Suffering from a severe injury, surgery, or other ailment can cause you to have severe pain for a long period of time. For most people, the struggle is quite genuine and serious. While a doctor may recommend painkillers to help relieve the pain and to ensure that you can function normally throughout your day, it is not always the case. Some doctors are hesitant to prescribe painkillers because they may not believe that the patient needs them. If don’t have access to painkillers, then pain relievers may be your next best option. However, one of the main questions that most people have is whether these types of pain medications, which you get over-the-counter, really work?
What are Over-the-Counter Pain Medications?
Pain medication comes in two forms: over-the-counter and prescription drug. If you don’t have a prescription, then you may need to rely on the drugs that you can get at your local pharmacy or grocery store. There are two subcategories to over-the-counter drugs, which are Acetaminophen and non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. If you are looking for specific pain relief, then you may want to rely upon Acetaminophen rather than the anti-inflammatory type. However, if your pain is caused by inflammation, then the anti-inflammatory is best.
How Do They Work?
Understanding how these drugs work can help you gauge whether you want to rely on them for your pain relief. Essentially, when you take an over-the-counter drug for pain relief, these drugs prevent your body from producing a compound that causes your pain. This compound is known as paracetamol. Some drugs, depending on the brand, will work immediately. Other times, the drug can take a bit of time to be effective. In addition, these drugs remain effective for about eight hours. As the eight hours come to an end, the pain may return. This means that you may need to take over-the-counter drugs on a regular basis. The downside with this approach is that over-the-counter relievers can cause liver and kidney damage if taken for a long period of time.
Summary
Overall, over-the-counter relievers do work, but they just don’t have the strength and pain relief capabilities as prescription drugs. Over-the-counter options are meant to reduce pain that isn’t chronic and that does not last for more than a few hours. Keeping this in mind can help you make an informed decision about the pain relief approach you want to take. Of course, if the OTC painkillers are not enough you can always go online to buy painkillers – click here for details. If you do decide to buy painkillers online, just be sure you are dealing with a licensed pharmacy like our reference site. Otherwise you could get some seriously negative health consequences.