Not all pain medications are alike and each person is slightly different in the way they respond to a pain medication. Specific types and causes of pain may respond better to one kind of pain medication than to another kind. Update Date: 06/08/2007Benjamin W. Van Voorhees, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Psychiatry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.