I have never been a great one for pills, but in the last year I have found myself taking four a day, regularly - and occasionally more. Two of these I've been taking for years, for my high blood pressure - losing two stone hasn't made much difference to that yet. The other 2 are the high dose of anti-uric acid I am taking for the gout. Recently my GP tried ant-acids but they didn't make much difference. I stopped taking them, as ranitidine has some nasty, albeit rare, side effects. So the other pills I take, occasionally, are pain killers.
I am puritanical about them. I take ibuprofen for any joint/muscle pain, but I know that taking them regularly is bad, and does increase your chance of having a stroke. As my mother took them regularly from her 50s on wards and had a stroke aged 72 I tend to avoid them unless the pain is unbearable and prevents me doing things, or wakes me up at night.
Recently my GP has suggested paracetemol for my pain, coincidentally I heard a medical programme on Radio 4 which said what I had always suspected, that paracetemol doesn't actually work (except for getting temperature down and delighting babies - I can clearly remember the Calpol magic, the first time I gave Ned a spoonful). I've very seldom used paracetemol, as a child we usually had aspirin, until we were told paracetemol was better. Perhaps it was. When I had period pain as a young woman there was a magnificent drug called Veganin - which I don't think exists any more, but it was an aspirin and codeine mix. I realised then that codeine was probably the only really worthwhile easily available painkiller. This view was confirmed when the Greek government banned its import into Greece: you couldn't take it in your luggage for personal use.
So now I am taking co-codamol, and it works for several hours and I am able to take it in the evening and it helps me sleep without waking in any possible pain. I am also experiencing bouts of light-headedness and occasional shaking... possibly low blood sugar? However, I find if the pain is bad in the morning, I take it then too and it helps me get through the day with an illusion of capacity.
I am puritanical about them. I take ibuprofen for any joint/muscle pain, but I know that taking them regularly is bad, and does increase your chance of having a stroke. As my mother took them regularly from her 50s on wards and had a stroke aged 72 I tend to avoid them unless the pain is unbearable and prevents me doing things, or wakes me up at night.
Recently my GP has suggested paracetemol for my pain, coincidentally I heard a medical programme on Radio 4 which said what I had always suspected, that paracetemol doesn't actually work (except for getting temperature down and delighting babies - I can clearly remember the Calpol magic, the first time I gave Ned a spoonful). I've very seldom used paracetemol, as a child we usually had aspirin, until we were told paracetemol was better. Perhaps it was. When I had period pain as a young woman there was a magnificent drug called Veganin - which I don't think exists any more, but it was an aspirin and codeine mix. I realised then that codeine was probably the only really worthwhile easily available painkiller. This view was confirmed when the Greek government banned its import into Greece: you couldn't take it in your luggage for personal use.
So now I am taking co-codamol, and it works for several hours and I am able to take it in the evening and it helps me sleep without waking in any possible pain. I am also experiencing bouts of light-headedness and occasional shaking... possibly low blood sugar? However, I find if the pain is bad in the morning, I take it then too and it helps me get through the day with an illusion of capacity.
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