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Comment by nullindividual | Hacker News Reader

Ibuprofen and acetaminophen may already be that option.

https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2018/0301/p348.html

I believe there are other studies besides this that points to these two OTC pain relievers as being 'just as good' as opiates.

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I have went through most NSAIDs, they do not compare to opiates at all, and when I mean all, I am referring to prescription-only NSAIDs, too. There was a time when I mixed diclofenac, naproxen, and ibuprofen, too, none of them helped (separately and mixed). Kratom, however, did.

If I were to have fever, I would not take opiates though, I do not think they reduce inflammation or fever.

Maybe they work on some small subset of pain similarly, but they really are incomparable.

Opiates could near make you not feel your arm being chopped off, ibuprofen couldn’t prevent a light pinch from hurting.

There are prescription-grade NSAIDs that make Advil look like candy, but they're admittedly still not as heavy-hitting as bona fide painkillers. Great for inflammatory pain though.

They're also typically pretty rough on your GI systems. Though it's worth the trade-off, usually

Ha, also yes. Unfortunately I know this too well, but my GI systems are worse than the average person's :P

Not just your GI, but they increase your risk of cardiovascular issues as well, among many others, whereas opiates do not cause any of those horrible side-effects. Dose matters, it does matter with NSAIDs, too, if I pop 10 acetaminophen, you can rest assured I will have liver cirrhosis.

And there's even topical ibuprofen (or related nsaids)

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