The United Kingdom's Daily Mail Online, certainly my top source for up-to-the-minute health news, recently published an article titled "Which pills should you take to beat your pain?"
Their painkiller guide is actually quite good, with an emphasis on non-narcotic NSAIDs. I know that most of them are very effective, especially for bone-on-bone pain; I also know that they're very rough on the stomach. The last time I really felt like my bone pain was being contained was with the medication Diclofenac. And then came a smidge of internal bleeding and some bloodwork anomalies. "Drat!" I recall exclaiming in a fit of profound pique. "Doggone and shucks!"
The best part of the article comes at the end. After 25 entries for prescription drugs, the 26th reads as follows:
26. PLACEBO: Research based on more than 10,000 people show that 18 per cent of those given the sham treatment get a 50 per cent plus improvement in pain levels.
I've always found the idea of relief via the placebo effect fascinating and I know that it is sometimes very effective for me. It is odd, but I am able to consciously apply it -- that is, when my pain is out of control, I will take my allotted amount of breakthrough medication and then tell myself that in 30-40 minutes, I *will* have relief. I make a point of checking the time and then I write down the time by which I expect to have this relief.
It rarely fails.
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