NSAID's don't work

[NaluKana]

Just wondering why NSAID's don't work for my with any type of pain i have. Whether its tooth pain, headaches or muscle aches. I have tried everything from OTC to Toradol and they never seem to work, my dr's always end up switching me to vicodin or codine or flexarill depending on the problem. Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks in advance. :)

[merlinsparadise]

It's because NSAIDS don't work. Only an opiate can deaden the nerve signals leading to the brain. Why would you call it a problem that you have to take those others? The agenda to deny everyone actual pain relief as part of the evil drug war campaign is everywhere. For example..."NSAIDS don't work but I don't want to take those horrible addictive pain killers." It's propaganda. As a matter of fact, it's the NSAIDs that are dangerous.

[ReeBeeGee]

Part of understanding NSAIDS is understanding how they work. The reason they help pain is that they inhibit the body from making prostaglandins, which are naturally produced when the body is injured. Prostaglandins do a number of things to control body processes, and one of them is to increase the nerves' sensitivity to pain. So less Prostaglandins=less pain. I had some nasty pain associated with female monthly events, if you catch my drift, and codeine did nothing for it even though my doctor prescribed it. With NSAIDS, I had amazing relief. However, your case seems the opposite of mine, so I wonder if it is a special instance of your body being able to make Prostaglandins even when you take NSAIDS. There are different types of pain, such as neural pain, which things like Lyrica are effective in relieving. There are also alternative methods of pain relief like some of the "Essential Oils" (DoTerra is the best), and accupuncture, heat and cold, TENS unit therapy, etc. Everybody has a unique set of genes and what works for one may  not work for another. Many people function well long term on narcotic pain relievers and do not become addicted because they are careful how they use it and use it to treat real pain rather than to escape or some kind of psychologically based perceived benefit. They still become accustomed to the drug, developing "tolerance" to it, and there are disadvantages. I hope you get some good information on this issue, and I hope you get the help appropriate for your situation.

[broken204]

Don't buy into the belief that if you have private insurance they will treat a pain patient any better. I am insured, I am an educated professional, and I am not treated any better than you are (nor should I be medical care is a basic human right in my book). It is not about class division. It is about the war on drugs. The elderly patients in my rheumatologist's office do seem to recieve better treatment though even for much more mild conditions, so perhaps the fear of addiction is greater for younger patients (even though I have far more to do than the elderly patients). I promise you though, those of us with sever chronic pain are all suffering together regardless of our insurer's name.

[Calypso23]

You are SO CORRECT. I go to the ER at least once a month because NSAIDS don't do a damn thing, they are trying to get Lyrica approved which probably won't help either. Thank you so much, I'm on Medicaid, your words express exactly how I feel. I spend most of my life in bed angry from pain and fatigue and the doctors show me x-rays and know it hurts and keep giving me Flexeril and Naproxen. I have shown up at the ER in tears and I have never had a substance abuse issue, yet I feel like they think I must want to get high. I'm so over it!

[nick30]

not a good idea to use narcotics for occasional use though. only for chronic severe pain. just deal with those little things as they come(and go). not worth taking narc's for.
most people only get relief from NSAIDS when they have specific inflammitory problems. They are not strong for anyone, you've just got to put up with it.

[ChronicPain1]

I've had the same problem, NSAID's just aren't effective enough to help.

[GuitarNGamerGirl]

Nsaids are a lame drug that you can buy over the counter. If you are having pain that's bad enough to go to a doctor, you would think that it is tacitly obvious that you have already tried OTC meds and nothing is working. Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting in a boring doctor's office all day long when you could be home or at work actually doing something important.

Nevertheless, a HUGE percentage of doctors, once you get in to see them, will immediately say "take ibuprofen" and then schedule you for a bunch of expensisve tests that they can charge to your insurance and make a bunch of cash on. If you insist that you have already tried this, in copious amounts, and even firmly state that you can't take them anymore (as I can't) because they cause uncontrollable nausea and vomiting, they finally get out the script pad to write you something. They will NOT show it to you until you get out the door and pay your bill, then a receptionist or nurse will hand it to you as you are leaving. You look at the script, and 9 out of 10 times is a double script for Torredol and freaking Tagamet.

