3 ms·

My family always had boxes of it around the place when I was growing up. Never really had much use for pain killers. But when I was in my early 20s, no money, n

My family always had boxes of it around the place when I was growing up. Never really had much use for pain killers. But when I was in my early 20s, no money, not looking at myself, I cracked a tooth in half and it took a few days to see the dentist. It was excruciating. First thing I did, take paracetamol (our name for acetaminophen). It did absolutely nothing. The pain was like a lightning bolt from tooth to brain. After another 30 minutes, I couldn't handle it any more, went to the pharmacy and got aspirin. That worked within 20 minutes. I have never taken acetaminophen since then. If it's a low intensity pain, then I can handle it myself. If I need actual pain relief I'll use an NSAID. Finding out later that paracetamol dosage is super close to overdose, and how it actually kills you... That put the tin hat on it.

Jolter 1y ago
Super close may be an exaggeration but could certainly be voted “most likely analgesic to let you take an intentional overdose”.
oliwarner 1y ago
Neuropathic pain (which dental pain mostly is) is poorly handled. I agree, paracetamol isn't perfect for every type of pain. NSAIDs help relieve pressure and can help, and opioids can waffle-stomp most pain but only for a little while and with dire risks of dependency, but for-purpose drugs like gabapentin are usually a lot more effective at blocking even high intensity neuropathic pain. Unlike NSAIDs, you can take them long term without needing a cocktail of PPIs to keep your stomach from imploding, and they're non-addictive.