Aspirin/Pain Reliever

[shouldbesad]

My DH believes that by taking aspirin/pain reliever he is 'masking' the pain. An injury or DOMS would be too easily aggravated or made worse if you don't feel the original pain to let you know you have a problem. Am I making sense here?

Do you take aspirin/pain relievers? I am ok with it if I have nothing stressful planned for rest of the day but DH apparently wants to 'feel the pain'.

Diane

 

[pippa]

I don't ever take a pain reliever for DOMS but if I have a headache, cramps or something that I think will go away quickly on its own but I don't want to feel the pain while I wait, then I do take something(does that make sense.)

If I think I 'injured' myself, ie., pulled muscle or something, then I absolutely DON'T take anything. I don't like to medicate when I don't know what the problem is. However, if I am hurting I also take it pretty easy so I don't ever feel like I am running a risk of making a problem worse by not feeling the pain.

 

[marnold]

I take pain relievers (don't care for aspirin) in moderation and according to the directions.

I believe the anti-inflammatory properties of most products do more than "Mask" the pain. I think your DH may be right if you are taking them for longer than a day or two and OVER medicating by not following the dosing directions. If you take them according to the packaging, you should be fine.

HTH...it may be best if he is really concerned for your well being to have a heart-to-heart with your family doctor. Have a good day!

 

[kathryn]

I agree with your husband on the fact that drugs that merely mask pain are not really beneficial if they make it so you will continue the activity that caused the pain in the first place, thus making things worse.

But, aspirin and other NSAID's also work against inflammation and can be beneficial in that way.

That being said, there are other ways than medication to deal with pain and inflammation. I haven't taken aspirin for years, and I wouldn't be able to find a prescription or non-prescription drug around the house if I looked (except for some Children's Benadryl, which is close to expiration date because I didn't use it much), so for inflammation, I'd go the old RICE route, and I take naturally anti-inflammatory foods like flax, mangosteen, etc. An Epsom-salts bath can ease the discomfort of DOMS (because of the magnesium, which sooths muscles) as can massage and stretching.

Of course, if I had surgery of some type, I might not refuse pain medication (though I didn't take any after having my wisdom teeth taken out---they hurt more before I had them removed than while they were healing!).

 

[amyg]

Your body does what it does naturally to heal itself, so besides masking the pain, an anti-inflammatory is actually preventing your body's own healing.

I don't take them when I'm sick or have a fever for the same reason- the fever is doing what it does naturally to heal your body so by reducing the fever with a pill, you're actually slowing your healing down. Does that make sense?

I stopped taking NSAIDS initially because I had a kidney lab test come back showing some damage when I was taking them for a stress fracture. When I stopped the pills, the kidney damage reversed itself.

LOL, I sound a little high and mighty; I still have Tylenol and probably take one pill 3-4 times a year mainly for weird mean headaches.

 

[Fit_mommy]

I take pain relievers (aspirin and ibuprofin mostly) as needed. I try not to take them for every little ache and pain so as not to over-medicate myself BUT I am also not one to refuse medicine and suffer for what I consider to be no truly good reason.

I won't take anything for DOMS normally but on occasion I will get DOMS so bad that it makes me feel physically ill. I do not like that, so I will take a pain reliever for that reason.

When I get a higher fever I defianately take pain reliever/fever reducers. It is not good to run a really high fever for an extended period of time so I like to knock it down to a managable number as often as I can. I once passed out from dehydration after running a high fever for several days. It was very scarey and have no desire to have it happen again. I know enough to stay hydrated, etc but sometimes it's just not enough. If I can take a med in addition that will help then I am all for it. I don't get sick like that more then once a year anyway so it's no big deal IMO.

For headaches I ALWAYS take something. Even the tiniest headache just makes me miserable so I run for the medicine cabinet as soon as I get even a hint of one coming on.

On the occasions that I am going out and having drinks, when I come home that evening I will take a pain reliever with a full glass of water and go to sleep. This keeps the hang over at bay. Works like a charm! The only time it hasn't is when I quit drinking while I was still out and started getting the headache on the drive home. I took the meds and drank the water before bed but it was too late.:-( Anyway, taking the med is worth not having to deal with a miserable next day. Perhaps many would say well then just don't drink and ya know what? I enjoy indulging once in a while and don't see a problem with it so I'm not going to give it up over a couple of ibuprofens.

