I honestly believe that nothing can beat alcohol. Advil? Aleve? Tylenol? Aspirin? LOL. A few stiff drinks easily beats them all. This is personal experience talking. Results may vary. I have a low tolerance for alcohol, so it is still very effective. A few drinks, and I'm feeling no pain. Fortunately, I don't need it very often. So it should be effective for quite a while, as I have less that a dozen drinks a month.
Well I am guessing the your solution causes more pain than it alleviates, but okay. Just remember to drink lots of water before you go to bed.
I'm not an alcoholic. Sometimes the pain is just too much for the usual painkillers. I don't get rip roaring drunk. Just enough to dull the pain. And I usually do it when I have a flu, or whatever condition causes my muscles to ache. Like I said. I average less than twelve drinks a month.
The best way to relieve pain is to remove the source of it if possible. Some of us can actually alleviate it through mental concentration in some cases.
I've been trying that since childhood. Unfortunately I cannot as of yet use telepathy to make people evaporate into thin air Distraction is as good as concentration I suppose. Tylenol is better than either. 800mg motrin is the bomb.
Twelve drinks a month is quite a few--about three a week. Alcohol is a poison. I find Aleve works well for twelve hours, as advertised. Don't use Tylenol unless you have to; it is the one that can kill you if you take too much by making it impossible for the liver to get rid of the toxic byproducts it produces fast enough. If it is muscular pain heat and cold are helpful, as are aspirine creams, pepper (capsaicin) creams, and IMO some of the new gel forms of paikillers such as Aleve, which can be mixed with hand creams etc and applied directly to joints, etc. There are also useful Arnica creams and arthritis creams with herbs in them ( comfrey is supposed to promote healing, and I have found the one with that in it helpful) available in health food stores which can be quite useful, as well as some herbal preparations of various sorts--some proprietors can be quite helpful, or you can read up on herbs yourself--there are some quite useful small and inexpensive paperbacks with things listed by symptom. There are usually multiple herbs that can help with the same thing, so just go with whatever you can find that is affordable and generally considered safe, and don't over do usage. A muscle relaxant called cyclobenzaprine can also be helpful for tight muscles but requires a prescription and causes sleepiness. If your problem is muscular of course massage can help, and a good chiropractor can help make minor bone rearrangements that cause back and joint pain; I had a painful elbow for months that went away with one treatment; well worth the money. Hopefully you have had your pain checked out to rule out any preventable negative developments. There is also a heat radiant thing like an electric hot pad but using radiant heat which may help if the area has no old injufies of scarring...it is listed under torn meniscus treatments in Google. I bought one from Canada for about $150. If used carefully it can be helpful but also cause problems if used too long or at too high a power, or inattentively...basically, if it starts to feel bothersome, stop the treatment. If then yawning is then triggered, indulge in that as long as possible; for some reason yawning seems to act as a type of catharsis or erasure technique regarding injury or pain. Sometimes giving a ghost pain full attention can actually help erase it if you also do the yawning--but that won't work if you are medicated with alcohol or other neurologicallyu active substances. Allowing pain to become habitual is also not good, as the neurological pain pathways strengthen..sometimes pain management specialists can be helpful. If it's dental pain get it handled, as abscesses can be lethal, causing heart infection, etc. Homedics is now also selling over-the counter battery-operated TENS electrical stim units for about $50 (from England through Amazon) or bargain priced I found some at Aldi's about a month ago for less than half that...they again should not be used on old injuries and inflamed areas (cold is for inflammation about three days, then heat when inflammation gone). I used one on an old injury and have been having knee trouble ever since, so be careful if you try TENS on your own. Spook is right about the meditation too; it can increase blood flow to an area and help repair it in many cases, but rule out cancer first. Tumors actually flourish with more blood flow. For that possibility you could visualize the computer game where little circles gobble it up; might help. I tend to be lucky in that the worst pain I have experienced had come on so gradually that I handled it unconsciously, but the price was that I lost my ability to focus on anything demanding such as reading. After I got a joint replacement my ability to focus returned--so don't try to tough it out if there is anything you can do to handle it successfully medically.
