
Your pain reliever may also be diminishing your joy - hydrogen18
http://news.osu.edu/news/2015/04/13/emotion-reliever/
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kranner
I have to bring this up in case someone decides to self-experiment:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_toxicity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol_toxicity)

TL;DR: Don't take more than 3 grams a day.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Also, take care to notice how many other medicines have
acetaminophen/paracetamol. If you take tylenol for pain and also take cough
syrup then you could be doubling up on paracetamol. If you take too much of
each, which is common, and maybe take the 2nd dose a little too soon after the
1st, and maybe if you have a habit of chronic drinking you could easily get
yourself into severe trouble without even knowing it.

~~~
kranner
Agreed, that's why it's better to get paracetamol-free variants of medicines
if available.

Also, caffeine makes paracetamol more effective for pain relief. There are
pills available with paracetamol + 50mg caffeine (or just take two cups of
coffee); this may be more effective than doubling up on the paracetamol.

~~~
MichaelGG
Unfortunately, the DEA and US public like to poison people with APAP to reduce
the perceived danger from opiates. Someone, literally, decided that if you add
APAP to hydrocodone then it can be under a lesser restriction (Schedule III).
Not to mention the doctors that go along with this wickedness and are very
hesitant to prescribe opiates without APAP.

And just look at the outrage a year or two back when Zohydro was announced.
All they did was remove APAP from hydrocodone tablets, but it was spun as
creating super power heroin for everyone.

~~~
InclinedPlane
It's just classic puritanical morality run amok, as usual. They'd rather that
some people died from paracetamol overdoses than be allowed to live as
"sinners".

~~~
maccard
Not really. Opiates are terrifyingly addictive, especially compared to
paracetamol, and inhibit your senses and abilities far more than paracetamol.
Their side effects when mixed with other commonly (ab)used products such as
alcohol, diazepam are far more dangerous than the interactions those other
drugs have with paracetamol. There is definitely a reason to be concerned when
companies are pushing out more variations on existing products.

I'm NOT saying that the appropriate reaction is to get up in arms about
companies pushing opiates, but some care should be taken. I don't know what
the correct solution is, but I'd hazard a guess that freeing the sale of
opiates to anyone over the counter tomorrow will result in more problems than
we have currenty. Especially as there are other less drastic alternatives
available for various pain sources.

~~~
kranner
In the context of pain relief, there are also issues like building a tolerance
and developing increased pain sensitivity due to long-term use of opiates.

~~~
maccard
I've definitely noticed a massively increased tolerance for opiates, but not
an increase in pain sensitivity.

~~~
bfuller
You wouldn't notice the sensitivity unless you are completely off the drug

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jstanley
For those outside the US, it seems acetaminophen is the same as paracetamol.

~~~
robin_reala
It’s paracetamol in the UK too.

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learc83
I remember reading a while back that acetaminophen can dull existential dread.

[http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/19/tylenol-fights-fear-
of...](http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/19/tylenol-fights-fear-of-the-
abyss/)

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sgift
Pain also dimishes my joy. Pain relievers are shit, but pain is far worse.

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Qantourisc
I often wonder if there is a way to fix the dislike/uncomforted of pain
without removing it. Rather then bombarding your body to inhibit this feeling.

~~~
kranner
Meditation is supposed to be able to achieve this.

I've experienced it exactly once in a 45-minute session and it only lasted a
few minutes. At the time my elbow was hurting quite a bit (I have hemophilia
and arthritic damage from frequent bleeds); for that brief duration, I
continued to experience the pain but it was akin to observing that an object
is a particular colour, rather than suffering personally.

~~~
geomark
Achieving the desired mental states of meditation is hard for most people.
We're so used to constantly moving about with our minds flitting from one
thing to another Meditation is precisely the opposite of that.

But if you do there are many great benefits, including reducing the suffering
of physical pain. Like you said, you can reach a mental state where you just
observe the physical pain - you know it is there but you don't suffer from it.

Disclaimer: I was a Buddhist monk for a while. I meditated a lot.

~~~
kranner
While the state lasted, it was extremely interesting. It's one thing to read
about it, and another to experience it. It's the simplicity that was so
surprising. At the time I almost laughed when I remembered how I would
normally react to what was just a painful joint. That's when I lost my grip,
so to speak, and went back to feeling _ow, ow, ow._

~~~
geomark
Yeah, holding on to that state is a challenge. Need to experience it many
times so the mind gets in the habit of just slipping into it. Problem is, when
you try too hard to get there you can't. You're grasping, clinging, which
defeats you. Gotta let go, as they say. It's subtle, but profound.

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neolefty
Anecdotally, I notice something similar with Naproxen -- it's great for
diminished pain from aches and pains, but it also seems to make life less
exciting.

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tsaoutourpants
Clearly they're using the wrong pain reliever. ;)

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wz1000
> So the researchers did a second study in which they had 85 people view the
> same photos and make the same judgments of evaluation and emotional
> reactions as in the prior study.

> Once again, individuals who took acetaminophen (compared to placebo) had
> evaluations and emotional reactions to both negative and positive
> photographs that were significantly blunted.

Couldn't a possible explanation for this be that the "judging" was already
done the first time(under the effects of paracetamol) and the brain simply
reuses the "cached" judgment?

~~~
rosser
I think you're misreading the study design. 85 people viewed the same photos,
some of whom had taken acetaminophen, and some of whom hadn't. The researchers
then compared the emotional intensity experienced by the two groups (and, in
the specific study about which you're quoting, the participants' experience of
the color blue).

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Florin_Andrei
At this point we'd have to make sure if any part of this effect is permanent,
or whether it all disappears when the drug is metabolized.

~~~
hydrogen18
Well, if it is permanent there would be no difference in the placebo group.
Anyone who isn't allergic to acetaminophen and live in the west has taking at
least a 500mg dose in their lifetime. Even if you consciously tried to avoid
it, there is a good chance you were administered it before or after surgery.

~~~
Florin_Andrei
That's a pretty scary thought.

~~~
hydrogen18
Why? Acetaminophen makes you act differently. Big deal. It isn't as if we're
all being administered drugs like in Equilibrium.

