The need-to-know information for Ketorolac:
Ketorolac
Pearls and Fun Nuggets
1. Ketorolac is more of a short-term option, not a long-term⌚ It is usually not prescribed for longer than five days, due to its potential to cause kidney damage.
2. Ketorolac is also used as an ophthalmic solution 👀 It can be given to treat pain associated with corneal abrasions or surgical procedures during eye surgery to help with pain
3. Ketorolac works fairly quick 🚴 Effects usually begin within an hour and last for up to eight hours.
4. It’s like an NSAID nuke 🚀It works very well, but in terms of safety, ketorolac has been assessed to be a relatively higher-risk NSAID when compared to aceclofenac, celecoxib, and ibuprofen.
5. It’s probably the only NSAID you’ll ever find in a vial 💉 In the US, ketorolac is the only widely available intravenous NSAID.
Patient Perspectives:
“I use to get Toradol I.M injections for cyclic vomiting syndrome. My stomach pain becomes very severe at times and Toradol 1ml injection is the only thing that will stop the pain when I’m having an episode.”
“Kidney stones. Size of marble in each kidney. ER. ER nurse with compassion and intelligence as I writhed in agaony, injected me in my bottomside. Instant relief. Exhaled and could taste the keytone of the torodol. Passed out. Separate occasion. Wish for death migraine. Usually 800 mg ibuprofin and 2 cups of fresh coffee sometimes with pseudoephedrine 60 mg and dark quiet and proper pillow and don’t move for 2 hours, will win it for me but was on day 3, out of imitrex too. Went to ER. Dr. with experience, shot to bottomside, lights out. Took bout an hour for complete relief. But began to ease pain right away. I’ve tried all the dopiates, and the result is no pain relief, nausea or unco science.”
“I had fallen the day before and ended up the next day with back spasms. These aren’t just little twinges, they are like someone is sticking a knife in my back. They are the worst!! I sent in to the doctor’s office and they gave me a shot of Toradol. I got absolutely no relief at all. Might as well have been a placebo. I didn’t have any side effects from it, which is unusual for me. My spasms lasted for 12 hours straight before stopping.”
References
- Vallerand AH (2017). Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company. p. 730. ISBN 9780803657052.
- “Ketorolac-tromethamine”. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
- Wakai A, Lawrenson JG, Lawrenson AL, Wang Y, Brown MD, Quirke M, et al. (May 2017). “Topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for analgesia in traumatic corneal abrasions”. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: CD009781.
- Schwier N, Tran N (March 2016). “Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs and Aspirin Therapy for the Treatment of Acute and Recurrent Idiopathic Pericarditis”. Pharmaceuticals. 9 (2): 17.
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