Reading this thread, I kinda feel weird.
When I was a child, I use to take tablets for headache (no idea which ones. I was a child.) and almost every time, the headache came back more intense than before, when the effect wore off.
Later, I started understanding that headaches (and other pains) happen for a reason and it is better to find out the reason and fix it, than just turn off the alarm.
So now, even if I get hurt due to something, I say no to pain relievers. This has even saved me from re-injuring a previous injury a few times.
- Sprained ankle / back pain : exercise and yoga.
- Cramps from exercise: next time do proper stretching after exercise.
- menstruation: I have no idea. never had that. sorry. But I can say for sure, people around me don’t tend to resort to taking pills all the time. Even those that have it hard.
- broke a ligament: definitely don’t take a pill, or you won’t realise if you are about to break it again.
Over here, pain management pills seems more like a last resort and not to be used for something that happens regularly. So, reading about it being treated like cereal, feels pretty weird.
Damn reasonable people pushing back the Nuclear Apocalypse, the Global Heating Armageddon, return to Dark Ages and all such major fun events/s.