Should there be one? Pain is a symptom of something else, treat the root cause.
Managing pain should only be a temporary measure.
Managing pain should only be a temporary measure.
"At least initially, a clinician probably will assume pain is a symptom of some underlying condition and prescribe analgesics, while focusing on discovering what the underlying problem might be. But if a cause cannot be found, if early treatments fail to bring improvement, and if pain persists for several months, it may progress to the point where it becomes a disease in itself, that is, an abnormal condition that impairs or disrupts normal bodily functioning (this is almost always chronic pain). Then, regardless of the initiating process, cause, or underlying disease, the clinician must focus on management of the pain condition in order to assist in restoring the individual to a better state of health. This is not to say that all pain is a serious disease. When pain is a disease in itself, however, it requires comprehensive assessment, care planning, and treatment."
From the peer-reviewed source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK92517/
Source: Had two pneumothoraces that resulted in lung surgery years ago, still get pain every day that I just have to ignore.
Humans aren't engineered like vehicles. Sometimes you just have a faulty "check engine light" and there's nothing you can do about it.
Then the notion of pain as the "fifth vital sign," came about. Some argue we resultantly now have an opioid epidemic.
There is a fascinating NPR show episode on this topic: https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/701219878/the-fifth....
Edit: another source of info: https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/publichealth...
I had surgery to remove a cyst that resulted in some scar tissue developing that presses on a nerve when stretched or compressed. Pretty acute pain when that happens - and pretty constant low level pain otherwise. No real "cure" as the odds are very high that the scar tissue will just re-form when excised.
In my case it's more like the "check engine light" was rewired to also light up when you press the clutch pedal. Sometimes all you can do is put some electrical tape over the light.
"The team bred genetically engineered mice from embryos that had HCN2 excised from their DNA. Subsequent experiments showed that these mice did not develop neuropathic pain (the kind that affects the nervous system and is often caused by long-term conditions such as cancer or diabetes). Not only that, the mice with HCN2 cut out were still able to feel acute pain – the necessary, protective jolt that tells us to remove our finger from a drawing pin. “That’s the holy grail,” McNaughton told me"
This is not to say better pain killers aren't valuable, they obviously are, it's just that for many of these chronic pain disorders there is some underlying cause that if we can treat would be the better solution.
Chemotherapy is a treatment that targets the actual cause of the pain (the cancer) and (hopefully) kills it, leading to remission and (hopefully) return to normal function of the person as a cancer free individual.
A pain killer is something that does not target the cause of pain, does not treat or reverse or cause remission for that cause, and does not cause the individual to be illness free.
It just makes the person feel less pain, so they can be more comfortable.
But no one is saying painkillers is pointless. Parent is saying painkillers should be temporary. I suspect they forgot to mention the "in an ideal world" bit.
Chronic pain clinics have a physical therapist that shows muscle building exercises, so the body stops being worn out.
However, depending on what the kind of wear is, as paradoxical as it seems, going for a walk for at least 20 minutes, can charge an exhausted body more than laying down without napping.