Central Nervous

System Drugs
Analgesics
- medications that provide pain relief.
Acute Pain
Chronic Pain
- sudden onset, self-limiting, - lasts longer than 3 months
and usually of short duration, and may be severe enough to
normally no longer than 12 impair function and interfere
weeks. with daily routines.

Opioids/narcotics NSAIDs
- work by “agonizing” opioid receptors, which are found - reduce inflammation but
in the brain, spinal cord, and gastrointestinal tract. are not related by
structure or action to
4 Major Opioid Receptors:
steroids (glucocorticoids),
Mu receptors - responsible for the feelings of euphoria
which also reduce
associated with opioid use, respiratory depression with
inflammation. It provides
overuse, and opioid dependence.
both analgesic and
Delta receptors - responsible for enabling the body to
antipyretic effects. It works
experience pain relief.
by reducing the production
Nociceptin receptors control appetite stimulation and
of prostaglandins.
are responsible for the formation of depressive
conditions and anxiety disorders. Acetylsalicylic Acid
Kappa receptors - responsible for total sedation Ibuprofen
Naproxen
required in anesthesia and for the pupil constriction Ketrolac
(miosis) seen in patients taking opiates. Celecoxib

Morphine
Acetaminophen
Hydrocodone
- is an analgesic and
Oxycodone
antipyretic, but it is not an
Tramadol
anti-inflammatory
Fentanyl
substance.

Antiseizure/ Muscle Local

antiepileptic relaxants anesthetics
agents - are drugs used to treat - are drugs that cause
muscle spasm and reversible anesthesia in a
spasticity. specific location.
Anticonvulsants: Carisprodol
Valproic acid Cyclobenzaprine Ropivacaine
Phenobarbital Metaxalone Mepivacaine
Methocarbamol Procaine
Levetiracetam
Baclofen Lidocaine
Phenytoin Diazepam Benzonatate
Benzodiazepines Dantrolene

Medications for Neurodegenerative Disorders:

Parkinson’s Disease
- is a disorder in which nerve cells in the areas of the brain that involve
muscle movement (corpus striatum and substantia nigra) are affected.
This disease is considered both chronic and progressive, meaning that
once it develops, it does not go away, and symptoms generally get
worse over time.
Carbidopa–Levodopa
Ropinirole
Benztropine
Amantadine

Alzheimer Disease
- is a neurogenerative disorder that is the most common form of
dementia, a general term for loss of memory and other intellectual
abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life.
Donepezil
Galantamine
Rivastigmine
*Memantine

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

- Lou Gehrig disease or motor neuron disease; (MND), is a progressive
neurodegenerative disease with varied etiology characterized by rapidly
progressive weakness, muscle atrophy and fasciculations, muscle spasticity,
and difficulty speaking, swallowing, and breathing.
Riluzole
REFERENCE:
CHAPTER 4 OF NURSING PHARMACOLOGY BY SMITH