DEFINITIONS OF SOME EXPRESSIONS YOUR DOCTOR MAY USE – SOME FACTS ABOUT PAINKILLERS (ASPIRIN)
I’ll just comment on one thing that may surprise you. You will see from the table that just two tablets of either aspirin or paracetamol, both easily available non-prescription painkillers, is about as strong as 20 milligrams of morphine taken by mouth. Surprising but true and very useful. You don’t need to rely on your doctors for supplies of painkillers as long as one of these drugs works for you and suits you. However, it is very important to know that you must not take aspirin if you are having a chemotherapy drug called methotrexate. Asprin is also not a safe painkiller if you have a stomach ulcer or if you bleed and bruise easily for any reason, but especially if you have a low platelet count. A problem with both aspirin and paracetamol is that it is neither safe nor pleasant to take more than about 4,000 milligrams per day of either one (that is twelve aspirin tablets of 300 milligrams each or eight paracetamol tablets of 500 milligrams each). Higher doses are likely to cause heavy sweating, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, confusion, and in the case of aspirin, ringing in the ears. Too much paracetamol can cause serious liver damage and too much aspirin can seriously disturb the balance of acids and minerals in the blood. This means that, on their own, aspirin and paracetamol are only useful as long as less than 4,000 milligrams per day is enough to control your pain. But don’t worry, there is no such limit for the other painkillers listed.
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