The Problem

Margaret, an elderly lady with very painful nerve pain in her foot was given medication to help reduce her pain.

Unfortunately, the side effects from the medication cause her extreme drowsiness. She feels uncomfortable driving and stays at home almost every day feeling like a zombie. This is also dangerous as she could have slipped or fallen whilst drowsy, leading to injuries.  

Even though her pain had reduced significantly, Margaret felt down because she couldn’t go out visit friends and family.

The East Coast Solution

Margaret’s compounding pharmacist at East Coast Compounding suggested to her doctor that the formulation be changed to one that could be applied the skin.

She was told to apply the medication to the lower region of her spine. This meant that the medication was able to block the pain signal before it was able to reach the brain and give the sensation of pain.

Because the medication wasn’t taken orally, Margaret noticed a reduction in her drowsiness, but her pain was still well managed.

Margaret’s now able to drive around visiting friends and family without any issues!

The Problem

Greg suffered a painful back injury after a car crash a few years ago and was prescribed painkillers but over time experienced issues. He had to be prescribed higher strengths and more of them to manage his pain.

Greg always felt tired and felt his pain wasn’t well managed.

The East Coast Solution

Through compounding, his pharmacist at East Coast Compounding recommended various alternative medicated approaches to Greg’s doctor.

These included using other medication in lower strengths because of their synergistic effect. This is because the new medication  worked through different pathways and used preparations applied to the skin.

This led to Greg decreasing the amount of his regular pain killers he was taking, meaning he felt better. Because the newly introduced medication worked on various pathways to block the pain, he also felt that his pain was under control for the first time in years!