriptyline for pain, even if you have no symptoms of depression.
If you experience a significant amount of pain in the mornings on waking, which then seems to diminish as the day goes on, as you are moving about, then this suggests that 'inflammation' may be the cause of your pain. (By contrast, pain that increases towards the end of the day may be more due to muscle fatigue.) Early morning inflammation itself may be due to injury, muscle sprain, or tissue damage. You may find that anti-inflammatories take the edge of your pain.

 

Again, please remember, the best person to discuss your use of medication with is your GP. 

No change of medication should be made without discussion with your GP.

 

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