How Do Painkillers Work?
By: Maddy Cox
- These pills work with the cells inside your body, nerve endings, your nervous system and brain to keep you from feeling pain.
Pain
When Prostaglandins Are Released
Different Kinds Of Pills
Prostaglandins
- Pain is your body's early warning that something in your body is wrong.
- Prostaglandins are any group of cyclic fatty acid compounds with varying hormonelike effects, notably the promotion of uterine contractions
- Ibuprofen & Acetaminophen are the most common painkillers used by people.
- These come in liquids, pills and sometimes chewables.
- After prostaglandins are released they pass through the nerve endings bringing your pain to the nervous system to the brain telling it where the pain is and how much it hurts.
How Are They Stronger?
- Sometimes doctors will give you painkillers that are stronger than things like ibuprofen and acetaminophen.
- These will get in between your nerve cells so they can't bring pain to each other.
- You should not be using too much ibuprofen, 1-2 pills a day is enough.
- There are certain types of child ibuprofen that your younger kids could use.
Precautions For
Acetaminophen
- Nerve endings are sensitive to our prostaglandins.
- Nerve endings bring information to our brains when we experience pain.
- Adults shouldn't take more than 3 grams of acetaminophen in a day, if you take too much it can harm your liver.
- With Children follow packaging instructions for how many grams they could have in a day.
What Happens If You Overdose On Painkillers?
- Some things that could happen are: You stop breathing, Overdose can put you into a coma, And cases of death.
Signs your overdosing
- Cold and sweaty skin
- Confusion
- Shaking
- Extreme Sleepiness
- Trouble Breathing