Pain Relievers Often Cause Pain

In a recent article in the Archives of Internal Medicine and in another piece by the American Heart Asosciation, NSAIDS, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, have been shown to cause high blood pressure in men, and heart disease and stroke in both men and women. They are referring, of course , to the chronic use of pain killers. In cosmetic surgery I am concerned with side effects of pain relievers in the acute setting, right after surgery. We have been taught that we can achieve a pain free experience by taking narcotic drugs. However, those same drugs reduce our pain threshold, causing even more pain and also depress our emotions causing moodiness and sadness. In contrast, walking outdoors creates joy and a sense of well-being and it is an excellent pain reliever. Common sense tells us that we have to balance these two sides of pain perception in caring for ourselves after surgery. The sooner we walk, the better we feel, and the less medications we need. Certainly for skin and fat surgery, which is much of cosmetic surgery, pain relievers are not needed and my patients begin their exercise the same night or the next morning at the latest by walking outdoors.
Two weeks ago a surgeon out west had heard one of my lectures and called to ask me what he was doing wrong. His patients lie in bed after liposuction and take pain relievers. My patients are walking vigorously the next morning and take no pain medications. After reviewing his techniques I found him to be a competent physician with healthy concern for his patients and good techniques in surgery. “Then what am I doing wrong?” he asked. “It’s simple,” I said. “You don’t believe and I do.” Narcotics and pain relievers in general have a place in medicine. However, I think they are overly used.