MEDICATIONS - Medicine for Mountaineering and Other Wilderness Activities - page 511

APPENDIXE A
MEDICATIONS
Essentially all drugs have two names: a generic name and a trade name. Some drugs have
multiple trade names. (Drugs also have names based on the chemical structure, and official
names listed in the United States Pharmacopeia or National Formulary, but these are rarely
used.) Generic names, assigned by the United States Pharmacopeia Nomenclature Commit-
tee of the American Medical Association, are widely used. Some generic names are similar
to chemical or official names; many are not.
In the United States a drug has only a single generic name regardless of the number of
companies that manufacture it. In contrast, if the drug is produced and sold by more than
one manufacturer, each gives it a different trade name. Trade names and trademarks that are
registered can be used only by the manufacturer that has developed them. Trade names are
devised to be more easily remembered than the generic name so that physicians prescribe
that manufacturer's product. Some are similar to generic names; many are not.
In this text, medications have been listed by their generic names with some of the better
known trade names in parentheses to help with identification. (For some agents—aspirin or
penicillin,forinstance—genericnamesaremorefamiliarandaretheonlyoneslisted.)Many
generic names are unfamiliar to people who are not medical professionals but are known by
pharmacists and by most physicians through whom these drugs must be obtained. Generic
names used in countries other than the United States may be totally different, even in other
English-speaking nations. (A U.S. committee assigns U.S. generic names.)
MEDICATIONS FOR THE RELIEF OF PAIN
Drugs that relive pain are known as analgesics. Analgesics can be classified as mild, mod-
erate, or strong. The best-known mild analgesics are aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen,
and codeine. Ibuprofen and a number of more recently developed mild analgesics are
called nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Moderate analgesia is provided by
codeine combined with acetaminophen, by a combination of acetaminophen and hydro-
codone (Vicodin®), or by a combination of acetaminophen with oxycontin (Percocet®).
Thecommonlyusedstronganalgesicsaremorphine,hydromorphone(Dilaudid®),andother
opiates, so-called because most of them were originally derived from opium.
Thestronganalgesics usedtobecalled narcotics, avaguetermthathasnobasisinchem-
ical or pharmacologic properties. That term has fallen out of favor and has been replaced by
opiates .