Chronic pain is always personal. Its treatment should be too.

There’s no such thing as “one size fits all” when it comes to pain. It’s always personal, deeply personal. If chronic pain is part of your life, you’re not alone. In the United States, nearly one in four adults lives with chronic pain, and about 8–9% experience high-impact chronic pain that frequently limits daily activities, work, or quality of life. In Canada and Australia, approximately one in four and one in five adults respectively suffer from chronic pain with a majority reporting interference in daily functioning.

Chronic pain management today has changed considerably over the last 20 years. Rather than relying solely on medication, treatment plans today combine physical therapy and rehab, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and interventions like radiofrequency ablation or even surgery.  

The power of personalized pain treatment

The complexity of chronic pain demands complex, personalized treatment plans. Patients are best served by treatment plans that account for their individual histories and preferences — and for their specific pharmacological needs.

In the absence of suitable options for physician prescribers from commercially available products, or when no such products exist, pharmaceutical  compounding bridges the gap in meeting the needs of both healthcare professionals and the patients they serve. Commercially available products are not always suitable.  Some patients may be allergic or have sensitivities to certain ingredients, while others struggle with a medication’s taste or odor. If they are managing multiple medications, patients can find it difficult to take pain treatments consistently and on schedule. Mass-produced medications can also be vulnerable to global supply disruptions, such as the pediatric acetaminophen shortage  in 2022 in Canada and the US, the children’s medicine shortage in Australia in 2023, or the “unparalleled drug shortages” across Europe in the winter of 2022/2023.     

Compounded pain medications may offer solutions to these challenges. They can be customized to meet the needs of each patient with:

• Precise, patient-specific dosing that removes the need for tablet splitting or approximating partial doses, thereby supporting accurate drug administration.
• Personalized compounded formulations that incorporate multiple active pharmaceutical ingredients (e.g. local anesthetics, NSAIDs, muscle relaxants) into a single preparation to improve regimen simplicity and promote patient adherence. 
• Alternative delivery methods and dosage forms such as lozenges, nasal sprays, and sublingual or topical preparations for patients who have difficulty chewing or swallowing conventional solid oral dosage forms.
• Custom oral medications that exclude allergenic or sensitizing excipients and incorporate patient-preferred flavors to better align with individual tolerances and tastes.

Customizing pain treatment in these ways creates potential solutions for patient  populations with unique needs, such as:

• Seniors, who might need help simplifying complex medicine schedules or different doses than younger adults.
• Children, who might need different doses or delivery modalities to improve palatability and compliance with the treatment regimen.
• People living with kidney or liver disease, which can complicate the metabolism or excretion of pharmacological substances.
• People who wish to avoid certain categories of analgesics (and their side effects) altogether, such as opioids.
• People who are allergic or exhibit allergic-type sensitivities to common medical compounds like aspirin, ibuprofen or morphine.

Partnering with Medisca equips both pharmacists and physicians  with more tools to meet patient needs. This gives patients access to truly personalized pain management solutions when deemed appropriate. Compounded medications are tailored not just to the condition, but to the individual, which supports better adherence and improved comfort . For many patients, this personalization improves their quality of life by helping them regain confidence, independence, and a greater sense of control in their daily lives.

Disclaimer: This blog is for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute professional, regulatory, or medical advice. Any third-party sites referenced in this blog are not monitored or controlled by Medisca and Medisca shall not be held responsible or liable for any content resulting therefrom. Medisca is not liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of or reliance on this content. Medisca makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein.