The only thing worse than having a bad headache

[darkswordsman17]

Back pain is far worse than a headache.

That's not really true in any absolute sense. Your typical headache might be little to nothing compared to your back pain, but others might have it different. That's part of why getting a full understanding of pain is an issue, as different people experience pain differently.

 

[Exterous]

Depending on the cause of the headache peppermint oil actually works for us and works slightly faster than OTC pain meds. We put it on the back of our necks (slightly behind and below the ears) although supposedly it works when applied to the temples as well.

 

[lxskllr]

Depending on the cause of the headache peppermint oil actually works for us and works slightly faster than OTC pain meds. We put it on the back of our necks (slightly behind and below the ears) although supposedly it works when applied to the temples as well.

That sounds suspiciously like snake oil, but I don't really get headaches to try it out. Can't hurt though, and it certainly smells good. I'd be interested in hearing about it from other people.

 

[disappoint]

Depending on the cause of the headache peppermint oil actually works for us and works slightly faster than OTC pain meds. We put it on the back of our necks (slightly behind and below the ears) although supposedly it works when applied to the temples as well.

That sounds suspiciously like snake oil, but I don't really get headaches to try it out. Can't hurt though, and it certainly smells good. I'd be interested in hearing about it from other people.

Sounds like the placebo effect.

 

[Exterous]

Sounds like the placebo effect.

Yes heaven forbid we do a 5 second google search as opposed to dismissing it

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4316718/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8805113

Compared to the application of placebo, a 10% peppermint oil in ethanol solution significantly reduced the clinical headache intensity already after 15 minutes (p < 0.01). This significant clinical reduction of the pain intensity continued over the one hour observation period. Acetaminophen, too, proved to be efficient compared to placebo (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference between the efficacy of 1,000 mg of acetaminophen and 10% peppermint oil in ethanol solution. Simultaneous application of 1,000 mg of acetaminophen and 10% peppermint oil in ethanol solution leads to an additive effect which remains below the significance threshold, however. The patients reported no adverse events. This controlled study showed for the first time that a 10% peppermint oil in ethanol solution efficiently alleviates tension-type headache. Peppermint oil thus proves to be a well-tolerated and cost-effective alternative to usual therapies.

 

[lxskllr]

Yes heaven forbid we do a 5 second google search as opposed to dismissing it

Medicine and food are very difficult to search for unless you're dedicated. What you find is 99% bullshit and idiots, unless you know enough to target quality journals with a decent search string. A random 5 second web search for medicine or food will likely leave you dumber than when you started.

 

[MrSquished]

Advil Blue Liquigels are the magic over the counter pill for me for pain. If it's quite bad I'll take 4 of them and it works the vast majority of the time. Tylenol, Aspirin & Aleve are all inferior.

 

[Exterous]

Medicine and food are very difficult to search for unless you're dedicated. What you find is 99% bullshit and idiots, unless you know enough to target quality journals with a decent search string. A random 5 second web search for medicine or food will likely leave you dumber than when you started.

A google search for 'peppermint oil headaches' brings up a WSJ and NCBI result in the first two pages. I'd be willing to bet it actually took me only 5 seconds to scan the URLs till I found those. I'm not sure saying 'well sometimes it doesn't work' is a good reason to absolve ourselves from a tiny bit of effort in looking

 

[purbeast0]

The only thing worse than having a bad headache, is having it with a 103.6 fever, body aches, joint aches, and having to watch a 2 year old. And to top it all off, I'm pretty sure it is Lyme disease! I won't know the Lyme test results until Friday or Monday though, but the doc said she will be really surprised if it comes back negative.

 

[purbeast0]

That's not really true in any absolute sense. Your typical headache might be little to nothing compared to your back pain, but others might have it different. That's part of why getting a full understanding of pain is an issue, as different people experience pain differently.

And the worst possible headache out there doesn't hold a candle to back pain caused from disc issues.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

And the worst possible headache out there doesn't hold a candle to back pain caused from disc issues.

I have never had a headache that made it hard to walk.

 

[disappoint]

Yes heaven forbid we do a 5 second google search as opposed to dismissing it

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4316718/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8805113

Did you really believe you have the monopoly on Google searches? Some people will believe anything. Has there been a study done on Peppermint Oil's affect on the human critical thinking factor?

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/peppermint-oil-uses-benefits-effects#1

Medicinal Uses of Peppermint Oil

In dietary supplements, peppermint oil has been tried for a variety of digestive problems including:

• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Indigestion
• Heartburn

Dietary supplements containing peppermint oil are also used by some people for the following conditions, although there is no clear evidence that they are helpful:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Morning sickness
• Cramps of the upper gastrointestinal tract and bile ducts
• Diarrhea
• Bacterial overgrowth of the small intestine
• Gas
• Colds
• Coughs
• Inflammation of the mouth and throat
• Sinus and respiratory infections
• Menstrual problems
• Liver and gallbladder problems

Skin preparations containing peppermint oil are used by some people for the following conditions, although, again, there is no clear evidence that they are helpful:

• Headache
• Muscle pain
• Nerve pain
• Toothache
• Inflammation of the mouth
• Joint conditions
• Itchiness
• Allergic rash
• Repelling mosquitoes

That last one is interesting. Some people believe it works to repel mosquitoes. I wonder if it can repel internet trolls as well. I'd be willing to give it a try.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Ok, well you seemed to be onboard with pushing popping silly amounts of weakass painkillers that at high levels presents other potential health problems. Kratom or weed are probably the better solutions for chronic pain (assuming you want to keep from risking opiates for obvious reasons). Even then it still isn't addressing the source of the pain but just managing it (which in plenty of instances if all that can be done, as it can be nerve issues or even possibly in the brain and we're quite limited in what we can achieve in actually helping that which doesn't risk causing far more damage). And I'm not sure I support a non-medically advised drug treatment, although due to other factors sometimes that's about all that can be done.



