What are the most effective non-opioid pain relieving drugs available?

I've been addicted to opiate-based medications in the past due to an accident. I absolutely cannot tolerate opiates any longer and need alternatives for acute pain relief. What are my best options?

Hi Laura,

I actually don't suffer from chronic pain, so this might not be the right forum - however, I'd still really appreciate any advice. Like I mentioned in my first post, I did have a problem with opiate medications after an accident years ago, and therefore have done everything possible to stay away from them for years. Just a few days ago I was forced to take some vicodin for a dental procedure (the pain was unbearable and I resisted taking the meds for about 6 hours until I gave in), at which point I realized that I need to explore alternatives. I'm really just trying to prepare in advance, as I'm sure I'll have times in my life which will require strong pain relief, and I'll need to understand my options.

I'll check with my doctor but I also wanted to get as much feedback online as possible.

Thanks in advance.

I try to keep my opioid use down and so have sought out many alternatives. Whether you find one or another helpful will depend very much on the type and location of injury.
But, here are some to consider:

NSAIDS OTC pills: Ibuprofen, Tylenol, naproxen
NSAIDS prescription: toradol, there's also time release naproxen and others.
Patches: lidoderm, flector (Diclofenac)
Topicals: voltaren gel (diclofenac), tigerbalm, etc..
Ice packs, heating pads, tens, etc.
trigger point injections (usually local anesthetic plus steroid or anti-inflammatory)
stretching, massage, acupuncture, etc..

For dental pain, try orajel or other benzocaine solutions.

And as was also mentioned, Ultram, which weakly bonds to the opioid receptors but can be effective for some types of pain (I use it daily). Similar in mechanism is Nucynta.

Suboxone is used sometimes for people with abuse issues who find themselves in chronic pain.

Lastly, there are Tricycles and various SNRI's as non-opioid treatments for chronic pain (though these are usually adjuncts to opioids).

Understood - thank you all for your advice. Despite injuries and crashes snowboarding and skydiving I'm managed to stay away from opiates for a few years (except the dental pain which just became too much at midnight after 6 hours) so hopefully I'll be able to go for many more without having to resort to them.

Contract I broke my arm almost 2 years ago and I am on an opioid for chronic pain and it did nothing for the pain I was having with my arm. My neighbor is an RN and he told me there was a lot of inflammation involved with the break. He brought me a bottle of Ibuprophen over and I took that only and had no more bad pain with the arm while healing. In fact my PM dr will tell her patients to add Tylenol or something along those lines to their BT meds if they stop working as well.

As the others had said there are many thing available to help. Good luck.

I agree with newname. Stay away from tramadol if you had a problem with opiates.