This is infuriating. Every new doctor nowadays immediately assumes that a pain patient is drug-seeking, whether they fit the profile or not. I have somehow been tagged thusly, and even after they gave me tests and verified my pain was due to a severe case of multiple pinched nerves, I got Ultram and freaking Lyrica for my troubles.

Nowadays, they do everything they can to avoid writing a script for a controlled substance if you are on a national or state healthcare plan like Medicare or TennCare. Free clinics for the indigent are FORBIDDEN by law to write scripts for controlled substances.  If, however, you have good, private insurance because you have a white-collar employer, you can pretty much get whatever you want for the asking.

If non-scheduled painkillers worked as well as the scheduled ones, they would DO AWAY with narcotics altogether. They would shut down the poppy fields secretly run by big pharma in poor countries such as India and Pakistan; they would no longer hire opium-addicted workers to work the fields for 19 hours a day for a couple of dollars a week.  They wouldn't have to bribe the Indian and Afghani governments the millions of dollars they pay them to look the other way, and all of the local warlords and drug dealers that they supply with raw opium and money to buy guns to "keep democracy safe", and to stay away from the workers and the fields, they could shut all that down, and they'd still be making plenty.

But do you think they'll do this? Do you think that if Nsaids actually  worked on REAL pain that big pharma would bother planting huge opium fields at all? And if what they're doing with these poppy fields was legal and safe and above-board, why do American companies have to bribe governments and buy land at exhorbitant prices in out-of-the-way, hidden corners of countries like India and Afghanistan? Why don't they just grow it in Iowa or something, and not have to pay the cost of transport?

I'll tell you why: something is rotten in Denmark,.Somethin' ain't kosher.

But, to answer your question, to get a REAL painkiller, you have to do one of three things:

A Get expensive, private, family insurance, something with a big name, like State Farm

B Get surgery. You will only get it for a while, but a few days of relief, or at least, a different kind of pain, is better than constant suffering

C Get your doctor to refer you to a valid, good chronic pain clinic with sympathetic nurses and doctors. If you are on public insurance they will monitor your blood and urine to make sure you are adhering to the prescribed regimen, which IMHO is a violation of your basic human rights, but at least you will hurt SOMEWHAT less than you do now. Who knows, you might even get lucky and get a sympathetic doctor who will give you a free-floating prescription. This has been known to happen, though rarely.

Good Luck, and remember, Class-ism is alive and well in this country.
Courtney Patricia "GuitarNGamerGirl" Parsons

[danners]

Do Everything else before switching to Narcotic Pain Killers, not only are they not good for you but they are also very addictive and that kind of addiction is a hard one to kick. if you are in agonizing pain every day and you can't deal with it and absolutely no kind of therapy or other medications work, then yes get a stronger pain med. But even then do your homework on pain medications and start with the weaker narcs before you even think about tryin strong narcs. just thought Id shed a warning...peace and love!
                                                Danners

[ames67]

There are many people who do not respond to NSAIDS or any pain medication for that matter. If the VIcodin works and does not make you too fuzzy, then I would be happy that at least there is a medication out there that works for you. There are also other pain management techniques which include exercise and relaxation that you may want to look at with a therapist who specializes in chronic pain. Guided imagry can help lessen the severity of the pain and may give you an alternative to taking the Vicodin. (And no it does NOT mean the pain is in your head :)

[Cookie122]

Yeah I'd say you have a natural resistence to NSAID's. Since I'm sure its not good for you to constantly be taking vicodin and the other "hard" pain killers you may want to talk to a pain specialist and see if your a candidate for a SCS implant. It might help for your more chronic pains that are relieved by NSAID's.

[NaluKana]

No i have never had surgery or anything like that, i am speaking more in general. For example when playing sports if i was to pull a muscle or just get a headache after a stressful day whenever i take tylenol or advil no matter the amount it never seems to help with pain. It has been like this as long as i can remember. Currently i have been fighting neck pain for about three months and my docs have tried daily anti-inflammatory injections and toradol oral and neither have helped with the pain as usual. Yet if i take half a vicodin 500 mg it helps a lot. I am just curious if someone else deals with this or if there may be some type of resistance in body to NSAID's.

[Cookie122]

Have you ever had a surgery or medical condition that may be the underlying cause of this? Do you have chronic pain or is it only once in a while?