I have multiple sclerosis, so I need to be careful about what I take. Also, when I said less than twelve drinks a month, I mean way less than twelve. I often go several months with out touching a drop. Most of the time, Advil will deal with it. Sometimes, it's so bad that Alcohol is required in order for me to be able to function. My total alcohol consumption is probably less than 50 ounces a year. Besides, the Bible says that a little wine makes the soul merry. It's not a poison, unless you over indulge...which the Bible also warns us about.
That doesn’t make it a “good” painkiller though. It’s not really addressing the pain but dulling your awareness of it along with pretty much everything else. The side-effects, short term and long term, will make it poor painkiller in most circumstances (and a disastrous one in some). You also have the problem of self-medicating without any guidance. Even over-the-counter medications have dosage and usage guidance (and they’re often less effective because people don’t follow them). Given that alcohol is potentially significantly harmful and addictive, it’s really not appropriate to recommend it as a regular source of pain relief.
MS is no fun, but I heard somewhere there are some new developments coming; probably worth it to keep your ear to the ground. I don't know if there are any particular nutrients that are helpful, but if you take statins you should check out COQ10.
Good grief! You make it sound like I'm an alcoholic. Have you been paying attention to what's been said? I said it's something that I rarely do. Once every few months.
Doesn't that stuff boost your immune system? If so, I can't take it, since my immune system is attacking my Nervous system. I remember drinking something with ginseng in it. The result was horrifying, but temporary. Thank God. My entire left side started tingling, then went numb. Even my face. Scary stuff.
I never implied anything about your use of alcohol, only your open recommendation of it to others as “the best non-prescription painkiller”.
The COQ10 is supposed to keep the muscular problem that sometimes develops when people take statins from happening. Some doctors believe the statins use up more of the COQ10 than is good for the system. With your condition, though, reading up on it first would be a good idea, or even ask your doctor.... Frankly, if I had MS I'd give it a shot if no counter indications, since it helps prevent a condition that affects muscles. - - - Updated - - - Some of us have histories of alcoholism in our ancestry and suspect we may easily become addicted, but others don't have this concern.
The only addictions I have are cigarettes and chocolate. I might be able to give up chocolate someday.^_^
Mostly, it's old age. My neck can really bother me sometimes. With a few bears in me, I can regain full range of motion and give it a workout. When the beer wears off, my neck is feeling better.
I'd use Aleve (or its generics), if I were in your shoes. Alcohol isn't a great pain killer, as it's rebound effects are worse than the pain.
When it gets that bad, Aleve can't even touch it. I don't drink enough to get plastered. Just enough to dull the pain. I don't get hung over. I simply get a few hours of relief.
I may react differently to alcohol, but I haven't found that it does much for my physical pain--emotional pain it temporarily helps.
These have the fewer side effects...meaning you can drive under their influence. I don't recommend alcohol as a painkiller if you plan on driving under it's influence. Acetaminophen Advil (Ibuprofen) Aleve (Naproxen Sodium) Ansaid Aspirin Beta-Blockers (when labeled & approved by the FDA for headache type) Caffergot Calcium-Channel Blockers Ibuprofen Imitrex Innopran XL (Propranolol Hydrochloride) Motrin (Ibuprofen) MotrinIB (Ibuprofen) Naprosyn (Naproxen Sodium) Naproxen (Naproxen Sodium) Sansert (Methysergide) Tylenol (Acetaminophen) Zomig
I never understood that part of being drunk. I always hear people saying alcohol dulls their pain but for me that just isn't the case. I've been out working on my car numerous times while more than slightly intoxicated and I'll bang my hand on something in the engine bay and it still hurt just as bad as when I'm sober. Same with being outside in the cold, I know plenty of buddies who will get drunk then go outside and start grilling in the snow wearing shorts. Meanwhile I'm still bundled up from head to toe because I'm still just as cold. Kudos to you for having a low alcohol tolerance by the way. Wish I had that, my tolerance is so ridiculously high that my bar tabs look like I just took a date to one of Gordon Ramseys 5 star restaurants.
Like I said, I have a very low tolerance. I have a flu, with some severe muscle aches. I bought a couple of 24 ounce lagers with 12% alcohol content. I was pain free for several hours. One did the trick. When that started to wear off, I started on the other one. - - - Updated - - - One of the few advantages of public transportation. ^_^
