We Need Fewer Painkillers. We Need More Pain Enhancers

Annual sales of pain management drugs in the US is expected to be $32.79 billion in 2025. These sales include both prescription opioids and over the counter analgesics. By 2033, forecasts of sales expect the market will reach $46.51 billion.

Although opioid sales have been declining since 2010, they still make up the bulk of the market.

About 10.7% of the US population (34 million people or so) have taken some kind of pain medication in the last 30 days.

Granted there are a lot of legitimate uses for pain killers. Major surgery would be unbearable without them. Same with traumatic accidents.

That’s not why a lot of people take painkillers. Many people take them for the slightest aches or pains.

A headache.

A joint issue.

A pulled muscle.

Granted, it does feel better to relieve the pain. And it’s nice to not have to worry about the bad feeling.

That’s the problem. Pain is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. Painkillers can turn off that signal. Your body wants you to figure out why you have that pain and correct it. It wants to remind you until you take action. Yet people would rather have a painkiller stop the signal.

“I’ll deal with the root cause later” is what painkillers allow you to do. The trouble is later never comes. People never resolve to change their lifestyle and fix the pain forever.  They just wait until the pain comes back and take more painkillers.

I’ve had a bad lower back for years. I first injured it while weightlifting for football in high school. The pain would come and go. As I grew older, it would be difficult to get out of bed in the morning. Eventually as I walked around more each day the pain lessened.

From time to time I would take Tylenol when the pain was particularly bad.

But every morning that pain was a reminder that I needed to do something about my back. That reminder kept me motivated to find a fix.

It led me to change my diet. First to cutting out sugar. Then to a vegan diet (didn’t work). Then to a carnivore diet.

Today I am back-pain free.

Pain has another role in this process. It’s not just a signal. Changing your lifestyle can be painful as well. Giving up sugar? Not easy to say the least. Eating vegan only. DEFINITELY not easy. Carnivore was a little easier but I still am tempted by some carbs from time to time.

Likewise exercise. Starting an exercise program after being sedentary for a period of time is painful. No doubt about it.

How about sitting in a sauna? We have to work to convince our residents to do it. Or taking cold showers or ice plunges? Painful.

Many of the best health interventions you can do for yourself involve pain in one form or another. Whether it’s psychological like dietary changes, or physical like exercise or cold showers, the best results come from painful changes.

Not popping a pill and hoping for the best.

Next time you have a pain, don’t go for the pill bottle right away. Ask yourself what you can do to eliminate that pain forever. And if the fix involves some more pain (it usually does)..embrace it.