Owie, update

[cjsmith]

In other news, I'm learning that for the newest addition to my Pain Chorus...

...wait for it...

Tylenol actually helps. Yes, Tylenol! Cheap, over-the-counter Tylenol! Who'd'a thunk it? It's been at least twenty years since I've taken Tylenol. I know it doesn't help direct nerve pain, so I sure wouldn't try it for that, and anything else I had experienced up until recently (say, a wisdom tooth dry socket or my recovery from abdominal surgery) was so wimpy by comparison that it honestly didn't occur to me to try a painkiller.

What a concept. Pain of a type that painkillers will affect. I may have to buy myself some normal, cheap, over-the-counter painkillers. I don't think I've owned any since I was in high school.

Comments

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! Whodathunk? That's fabulous news, CJ.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, isn't that cool? :-)

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Cool! I tend to use OTC painkillers in cycles, because I'll develop a tolerance to one specific type after only a couple of uses and then that type won't work again for months or often longer.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I do that with anti-inflammatories, but it's been ages since I've even tried anything that wasn't.

[firecat]

OTC painkillers can really work. I swear by aleve. Tylenol has never done anything for me, but I'm really glad it works for you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Aleve is wonderful for pain that responds to anti-inflammatories. My nerve pain does. This latest (uterine muscle pain) has nothing to do with inflammation, and thus doesn't respond at all to an anti-inflam. I was overjoyed when I learned it responded to Tylenol. I'm not sure I've *ever* had anything respond to Tylenol.

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a great discovery!

I keep acetominophen (generic Tylenol) in the house for headaches. I used to have lots of really bad headaches, but I haven't been bothered by them much since I started being treated for arthritis. I've wondered whether (a) all the other pain gates it out so I don't notice it, (b) the NSAID eliminates them, (c) the pain meds (tramadol, Percocet) eliminate them, or (d) a combination of (a) (b) and/or (c).

Occasionally, though, I do get a headache. I never knew what to do in that case, since I was already taking high doses of NSAIDs and pain meds. So one day, in desperation, I tried acetaminophen -- and it worked! Acetaminophen doesn't do a thing for my arthritis or fibromyalgia pain, but it does relieve my headache when I get one.

I'm delighted to hear that something so simple and readily available helps you! (Just make sure you don't drink when you're taking it (http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2000/01_00/draganov.htm).)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Yes, painkillers are just... weird. I mean, just think of the strangeness that I should have realized twenty years ago when anti-inflammatories dulled the pain of my "cramps". What, did I think my muscles were all swelled up like little blowfishes or something?

(who knows. maybe they were. (are.) The human body is weird.)