> I assume your suggesting that analgesia prevents the detection of wound infection? You misread what I said. Pain is part of the feedback loop that keeps you

> I assume your suggesting that analgesia prevents the detection of wound infection? You misread what I said. Pain is part of the feedback loop that keeps you from straining your skin, muscle and bones past their tearing/breaking point. People who don't feel pain are many times more likely to injure themselves, especially when they already have wounds that might re-open through the wrong movement. Pain is likely to stop wrong movements long before you can make your condition worse. Mostly pain is a "desirable" sensory input. But it's understandable that people don't like it. There's obviously cases where you want to prescribe strong painkillers - but if you're taking those you shouldn't be out and about anyways and have people watching over you. For most post-op pain you shouldn't be on strong painkillers for long though, lest you undo the work your doctors put into you.