Questions on pain relievers.

Several years ago, I worked with a chiropractor who used to tell patients not to take any pain medication. I disagreed with that approach, as I felt multiple strategies are often needed, especially for severe pain. Then he was in a car accident. He found chiropractic care extremely helpful. He also expressed considerable more appreciation for "the little brown M&M's", and he found it necessary to take them every four hours. He became much less dogmatic in telling people how to deal with pain. I feel it's important to not judge people who rely on medication to help with their pain. I also try to use whatever techniques that are available to relieve pain so that medication is ultimately unnecessary.

I get asked about pain medicine a lot. As a chiropractor, I'm not licensed to prescribe medications. I don't make recommendations for starting or stopping any medicine, including over the counter medications. I am not opposed to medicine, and recognize their neccessity in the healthcare of many people. I also feel if you can get by without it, you're often better off. When I'm asked, I'll defer to the patient's primary care doctor. I do need to ask patients questions about medications, especially pain medicines, as it gives me information on what's happening to the patient. It's fairly common for people to come to me because pain medication is not working for them. People often get in the habit of taking pain medicine on a daily basis without asking their doctor. Most over the counter pain medicines recommend that it not be taken for more than ten days without consulting a doctor, some patients I've seen have been taking them daily for years.

A recent Danish study looked at over a million individuals. It found the likelihood of heart attack or stroke increased 29% in patients who took ibuprofen. It was not just people who took medicines for long times. People who took high dosages, even for as short a time as only two weeks, saw an increase in heart problems and stroke. Naproxen was not found to have the same heart related side effects as ibuprofen. This was the first major study that saw this increase in cardiovascular problems in patients who had no prior record of cardiovascular problems. Heart problems were also seen with the less commonly used prescription medicines diclofenac and rofecoxib. As I've said, it's good to talk to your primary doctor if you have questions on changing a medicine. While this study saw benefits with naproxen in terms of heart disease, there are other side effects that may be more relevant to your health.

I was hesitant to blog about this because pain medication is a complex topic. As I said at the start, I'm not inherently against medicine. I don't want people who have to take pain medicine feel bad for taking it. I don't want people who'd be better off taking it to avoid or stop taking it. More studies will come out, likely making this an even more complicated subject. The techniques used in chiropractic are several orders of magnitude safer than pain medications. It's very common for us (the doctors at ABC Clinics) to see painful conditions that we can resolve with chiropractic care and physical therapy. If you have questions how we can help, please call or email.