Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: techmind on 19/10/2007 18:43:29

Title: Painkillers - effectiveness of
Post by: techmind on 19/10/2007 18:43:29

Fortunately I don't suffer much pain, and it's very rare that I even get a headache worthy of comment. However, I've never had any great faith in painkillers and rarely find them to be of any noticeable help. Aspirin/Nurofen/Paracetamol - although I carry them with me, I rarely use them; on the rare occasions when I do, they don't seem to do much anyway.

Only once did I believe a painkiller "worked", that was shortly after I'd had a wisdom tooth removed, and as the anasthetic wore off, I was grateful for the relief. That was probably a prescription (codine???) painkiller.

How much variation in response to painkillers (Aspirin/Nurofen/Paracetamol) is there in the population? Do they actually work very well?


I'm a healthy 32-year old.

I ask because I'm just having a rare headache (probably due to overtiredness and/or change-to-wintery-weather-related temperature/dehydration effects)...

Title: Painkillers - effectiveness of
Post by: another_someone on 19/10/2007 20:01:20

There are very different types of painkiller, and yes, the reaction to each varies with different people.

Paracetamol works totally differently to Aspirin and Nurofen (the advantage with Aspirin and Nurofen is that they are also anti-inflammatory, so if the pain is associated with inflammation, sometimes the reduction of inflammation can be as benificiel as the analgesic properties - both are in a group known as NSAIDs).

Codine is a mild opiate - it is more potent than NSAIDs or paracetamol.