Exploring Beyond Mu: Nonopioid Analgesics.

Pain remains one of the most common reasons patients seek medical care with rates of chronic pain affecting 20.6% of the US population. The polarizing narrative around opioid prescribing has been accompanied by the publishing and revision of several related guidelines. Certainly, a common theme amongst these publications is the importance of nonopioid analgesics as first-line treatments of chronic pain. This underscores the importance for providers to have a sound understanding of analgesic pharmacology when considering patient-centered approaches to pain. This includes consideration of drug-drug interactions, drug-comorbidity interactions, contraindications and metabolism including pathways using the phase 1 cytochrome P450 enzymes.