An article in the health news yesterday reported on a study that patients taking NSAIDS (anti-inflammatories like Advil) after their first heart attack were significantly more likely to die within five years then those who don’t. If it’s true, it’s important news. There are a lot of people who have had heart attacks who use Advil regularly.
Researchers don’t know why, but here’s one possibility that makes sense to me.
Pain, for the most part, is a normal body response. It’s our body saying, “Stop what you’re doing. I’m trying to fix something here.” The problem is that this very convenient messaging system is very inconvenient in our culture. We’re not accustomed to pain, and don’t have the time or tolerance for it.
Instead, we take a pain-killer. But for the heart attack patient who’s done damage to his heart, the pain-killer takes away the signal that the body is sending to sit still and heal. The result? He can now get up, move around, maybe even go to the mall or mow the lawn before his body is actually ready to. This, of course, does more damage instead of facilitating healing, and eventually he winds up with another heart attack because the heart muscle hasn’t healed properly.
There’s no denying painkillers are impressive. As a very occasional user of these medicines, I’m always amazed at how fully and completely an Advil will take away an ache or a pain. I understand the draw to want to use it all the time–as a 41 year old I have my share of aches and pains.:)
But the moral of the story is this: use them sparingly. Use them to make your recovery more bearable, but don’t let them get in the way of your healing process.