Last month, I bought three kinds of menthol based topical analgesics—two
creams and a liniment. The powerful
menthol smell has some placebo effect with its smell of medication. My small/medium chronic pain in my right hip has
been lessoned enough that I will continue to use it on an intermittent basis.
I have also been taking glucosamine for two months. Due to issues with neuralgia (phantom pain),
it is not clear how much this is helping.
There are possible interactions with the anticoagulant that I have been
taking that might slightly increase my blood clotting time. Warfarin/Coumadin is extremely sensitive to
dietary conditions and the protime/INR measurement (unitless coagulation rate)
fluctuates considerably between a range of 2-3 when we are shooting for a range
of 2-2.5.
I don’t know if I will continue to use menthol balms or glucosamine
long-term. For now, there is some pain
relief and it at least feels like I am taking action giving me a small sense of
empowerment over my pain instead of being helpless.
I am grateful for having the resources to investigate and afford these
over the counter pain therapies. Trying
and failing pain control is much better than being helpless and hopeless.
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