Comments on: How Do Painkillers Find & Kill Pain?

By: André Agassi

André Agassi — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:50:26 +0000

A pharmacist 70 years of age pleaded innocent to charges of stealing prescription painkillers and trading them for sexual favors. Police said they began investigating P. Lussier after receiving tips that he was trading Vicodin, an addictive pain reliever, to a woman in her 30s in exchange for sex. Detective Sgt. S. H. said Lussier was carrying 100 pills when they arrested him as he left work at a Brooks Pharmacy in Palmer, Massachusetts on Wednesday evening.Lussier was arraigned Thursday on charges including drug trafficking and larceny of a controlled substance. He was ordered held on $100,000 bail. Police said they found thousands of prescription pills, including Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Viagra, when they searched Lussier’s home on Wednesday. They also found two .38-caliber handguns, Haley said.Lussier’s lawyer, Brian L. Blackburn, said his client has not been charged with any offenses in 21 years. In 1984, Lussier, then the owner of a Springfield pharmacy, received two years’ probation after pleading guilty to two counts of illegally dispensing the painkiller Percodan. In 1977, he was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to selling thousands of dollars’ worth of stimulants and depressants to undercover narcotics agents, this indicates in his article on findrxonline addiction of vicodin.

By: lew

lew — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:36:00 +0000

You can break the problem of being hooked on pain killeds,It takes a little time and some discomfort, I did by starting out by missing a dose ever other day then,missing on one 2 time aday and then so on and so on. It’s not easy nor is it without discomfort. I did the same with smoking after 30 years ,you just have to be willing to work at it. lew

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:05:46 +0000

Hi, i have a huge problem, by means of stupidity I have accidentally became addicted to painkillers and want nothing more than to rid myself of this crippling addiction.
If anyone reads this I NEED UR HELP!
Others sites are so swamped with people asking this making it hard to find the right info. ALSO, I CANNOT just go to the DR. or rehab to ween off of this stuff in fear of my family finding out.
SO
Does anyone know an “at home” way of getting off of opoids? I get the worst aches and pains as well as diarrhea and deep depression. I heard you can rid yourself of the dependency after 5 days free of opoids.

i know this is off topic but i need your help and mental floss writers and readers seem like the wisest people to ask!

By: Ali

Ali — Thu, 15 May 2008 13:36:54 +0000

Brilliant explained. Didn’t know how ibuprofen and paracetamol worked..
Only how morfine, codeine worked. So this was very interesting to me

Greetings from a 15-years old Dutch boy :)

By: lucidguru

lucidguru — Tue, 13 May 2008 20:25:15 +0000

They don’t “kill pain”… they interact with the CNS and PNS and usually influence the transmission of pain signals.

By: conrad

conrad — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:43:26 +0000

I find that Vikadin cures a hangover EVERY time!

By: BBrian

BBrian — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:20:53 +0000

FYI, codeine is over the counter where I live.

By: peterg

peterg — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:32:49 +0000

I have taken Aleve on several occasions for arthritic pain and found it completely ineffective! Ibuprofen works for mw, Aleve does not. Anyone else have that experience?

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:54:43 +0000

First off, it’s cyclooxygenase.

Second off, Asprin works on both the COX-1 AND COX-2 enzymes. COX-1 is involved with maintaining stomach lining, which explains the risk stomach issues (ulcers) of most OTC NSAID’s.

There are COX-2-only inhibitors, but many of them have run into side effect issues (primarily cardio-vascular related, and most of these drugs have been removed from the market). These are usually only reserved for people who have stomach complications with traditional NSAID’s.

The swelling you usually get during inflammation is more of an effect than a protection. When your body recognizes damaged cells, the chemical signals will open up spaces between the cells in your capillaries to let white blood cells, platelets, and plasmids in (thus generating the swelling. This is called vasodilation). This is a secondary line of defense in our immune system (the first being the unbroken skin) designed to ward off infection. These WBC’s (mostly neutrophils) engulf and destroy bacteria and other foreign objects.

Also, interestingly enough, check out the role of Omega-3 fatty acids on the reduction of inflammation.

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:51:41 +0000

You’re also leaving out drugs like Neurontin, Tegretol, and other anti-neuroleptics that were originally developed for their anti-seizure properties but are used to control pain through action on the nerve’s ability to conduct impulses within itself via electrolyte channels.