Analgesics and Antihistamines

Analgesics and Antihistamines

Drugs used to reduce fever are referred to as antipyretics, while those that relieve pain are called analgesics. Anti-inflammatory drugs are (obviously) those which reduce inflammation. There is however considerable overlap and a given drug may possess any or all of these properties. Classification and nomenclature are therefore based on the predominant property, e.g. while a drug such as acetylsalicylic acid may also possess anti-inflammatory property, it is its capacity to reduce fever and relieve pain which are the dominant effects. Hence it is gener-ally referred to and classified as an analgesic-antipyretic. This precept will be applied in the following discussion.*