This article is deceptive. I’m a physician who treats back pain and other muscle-skeletal injuries. There’s good data out, and it matches with what I see clinically, that Tylenol for mild to moderate acute injuries is equal or superior to opioids.
Every time I post this, I get angry posts and private replies from the many people on this forum who are on chronic opioids for their pain. I really do feel bad about the daily discomfort they have, but daily opioids cure nothing, in fact, chronic use sensitizes you to pain, whereby as the drug wears off, your pain returns with greater intensity, thus the need to increase the dose and frequency,
There are people trying to work with pain, who are taking up to 3 to 4 strong opioids per day.
But, don’t take my word for it. Next time you hurt your back and you’re in too much pain to exercise or engage in PT, try two adult Tylenol three to four times per day, (you won’t need much), and see what happens.
It’s a great painkiller. Better than aspirin? Probably not.
Anyway, that’s my thought.
I can’t take anything BUT acetaminophen for pain. Aspirin can cause intestinal bleeding ( I have Ulcerative Colitis), and about 1 1/2 years ago I had a liver transplant- not because I took too much Tylenol, but my immune system was destroying my liver. I can’t remember the pain killers I had in the hospital, or what I was prescribed when I came home. Believe me, 14” incision across my abdomen hurt like hell for a while. I never exceeded the recommended dosage with the prescribed painkiller, and even now I only take the recommended dosage if I need any at all. I DO however take one baby aspirin as well as a prescription blood thinner because of a stent they inserted in a re-attached blood vessel.
Nothing, but NOTHING hurt worse than trying to get out of bed to go to the bathroom for a while after I came home. Even with my wife’s assistance.
I have chronic back pain from work injuries years ago. I get trigger point shots in several places on my back every 4-6 months. I also have been taking Tylenol (1 650mg) per day for a long time which helped me a lot because I refuse opioids. My pain doctor has now put me on Celebrex 100mg once a day which helps some days and not others. It has been rather an up and down experience with the pain and I think of just doing the trigger point shots and when the pain gets bad, having a couple beers! Forget the other drugs.
Those are valuable thoughts. However, if an individual such as my dear friend has non-alcoholic liver problems, could such a person take aspirin short-term, perhaps buffered aspirin or in combination with a stomach-protecting agent such as bismuth?
So, why is 500 MG aspirin so hard to find?
Max on the shelves I see now is 325 mg.