|
|
Post by the light works on Sept 21, 2014 15:24:52 GMT
this is not testable for obvious reasons - bad TV, poor control, and general misery.
but there is a current trend to take so many remedies that symptoms of illness are completely masked - and it makes me curious as to how many situations there are when that practice is actually counterproductive. for example, if you have an illness which is causing a fever, (mild fever, not a high risk fever) will you recover faster if you allow the fever to run its course, or if you take medication to control the fever. similarly, if you have an injury which involves inflammation, will taking medication to eliminate the inflammation slow the healing?
on a related note - how much does this practice encourage people to fail to properly care for their recovery - which would result in prolonging the problem.
|
|
|
|
Post by Antigone68104 on Sept 21, 2014 15:48:11 GMT
For me, if I can force a fever to break by going to bed and loading every blanket available on top of me, I get better sooner than if I take aspirin to reduce the fever. But one data point proves nothing except the existence of the data point.
|
|
|
|
Post by silverdragon on Sept 22, 2014 9:32:48 GMT
NSAID's are holy grail. Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory... Ibuprofen.... or similar.... They dont stop healing, they promote it, but they mostly stop it hurting. "If it hurts it must be getting better", I dont hold with that. I take enough prescribed pain killers daily to level some of you, but I aint getting better.... Degenerative, and Acute with Arthritis sort of indicate its a one way street. PK's are my way of prolonging my ability to get moving in the morning.... They cure nothing, but heck, I am walking.... aint that brilliant?....  |
|
|
|
Post by OziRiS on Sept 22, 2014 13:57:01 GMT
While painkillers are certainly helpful to people like SD who have chronic pains with no options for lasting treatment, or for people with extremely severe injuries that would be impossible to treat without first managing the pain, for everyone else they're one of the worst things we've ever invented. Treating symptoms instead of the disease/injury can and in many cases will cause more harm than good. Pain is the body's way of telling you "don't do this, it's not healthy for you" and we mask those signals on a regular basis and go right ahead with the things our bodies are now unable to tell us are bad for us.
Take a simple thing like a knee injury. You trip over something and twist your knee and it hurts like hell to stand and walk. That's a pretty good signal that something's wrong inside your knee and that you probably shouldn't stand or walk for a while, or at least do so in moderation. Do you listen? Nope. Painkillers take away the signal, so you're all good, right? Never mind the fact that when you wake up in the morning after having taken the last painkiller 8 hours earlier, so the effects have now worn off, the pain is now worse than it was when you first injured yourself. No need to worry about that. Just pop an extra pill and you'll be fine! Fast forward a couple of years and now you're wondering why you're beginning to have ankle, hip and back problems.
People need to understand that pain isn't merely an inconvenience that needs to be removed, but we have that capability and we've built our society around that fact. If you're hurt in some way, people expect you to do something about it and take some pills so you can get back to work. Try telling your employer that your injury's going to need at least a year of physical therapy and reduced workload to heal properly and you'll be looking for a new job. Tell him you'll be out for a week and then you can scrape by on painkillers, regardless of the consquential damages to your body and he's a happy camper. Never mind that you'll barely be able to walk in 10 years. He needs you back to work NOW!
|
|
|
|
Post by the light works on Sept 22, 2014 14:35:18 GMT
"pain is your body's way of telling you you shouldn't oughta done that"
|
|
|
|
Post by OziRiS on Sept 22, 2014 14:56:36 GMT
"pain is your body's way of telling you you shouldn't oughta done that" Why did I by default go to my inner Forrest Gump voice while reding that?  |
|
|
|
Post by the light works on Sept 22, 2014 15:06:05 GMT
"pain is your body's way of telling you you shouldn't oughta done that" Why did I by default go to my inner Forrest Gump voice while reding that? because the expression "shouldn't oughta done that" is best said in a broad southern accent? |
|
|
|
Post by OziRiS on Sept 22, 2014 19:45:00 GMT
Why did I by default go to my inner Forrest Gump voice while reding that? because the expression "shouldn't oughta done that" is best said in a broad southern accent? Right along with "buttocks" and "I'm not a smart man, but I do know what love is" |
|
|
|
Post by silverdragon on Sept 23, 2014 6:51:02 GMT
Pain is my constant companion.
|
|
|
|
Post by the light works on Sept 23, 2014 15:49:00 GMT
Pain is my constant companion. I wish at times there was a way to objectively measure pain with a calibrated instrument. I think I've told you the story of the guy complaining about his knee pain being at 10 on a scale of 1-10, WHILE WALKING NORMALLY. sorry dude - if people can't tell I am in pain, it is no higher than 3. Maybe 4 if they're ignorant. |
|
|
|
Post by ironhold on Sept 24, 2014 1:16:53 GMT
Pain is my constant companion. Same here. I've got numerous injuries that never healed right, many of which didn't heal right because my parents used to hold the mentality that if I was conscious enough to complain about whatever injury I had and wasn't visibly bleeding then it meant that I was just fine. My mom actually took to calling me a "drama queen" for a while, and my folks used to try and compare their injuries to mine. They quit comparing things when I seriously started talking about getting the ball rolling on filing for disability. I have no doubt that if I ever have a full physical, my prognosis will include some version of the phrase "How are you even still alive?!" because of all the injuries and organ damage / failure / other issues I've racked up. |
|