What? Genuinely don't know what point you're trying to make or what you're inferring from my comment.



From what I've gathered, the medical profession is actually fairly open about admitting that (that we really don't understand pain well, especially chronic forms). Wait, you're faulting doctors for following official medical practices? I take big issue with that. Not that there aren't problems. I'm not sure that average doctors are to blame for the limits of medicine in this regard though. There's definitely an issue with how it is handled (where doctors were open to prescribing opiates to manage the pain as that was what worked, but then that turned people into junkies; there's often unintended consequences, and technically people suffering from drug addiction do suffer with chronic pain, but the solution isn't always to just push painkillers at them to manage it). Pharma companies definitely deserve some blame, but they were also having to work within framework of moronic anti-drug policies setup by politicians (which by blocking research of other drugs, effectively setup the creation and proliferation of the synthetic opiates, which initially did seem to have the benefits whilst not being nearly as addictive, that have been fueling that crisis). Then there's issue like newer medical procedures and needing to see if that could help (for instance with back pain, where we didn't know how effective various surgeries would be), where we had no data until we actually did them and then find that they can work but there's a lot of risk and so it very well might not be worth it, but when facing someone dealing with chronic debilitating pain they want to try to help them. And then finding out that apparent nerve problems could be triggering chronic pain, but having little ability to really deal with that. And I'm not sure that a lot of people's insurance would cover stuff like shock treatments (which actually can help and in no way are the deranged torture that they somehow got bastardized into in societal belief).

I've been over the hill and through the woods with many doctors since 1986 regarding my chronic pain and they don't know crap. I have an artificial knee (that's a good thing) and arthritis in both feet. They treated my arthritis for years and the only thing that gave some relief was fusing my feet. You mentioned electrical therapy and TENS units do help somewhat but, aren't powerful enough in the wearable varieties. The current drug hysteria labels those with chronic pain as "drug seekers" first and patients second. Most times I cope with some help from ibuprofen, booze, kratom, pot and, autohypnosis. Then there are times when none of it works and the only long term solution I've ever gotten from any doctor ever was "quit my job" because I'm on my feet 10 or 12 hours a day. Well, screw them, lock step practices, risk management and, healthcare policy princesses! Their knowledge has failed me, their practices have failed me and, the whole bureaucratic medical profession has failed me. I know they don't have the answers, I'm looking for a way to keep working and have received zero support.

 

[brianmanahan]

What kind of snowflakes have out of date painkillers? When you have chronic pain, it's not an issue.

the term snowflake doesn't even make sense in this context.

you keep using that word. i do not think it means what you think it means.

 

[thejunglegod]

I live with nasty headaches from a FUBAR'D neck. I start most mornings with 3 aspirin and 4 ibuprofen....then add more if needed a couple of hours later. I'm sure my liver and kidneys are in great shape...

If you know they're damaging your organs, then why keep taking them? My mother-in-law was dependent on painkillers a good part of her 30s. She developed serious kidney ailments when she got to 50, struggled with 3 times a week dialysis and passed away when she was 51.
I'd strongly recommend to stop taking so many painkillers brother.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Painkillers should be used as temporary relief, if you're relying on them all the time then you need to fix whatever it is that is causing the pain. The pain is a symptom, and the pain killers just kill the symptom not the cause.

I was given some powerful ones once, I forget why, but you know it's good stuff when you pick them up and you are told the pharmacist wants to talk to you, and you have to go to the other counter. I ended up using maybe like 10 capsules and there was like 30 in there. Kept them around in case I ever need them and they ended up expiring.

Though I guess I'm kind of lucky, I don't get headaches or anything like that. Some people get them all the time so they're always having to pop Tylenol and Advils etc.

 

[Pick2]

I have never had a headache that made it hard to walk.

You've never had a Migraine headache then. If you can't think strait or at all , you can't walk - talk - or do much of anything but hurt.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I have never had a headache that made it hard to walk.

I get migraines that do that, but not in the same way. More physically unable to due to exhaustion , as opposed to cant due to back pain.

 

[Thebobo]

One time after an overnight hike I had a HUGE tequila hangover. Had to hike back to the van with my head about to explode. Got in the van and downed 5 tylenols 500s and then an hour later 2 more and then finally the pain went away but my liver is probably forever scarred. It was worth it.

 

[Exterous]

Did you really believe you have the monopoly on Google searches?

Of course not - which was clear from my comment

Some people will believe anything. Has there been a study done on Peppermint Oil's affect on the human critical thinking factor?

Er...are you really trying to use wedmd as a counter point to medical studies?