Psychology
Chronic pain and the mind: why pain lasts and what helps
Long-term pain is real, but the nervous system can turn its volume up. Movement and psychological therapy help more than ever-stronger painkillers.
27 Sept 20268 min read
NSAID
Pronounced EN-said
Also known as Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, Anti-inflammatory painkiller
NSAIDs are painkillers that also reduce inflammation and fever — ibuprofen, diclofenac, naproxen and aspirin among them. They work well but carry real risks to the stomach, the kidneys and the heart.
NSAIDs block the cyclo-oxygenase enzymes the body uses to make prostaglandins, the signalling molecules behind pain, and fever. Because they act on the inflammation itself rather than only on the perception of pain, they suit conditions where swelling is part of the problem — , injury, period pain, dental pain — better than paracetamol does.
The reason they are not a harmless class
The same prostaglandins protect the stomach lining and help maintain blood flow through the kidneys, so blocking them has predictable consequences. NSAIDs cause , ulcers and bleeding, they can worsen , and they reduce kidney perfusion — which matters most in someone already dehydrated, elderly, or with existing impairment. Regular use also carries a small increase in heart attack and stroke risk, and they can raise blood pressure and provoke asthma.
For most short-lived pain the sensible pattern is the lowest dose that works, taken with food, for the shortest time — and a review by a doctor rather than a repeat purchase if pain is still needing daily treatment after a week or two.
Where this comes up
Infectious Diseases
Dengue Fever
Most dengue is survived at home. The danger opens on days three to seven, usually as the fever falls. These are the warning signs that mean hospital now.
28 Aug 202614 min read
Pediatrics
Fever in Children: What to Do Tonight and When to Go to Hospital
A fever is the body fighting an infection. Most settle at home. These are the signs that mean go now, how to dose paracetamol safely, and what not to do.
28 Aug 202611 min read
Medicines & Safety
Paracetamol: How Much Is Safe, and the Liver Risk
The safe adult maximum is 4 g in 24 hours. Above that it damages the liver, and for the first day or two an overdose causes almost no symptoms at all.
28 Aug 202611 min read
Related terms
- InflammationSwelling, SozishInflammation is the body's response to injury or infection: blood flow increases, fluid and immune cells arrive, and the area becomes red, warm, swollen and painful. It is a repair process, and it becomes a problem only when it persists.
- CorticosteroidSteroid, CortisoneCorticosteroids are medicines related to cortisol, the body's own stress hormone, and they are the most powerful suppressors of inflammation in general use. They are not the muscle-building steroids of the gym, which are a different class of drug entirely.
- AntipyreticFever medicine, Bukhar ki dawaAn antipyretic is a medicine that brings a fever down, paracetamol being the commonest. It treats the discomfort of a fever rather than whatever is causing it, and a fever coming down is not evidence that the illness has been cured.
- GastritisStomach inflammation, Maiday ki sozishGastritis is inflammation of the stomach lining, causing burning or gnawing pain in the upper abdomen, nausea, bloating and early fullness. The two commonest causes are Helicobacter pylori infection and regular use of painkillers from the NSAID group.
- RefluxAcid reflux, GORDReflux is stomach acid escaping upward into the food pipe, causing burning behind the breastbone and an acid taste. Occasional reflux is common; when it happens regularly it is treated as a condition in its own right.
- Side effectAdverse effect, Adverse drug reactionA side effect is any effect of a medicine other than the one it was given for. Some are trivial and settle, some are the reason a medicine has to be stopped.
- RenalKidney, NephricRenal simply means relating to the kidneys. It appears throughout medical language — renal function, renal failure, renal stones — where the everyday word would be kidney.
- OsteoarthritisOA, Degenerative joint diseaseOsteoarthritis is the gradual loss of the smooth cartilage that lines a joint, leaving stiffness and pain that is worse with use. It is the most common form of arthritis and usually affects knees, hips, hands and the spine.