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Painkillers do not heal anything. The body does that. But alleviating pain while one recovers from surgery for example helps a person go through the healing phase more comfortably. In a way painkillers kill psychological pain, judging by the number of addicts who use these drugs. There is no reason for months of refills going on for years. It's a band aid to actually fixing the cause of pain.
When you are in pain, your body produces cortisol. Cortisol slows healing. Because of this, even opiates do have a healing component.
Painkillers do not heal anything. The body does that. But alleviating pain while one recovers from surgery for example helps a person go through the healing phase more comfortably. In a way painkillers kill psychological pain, judging by the number of addicts who use these drugs. There is no reason for months of refills going on for years. It's a band aid to actually fixing the cause of pain.
However, there are some issues that the body can't heal. These can cause chronic pain which is both physically and psychologically draining. Taking even a low-level dose of a a painkiller which alleviates the pain but doesn't "heal" the condition can be a real lifesaver. I've been doing that since 1996. but I have to literally beg my neurologist for a nominal amount of painkillers due to state restrictions. Apparently the state feels I'm not supposed to still be suffering this pain. I'd be so happy not to be, believe me, but I have the MRIs to prove why I am.
How do painkillers know which pain to kill? Let's say I have a migraine and back pain. I feel like if I take advil, it just works for the migraine.
I have often wondered this. DH was most recently on opiates after hip surgery. They worked on the hip pain, but then his old chronic neck pain became noticeable. Why?
I have often wondered this. DH was most recently on opiates after hip surgery. They worked on the hip pain, but then his old chronic neck pain became noticeable. Why?
After my crushed knee injury I told my orthopedic surgeon that my ankle that had been problematic for a decade was no longer bothering me. He told me if he stuck a knife in my leg my knee would not be bothering me.
Steroids & NSAIDs- work at the level of prostaglandin chemistry (poorly understood). They can not only reduce the pain messages, but also reduce the inflammation that can be a big part of stimulating the pain receptors in the first place....All these can affect inflammation, pain and fever-- each one with a different affect on each of the three....
NSAIDs actually delay healing by blocking cyclooxygenase, and therefore reducing inflammation.
Anyone taking pain meds, be they opioids, NSAIDs, or paracetamol (believed to be a NSAID), or steroids should be aware they're harming their body to achieve short term comfort.
I'd advise against taking pain meds unless it's crippling.
Pain killers like Tylenol and Opiates do not heal the condition as you implied. They only mask the pain. NSAIDS or Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs like Aspirin and Aleve, Motrin, Ibuprofen actually decrease inflammation. So they are actually “doing something” in your body to help you heal. The problem with Tylenol is it can cause liver damage over time. And the NSAIDS can cause kidney damage over time.
How do painkillers know which pain to kill? Let's say I have a migraine and back pain. I feel like if I take advil, it just works for the migraine.
Excellent point-- good observation.
It has to due with the cause/mechanism of the pain....If your pain is caused by a sharp stick in your eye, painkillers won't help much. You need to remove the stick and let the eye heal to get real relief.
Back pain, for instance in most cases is caused by muscle spasm. NSAIDS don't affect that; narcotics can improve spam.
BTW- if an NSAID helps your migraine, it isn't a migraine, it's an "ordinary" headache, not that it hurts any less than a "real" migraine (vascular spasm) headache.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NazareWave
NSAIDs actually delay healing by blocking cyclooxygenase, and therefore reducing inflammation.
Anyone taking pain meds, be they opioids, NSAIDs, or paracetamol (believed to be a NSAID), or steroids should be aware they're harming their body to achieve short term comfort.
I'd advise against taking pain meds unless it's crippling.
cyclo-oxygnease-- the COX-1 & COX 2 thing-- it's even more comolicated than that actually. That's why I said this all was poorly understood. We only know a few superficial things about it all.
Inflammation & healing are intimately tied together. It's like having your house renovated-- you have a demoliton crew to start with, followed by the construction crew. The rate at which the two work must be co-ordinated. It would not do to have one crew working too fast or too slow compared the other.
Usually the impairment caused by NSAIDS does not adversely affect the outcome....The real problem with killing paiin is that the pain is telling not to do whatever is causing the pain. ..If being pain free allows you to continue working/exercising, you may be causing more injury....
We use the word addiction carelessly in everyday speech...Scientificaly, it's defined as the situation where a drug exhibits tachyphyllaxis (you need to progressively increase doses to maintain the effctiveness of the previous lower dose) AND, upon sudden withdrawal of the drug, an undesirable, possibly dangerous rebound effect becomes evident.
Classic example-- an alcohoic getting the DTs when abstaining.
A sizable number (possibley the majoirity) of narcotic OD deaths occur in those who got off the stuff, but then started using again, jumping right in with the high dose that they had last been using and had gotten accustomed to-- Now "clean," that is way too much and they go into ventilatory insufficiency (narcotics suppress respiration) & death results.
When one has intractable, chronic pain relieved only by prescription, oral narcotics, the biggest problem is that they eventually don't work at all anymore because you get so used to them (tachphyllaxis).
Someone in an early post here has a wise doctor who told him that the goal is not to make the pt pain free, but to make the pain level tolerable for the pt.
That is exactly what narcotic did for me (Percoset). Brought the pain from a 10 to 6 or 7, so I could functon a little bit...make something simple to eat, get washed, sit up long enough to go online and pay a few bills. The idea that narcotics makes the pain disappear for someone in severe pain is a fallacy. I'd not be here now if I hadn't had them.
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