Different types of Painkillers - Jinju Eom

<Different types of Painkillers>

Jinju Eom

What do you usually do when you feel headache? Most of people would take some painkilling medicine and take rests. There are many kinds of drugs that release pain effectively, but among them I’d like to introduce three famous painkillers which have different chemical structures.

 First one is Acetylsalicylic acid which is well known as ‘Aspirin’. This term came from the first letter ‘A’ with the scientific name of willow trees, Spiraea. It is used to treat pain, fever and inflammation. Not only it is useful to release pain, but prevent heart attacks, strokes and blood clots for the patients who is at high risk. Generally, Aspirin works within 30 minutes after you take it, which is very quick. Also this is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. However, as it is an acid, an upset stomach is the common side effect and it could be worse like stomach bleeding. It is not recommended in children with infections and in the last part of pregnancy. And if you take overdose, it may result in ringing in the ears.

 The second one is Acetaminophen, so called ‘Tylenol’. This term came from the chemical name ‘N-acetyl-para-aminophenol’. It works less on inflammation, but it works more effectively in terms of painkilling and reducing fever than the Aspirin. It is generally safe at recommended doses but when you take too much, that can result in severe liver failure and death within days. Especially this medicine has bad combination with alcohol that interrupts in degrading medicine.

 The last one is Ibuprofen which is sold as Advil, Brufen and so on. It is the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system compared to other painkillers because it has fewer side effects. Therefore, it is available as a generic medication. It reduces pain, fever and inflammation. But like other medicines, it has side effects such as liver and kidney failure when you take overdose of it.

 I think the most important thing in taking medicines is taking them after reading instruction, especially the precaution part. The researchers regularly update their instructions of drugs so you can easily get new information about the medicine that you are going to take. Painkillers help you feel better when you have pain, but all of them has side effect in specific circumstances. Thus, even if you can buy them without prescription, it is necessary to check the information about them.