Have you ever taken painkillers to ease a headache and felt baffled when the pain doesn’t seem to go away? It’s a common problem many of us face and it turns out there’s an easy way to fix it – just take the right sort of medication. Painkillers come in many different varieties and they all target different sorts of pain, so if you take aspirin in the hopes of easing inflammatory pain, you’re not going to have much luck....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
And while it can be confusing to know which painkillers to take in which scenario, one doctor has stepped up to help struggling Brits know exactly what type of medication to take and when. However, Doctor Deepak Ravindran, clinical lead for pain medicine at Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation, also warned people not to rely on painkillers as they don’t “deal with the root cause” of your pain and could be harmful if “taken for too long”.
Dr Ravindran told The Sun: “They are very effective at reducing pain, but some are dependence-inducing if taken for too long. They can also make the pain they are intended to cure worse if taken excessively. Pain relief medication just blocks the neural messages being sent to your brain – it doesn’t deal with the root cause, which could be anything from dehydration to a more serious physical injury or condition.”
If you need to take a painkiller in a pinch though, there are rules you should be following when it comes to the type of medication you take and how much – and it’s all dependent on the type of pain you’re experiencing. From paracetamol to ibuprofen, here’s what Dr Ravindran says about each pill.
According to the doctor, paracetamol is best taken when you need pain relief from things like backache, toothache, and mild headaches. Paracetamol lowers temperature and reduces inflammation, and is often found in cold and flu remedies, as well as in branded products such as Anadin Extra, which combines it with aspirin. The dosage for paracetamol should be 500mg to 1g every four to six hours, with a maximum of eight 500mg tablets in 24 hours.
You should not take paracetamol if you have a weak or unhealthy liver, as it can be dangerously toxic to the liver when taken in high doses. Dr Ravindran also said that paracetamol doesn’t cause stomach irritation, so it’s “ideal for those who need to take painkillers regularly”. It can be taken without food and is even safe to be taken with small amounts of alcohol.
Aspirin is the ideal painkiller to take if you’re suffering from a stress-induced headache, toothache, or flu symptoms, as it lowers temperature and relieves joint pain. You can also gargle and swallow a soluble aspirin to help ease the pain of throat infections. In terms of dosage, you should take between one and three 300mg tablets every four to six hours over a 24-hour period.
The medical expert warned that aspirin should not be used by those who are taking anticoagulant drugs or have a stomach ulcer, and should never be taken before or after surgery as it can “increase bleeding”. It can also trigger asthma attacks so should not be taken by asthmatics. However, aspirin can be beneficial to those who have had a heart attack in the past, as in low 75mg daily doses it can “thin the blood and help prevent clots”. Using it in this way should only be done by people who have “already had a heart attack”, according to Dr Ravindran.
You’ll mostly find codeine on the shelves in a combination pill such as Solpadeine – which combines paracetamol and codeine – and Nurofen Plus, which mixes it with ibuprofen. Codeine is a potent painkiller that can help ease intense muscular pain after an injury or tooth extraction and can also help relax the abdominal muscles that cause menstrual cramps.
Dr Ravindran says codeine should never be taken regularly as it is “highly addictive”, and in a 24-hour period, it should only be taken four times in 8mg doses. You shouldn’t take codeine if you have liver, kidney, or lung problems. The expert said your body can also build up a tolerance to codeine, so if you take it too often it will make it less effective.
If you’re battling inflammatory pain or chronic pain that comes with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, migraine and osteoarthritis, then you might want to try taking ibuprofen. The medication is an anti-inflammatory agent and can be taken in higher doses than some other painkillers, with Dr Ravindran recommending a maximum of 1,200mg in 24 hours.
You should steer clear of ibuprofen if you have stomach ulcers or a gastric disorder, as the pills can irritate the stomach lining and cause indigestion and nausea, as well as even cause gastric ulcers in the long term. The expert also said regular use can lead to kidney and liver damage, as well as elevated blood pressure.
