SHOULD WE BE TAKING PAIN KILLERS.
We’ve all read about doping scandals surrounding professional athletes,
in fact there were more sensational revelations very recently, but what is the truth
behind how safe are commonly accepted pain killers?
Recognisable pain killers like Ibuprofen and Paracetamol are not
on the 'banned' list and are not actually prohibited to athletes as they are not steroids. These are what are known as ‘non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory medications’ and are widely used against DOMS, or 'Delayed
Onset Muscle Soreness' and mostly anyone who’s ever participated in some form of
exercise will know all about how that feels. In
fact some even take medications in advance of training in the hope that soreness will not
set in the following day.
So how safe are they? Well they
are perfectly safe for occasional use, but they are not recommended to be taken
daily. They work by blocking the action
of COX isoenzymes or Cyclooygenase enzymes which have a variety of functions
relating to most vital organs. Among these function is the process of healing inflammation.
These COX isoenzymes assist with the routine chores of a vital hormone
called Prostaglandin, which we’ll call hormone ‘P’. Hormone ‘P’ although you may never have heard
of it is very active in the human body and is found is almost every tissue,
without exception.
If taken too regularly these widely available pain killers can disrupt
or even damage the stomach lining and/or intestinal walls. If you’ve heard that pain killers can cause
the stomach to bleed then this is the reason, and more seriously, in severe cases it could lead onto
developing an ulcer. So although
blocking COX isoenzymes can assist in pain relief, if at the same time the
hormone ‘P’ actions are impeded too much then there are possible side effects, potentially leading to
damage to other organs including the kidneys.
Hormone ‘P’ is active in maintaining blood flow to the kidneys and when
this is disrupted complications can arise.
The message here then is to stay hydrated. If you take pain killers drink plenty
throughout the day.
Another factor can be the reduced production of the protein
Collagen. Collagen, which exists in all
human connective tissue, and is used to help in healing is needed if a muscle,
tendon, cartilage or even skin is damaged.
So to diminish its yield is detrimental in the entire healing
process.
It can’t always been beneficial to mask pain. Though, probably very good if you wake up with a
banging headache and need to be heading out to work, it helps to stave off the pain to enable you to get busy with your day, but not so good say on a
torn muscle because the feeling of pain is the body's warning that there’s a problem. Stopping the pain signals could allow
overuse of a torn or injured muscle and therefore encourage further damage. It’s also possible that
the effects of the pain killers can occur throughout the entire body as they’re
not just directed to one specific area, or site of pain, they will inevitably
impact across the whole body so may for instance cause impaired concentration.
It is quite serious to understand the implications of certain
medications as a number of prescription tablets were removed from the market as
there were dire indicators that they were linked to stroke and heart
attack. So try not to take pain killers too
often, drink plenty of fluids and be aware that for some, addiction can develop.
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