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Drug and Medication Terms

Certain terms are useful to understand if you are taking drugs and medication for your back condition Sometimes you will encounter terms you need to know on the label. Other times a term can help educate your on how drugs and medications work in the body. Regardless, as an educated consumer of medication for back or neck pain, a few vocabulary words are in order.
Inactive Ingredient
Drugs and medications, including pain killers have both active ingredients and inactive ingredients listed on the label. Find out more about inactive ingredients, also called excipients.
Side Effect - What is a Side Effect?
Most of the time side effects from taking drugs such as pain medication are not wanted or desired. But it is important to understand potential side effects before committing to taking a medication to be sure you are choosing the right drug for you.
Drug Addiction - What is Drug Addiction?
Drug addiction is not reserved only for illegal substances. It can also occur with the abuse of pain medications. Here is a definition of the term drug addiction.
Prostaglandins
Prostaglandins are substances that help the body with many different functions. Prostaglandins mediate the inflammation process and relay pain signals.
Analgesics
Analgesics, such as asprin and NSAIDs, work to alleviate pain from acute injury and chronic pain conditions.
Generic Drugs
Many people have an inaccurate definition of generic drugs. Often the public misunderstands the difference between a generic drug name and a brand name for the same medication.
Half Life - What is the Half Life of a Drug?
Definition of the medication related term, half life.
Medication Tolerance
It can be easy to confuse the term tolerance with addiction, but they are not the same. Here is a definition for medication tolerance.
Active Ingredient - What is the Active Ingredient in a Medication?
When you read the label on your over the counter or prescription medication, one of the first items you will see listed is the active ingredient. This short article will explain what an active ingredient in a medication is, and provide an example to show you how to interpret the term when you see it on a pain medication label.
Enteric-Coated Medication
Enteric-coated medication may help to avoid known side effects of pain meds such as NSAIDS. Here is a short definition of enteric-coated medication.
OTC - Over-the-Counter Medication
OTC - over the counter - medications are very common. Find out what over the counter, or OTC, medication is.
Agonist Drugs - What is an Agonist?
Definition of agonist as it relates to drug and medication action in the body.
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