Pain Medications to Avoid

In addition to Tylenol with codeine and oral Demerol, certain other pain medications probably should be avoided for several different reasons.

Some medications just do not work very well, while others have significant side effects that, at times, can be dangerous. Often, less expensive medications are just as effective as expensive medications.

• Avoid these:
  • pentazocine (Talwin) has very little pain-relieving effect and is strongly associated with dependency. It is of little value as a pain medication.
    
    
  • propoxyphene (Darvon, Darvocet) likewise has no significant pain-relieving effect.