Treating pain and fever in kids, antidepressants, and medicines for nerve pain

NPS MedicineWise

While medicines for treating nerve pain and depression were some of the most popular topics for consumers on the NPS MedicineWise website in 2019, they were pipped at the post by the year’s top article: Treating my child’s pain or fever – paracetamol or ibuprofen?.

NPS MedicineWise medical adviser and GP Dr Jill Thistlethwaite says the fact the most-read consumer article on the website was about treating pain or fever in children is not surprising.

“Being medicinewise means making good health decisions and getting the most benefit from your medicines safely and it’s good to see parents and carers seeking out information to help them do just that for the children in their care,” said Dr Thistlethwaite.

Nerve pain and depression were also popular topics, with articles on the medicines amitriptyline and pregabalin for nerve pain coming in at second and sixth position, while an explainer article on antidepressant medicines was the third most read article for the year and a list of 10 things to know about antidepressants came in at fifth place.

“It is great to see several of our ‘explainer’ articles appearing in the list of most popular consumer articles on our website, which shows people are looking for independent, evidence-based information that’s simplified without being dumbed down,” said Dr Thistlethwaite.

Top 10 NPS MedicineWise consumer articles for 2019

1. Treating my child’s pain or fever – paracetamol or ibuprofen?

2. Amitriptyline for nerve pain

3. Antidepressant medicines explained

4. Vaccines and immunisation

5. Antidepressants: 10 things you should know

6. Pregabalin for nerve pain

7. Imaging explained

8. Ankle sprains: 10 things you should know

9. The flu shot, explained

10. Antibiotics, explained

(Top consumer articles by number of page views, 1 January – 13 December 2019)

/Public Release.