Analgesic

Analgesics are substances, drugs or herbs, that alleviate the feeling of pain without causing loss of consciousness — either by reducing inflammation or attenuating pain transmission via opioid receptors.

Many of them work by depressing the functions of the central nervous system. The flavonoids in herbal analgesics impact inflammatory processes by inhibiting cyclooxygenase (COX) pathways or by activating dopamine (D2) receptors. They can be applied to reduce acute and chronic pain both internally and topically.

Examples of effective herbal analgesics include Jamaican dogwood (Piscidia erythrina), pasqueflower (Anenome pulsatilla), California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), corydalis (Corydalis yanhusuo) and wild lettuce (Lactuca virosa). Topically, cayenne (Capsicum annuum) is a valuable anodyne.