Pain meds: the cold, hard truth

Pills, pills, pills! They have side effects and focusing on pills too much can lead you to miss out on natural remedies that are just as beneficial with less risk. They're worth a try, especially if you don't want to be on meds long-term.

• Before setting out on a path to eradicate your pain that involves taking medications, prescription or not, find out what you need to know about using over-the-counter and prescription pain relievers safely and effectively.

Even over-the-counter (OTC) medications have side effects that patients might not always fully appreciate.

• Acetaminophen, found in Tylenol, can seriously damage the liver if you take even a little more than you should.
• Drugs like aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and naproxen (Aleve), known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), can cause stomach irritation and bleeding.
• Long-term use of ibuprofen has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack, possibly in part because it cancels out the heart-protective effects of daily aspirin therapy.
• Overreliance on anti-inflammatories can even make some conditions worse; for instance, if you take them too often for headaches, you may suffer from rebound headaches once you stop.

Even prescription NSAIDs aren't risk-free.

• You may remember headlines, some time ago, about prescription NSAIDs called COX-2 inhibitors, which were supposed to block pain and inflammation without inflaming the lining of the stomach.
• The story had a mostly bad ending, and only one of the drugs in this class remains on the market, with serious warnings attached to it.

Some doctors are also hesitant to use the big-gun opioid (narcotic) drugs, including morphine and oxycodone, because of the increasing amount of drug abuse and illegal drug sales.

• And patients worry about taking them for fear of addiction or fuzzy-headedness.

It's not only the side effects and potential abuse that have made the medical community think carefully about pain meds. It's a quality-of-life issue, too.

• If your ultimate goal isn't just to relieve your pain but to get back as nearly as possibly to your old pain-free life, staying numbed on medication isn't necessarily the answer.

There are cases where people rate their pain as a ten out of ten, take medications, and the rating goes down to one.

• But they are sleepy all the time, and their life is worse.
• There are also patients who rate their pain as an eight, get it down to a seven, and can have their lives back.
• The person who has little change in their pain score may be a treatment success. The key is improving quality of life.

The fact is that medications on their own are unlikely to eradicate pain.

• But you can help them work more effectively by taking other steps to get relief, whether it's stretching, changing your diet, trying acupuncture or shifting your attitude.
• We are a pill-focused society. We want to take pills to cure everything. But pills can only do so much. Pain medication treats only part of the problem.
• And there is always risk. In fact, there is no risk-free option, including doing nothing.

The question is, how much risk do you want to take? You should talk to your doctor and together, choose the therapy that's the most effective with the least amount of risk.