Mature Life Features

. . . I just feel like

skipping my meds

and stirring things up a bit.

Painkillers Can Kill

Regular use of painkilling medication can kill pain but also can lead to addiction and even death. Such common over-the-counter brands as Advil and Motrin are among the roots of an opioid epidemic that has spread across the nation, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths each year.

Doctors have been prescribing such pain relievers as ibuprofen for years under the belief that prevailed until recently that opioids were not addictive.

As early as 2014, the Food and Drug Administration reported that regular use of OTC painkilling opioids could raise the risk of heart attack and stroke by as much as 10 percent. Using stronger prescription-strength painkillers could increase that risk by as much as 50 percent. To avoid such peril, medical and health experts caution that these drugs should be used only for severe pain at the lowest possible dose for the shortest amount of time.