okay I keep wondering: when you take OTC pain meds like acetaminophen or ibuprofen for ordinary aches and pains – a headache, joint pain, whatever – do you actually notice a difference? Can you consciously tell that your pain is lower after you’ve taken them? Because I never have, even taking acetaminophen plus whatever NSAID at inadvisably high doses. It’s conceivable that I could find an effect if I kept a spreadsheet logging my pain levels before and after dosing – do they really have a stronger effect than that for most people? I’ve been on some prescription NSAIDs before and had about the same experience.
my options for noticeably-helpful pain management basically start with heat/ice and then jump right up to weed or opioids, which kind of sucks. temperature-based solutions are not terribly portable (icy-hot et. al. is far more unpleasant to me than any pain it might help with), and weed/opioids might make me feel better but don’t, generally, leave me any more functional. Voltaren gel works, kinda, in the area where it’s applied, for a couple minutes? and anyway, you can’t get it OTC in the States.
How likely is it that I have some sort of fucked-up drug metabolism thing?
They work for me
I usually stop noticing as much discomfort when I take OTC meds for headaches or w/e, but then it usually takes some effort to start noticing those pains in the first place, so while I think they help I’m not super confident
Ibuprofen does approximately nothing for me, but a couple years ago my doctor prescribed me extra-strength naproxen for late-onset dysmenorrhea and it turns out naproxen *does* work. (And it makes periods lighter, too!)
In fact, just two days ago I had this thought process:
Me: “Huh, the pain in my heel is almost completely gone today. I wonder if that splinter I couldn’t reach worked its way out.”
Also me: ‘…or it could be that pre-menstrual naproxen you started on last night.’
Me: “…or that.”
Tags:
#reply via reblog #is the blue I see the same as the blue you see #menstruation #injury cw #medical cw
Brinens and Things 