The US has an opiate epidemic in no small parts due to a overprescription and "just medicate the problem away, can't take a day off" mentality. A while ago the

The US has an opiate epidemic in no small parts due to a overprescription and "just medicate the problem away, can't take a day off" mentality. A while ago there was a very relevant article about this on HN, an American woman moved to Germany and had some surgery done. She had pain after the surgery, and from her American experiences she expected to be given heavy painkillers. Instead the doctors prescribed her ibuprofen and told to rest well. At first she felt that was barbaric, but the article described how actually taking a rest to heal up, completely changed her view and how ultimately she was very glad not having had to depend on opiates to get trough that. I wish I could find that article again, but sadly I couldn't, maybe somebody else remembers it and can share the link.