Painkillers are being abused like never before.  The media likes to sensationalize the use of prescription pain meds being sold in dark alleys by neighborhood thugs and resident riff-raff.

But what about the gentleman who just purchased the drugs legally from his local pharmacy, as prescribed by his doctor.  Is he in any less danger than the guy who obtains his through the black market?

You can argue that in the short-term he is, since he is taking the drugs as prescribed and in the proper dosage.  But how about over the long haul?

When you are injured, signals are sent from the injury site to the brain to register pain.  Pain is useful in that it alerts us to some form of tissue damage or bodily crisis.  The logical course of action would be to address the situation and correct the underlying root cause.

If you set a heavy box down on your foot, you create pain.  Remove the box, and the pain goes away.  Some things just make too much sense.

Instead, we are in effect encouraged by doctors to strap the box on, walk around with it for a lifetime, and guzzle painkillers to make up for the difference.  It sounds silly when described this way, but it is no less crazy than swallowing pain meds every day while living with chronic pain.

So what’s the big problem with taking painkillers?

First, as with any medication, painkillers come with a whole slew of side effects.  Any drug, especially when used chronically, takes a toll on the body, particularly the liver and kidneys.

Beyond that, pain medications override your body’s internal warning system.  What would normally be a signal to back off or slow down in order to avoid risking farther injury, is no longer present.  So the chances of exacerbating an injury are elevated when taking painkillers.

In addition, pain meds are not corrective.  When pain and symptoms arise due to meridian system imbalances, the only correction is an acupuncture treatment.  When artificially masking the symptoms with painkillers, the underlying cause is left to fester and become worse.  Not only do these types of medicines not fix anything, they can actually contribute to making the problem worse.  In essence, they do nothing more than help your body deteriorate more comfortably.

So to be at your best, ditch the painkillers and get acupuncture, which brings health with no side effects!