Lastly, I have osteoarthritis in my neck. When it acts up it can be extremely painful and debilitating. I have a prescription for the generic form of Relafan which is an anti-inflammatory. It came with 2 full pages of warnings! I was scared to death to take these things and tried to avoid it. I tried taking other pain relievers but nothing worked. I have resigned myself to taking these pills when needed but I only take them until the pain is gone and get off of the IMMEDIATELY! It's not worth the extra suffering I would have to go through for who knows how many more days just to not take the med. With the med an episode will usually last a few days and that's more then enough!

WOW! When I started responding to this thread, I never thought it would be this long-winded! LOL Sorry!

 

[Lynn M.]

While I'm not a big user of Pain relievers, I do believe they have their place..

While I was training for my endurance stuff ( 1/2 marathon, and a triathlon) I would take aspirin or ibuprofen on the days that I was scheduled for super long runs. My legs and joints felt much better and would notice that I would be able to run faster.

I also suffer from migraines on occasion, so I will pop ibuprofen when they start to keep the pain at bay.

That being said, I don't necessarily like the side effects.. I get kind of airheaded and bloat quite a bit when I'm taking ibuprofen.

I also agree that if you can "tough it out", no medicine is best. But if you can't, I don't think its a big deal to take something to make yourself more comfortable if you need it once in a while.

I also don't think I'll do any more extreme endurance training either, so unless I feel a migraine coming, I normally choose to tough it out and "embrace the pain"!!

Take care, Lynn M.

 

[cheval]

I don't take pain relievers very often because I think pain is there to help you limit your activity during recovery. My philosophy is, if it hurts, I don't do it.

When I pulled my hamstring several weeks ago, I didn't take anything because if I felt better, I would have probably done too much and slowed down my healing process. The pain reminded me to take it easy. I did do rice and heat when appropriate.

However, when I had surgery last year, I did take the pain reliever they offered me 4 hours after the surgery. It knocked me out for another 4 hours and I was able to get along on ibuprofen for the rest of the day. After that, I didn't take any thing so as not to stretch things that shouldn't be stretched yet.

I think it's a personal thing, though. A chat with your doctor and your husband in the same room might help clear some things up and facilitate communication and understanding.

April

 

[nancy324]

I admire all of you. I'm pretty sure that I over-use over the counter drugs. I had a check-up a few weeks ago and was surprised that my doctor didn't find any unusual liver readings. I never exceed the maximums on the labels, but I do push right up to the limits.

 

[SRP]

My personal view is that if the pain is bad enough to be debilitating, then I take something for it. If it's that bad, I know I need to take it easy anyhow, so the meds won't be an excuse to work through the pain.

I also believe that if you're in a lot of pain, proper medication can be beneficial, because it gives you relief and allows you to rest. Prolonged pain can wear a person down, which would delay healing.

And I'm with Wendy. If a headache rears its ugly head, I don't wait around.

 

[marnold]

I'm with you, Nancy. I figure the medication is there if I need it, needless suffering is not exciting to me. I just had a complete blood chemistry not too long ago; nothing was abnormal in that department either.

 

[lainiefig]

It's interesting to read what different people do. I don't often think to take anything for pain; I've never even considered it for DOMS, though maybe sometimes it would have helped (like when I have trouble even sitting down after B&G). I have had this sprained ankle for a couple months now and finally saw an orthopedic surgeon about it still hurting me. He asked if I take anything for the pain and I said, "uh, no" and he prescribed something for me. Today was the first day I tried it and sure enough, I don't feel the ankle bothering me. But I don't think I'm going to use that as an excuse to jump up and do Drill Max full out or anything. I also have physical therapy scheduled soon, so I'm not just relying on meds.

I'm a big believer in moderation--some medication is helpful and necessary, but better not to go overboard and take it for every little thing. I wouldn't go the Tom Cruise route and say not to take meds for depression, for example. I personally have had great help from such medication after experiencing post-partum depression. On the other hand, if I take the littlest bit of cold medication and I'm down for the count--can't even keep my head up it zonks me out so much, so I do have to be careful.

OK, just rambling on and not helpful. I should have just said "ditto" to what Shannon said.

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