Paracetamol Can Make You Braver

A 2020 research paper found that in 3 double-blind, placebo-controlled studies healthy, young adults taking a widely used, over the counter painkiller were more willing to take risks.

Acetaminophen, perhaps more commonly known as Paracetamol, is the active analgesic ingredient in familiar painkillers like Tylenol, Panadol and Calpol.

According to the results of these 3x studies, acetaminophen seems to reduce risk perception so people don't feel as scared. It's also been shown to reduce both positive and negative emotions.

It's intriguing to think that while paracetamol is reducing the pain of your headache it's also making you more willing to take risks, and making you less emotional.

Baldwin Way, co-author of the study and Associate Professor of Psychology at The Ohio State University, said "Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotion when they consider risky activities - they just don't feel as scared."

Why is this important in managing chronic pain?

Chronic pain is pain that lasts for longer than 2-3 months or continues in the absence of any tissue injury or pathology.

The majority of injuries heal over time, and yet pain can persist even after full recovery from the initial trauma.

When we feel pain we also feel fear. That fear makes us averse to repeating whatever triggered the painful sensation.

This makes sense with acute pain, like picking up a hot plate straight out of the oven and getting burned. We become more cautious about repeating the action, which helps protect us from getting hurt a second time. 

But it's less helpful with chronic pain. The longer pain persists the less accurate it is as an indicator of actual physical damage.

It's important to realise that emotions and beliefs also have an influence on our response to pain and injury, especially with chronic pain.

Consider a situation where 2 people get bitten by a dog. Person 1 hasn't been around dogs much whereas person 2 is a big dog lover. 

Person 1 might conclude that all dogs are vicious and scary and now avoids them completely after getting bitten. Person 2 understands that this dog may have behavioural issues or acted out of fear. They still love dogs and aren't frightened when a dog approaches. 

The same situation happens when you feel pain. 

The more successfully you can regulate your emotions and thoughts in response to pain, the better you'll be at managing your pain.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is an accepted and effective treatment for chronic back pain, where a patient's beliefs and responses to their pain are reframed with the help of the therapist.

The amygdala has emerged as an important player in how we feel pain.

The amygdala is known as the "fear centre" of the brain. It processes emotions like fear, anxiety and anger, as well as determining rewards and punishments. 

Something like burning your hand feels like a punishment, so we're unlikely to repeat the unrewarding behaviour.

A mouse study has revealed that the central amygdala acts like a switch to dial up or down felt pain, rather like a home thermostat regulates the temperature of a room. 

When the central amygdala receives nociceptive (pain) or stress signals from the body it becomes more excited. The heightened activity of the central amygdala amplifies the sensations being felt, leading to increased sensitivity, pain, anxiety, depression and behavioural changes.

You can see how this increases stress and sets up a vicious cycle of stress -> amygdala stimulation -> higher sensitivity to pain -> pain -> anxiety -> stress

Pain reduces cognitive function in the prefrontal cortex, so we become less able to consciously regulate our emotions and behavioural responses. In other words, we react more strongly and get more stressed when dealing with the normal ups and downs of life, including pain.

We become more prone to catastrophising our pain and feel frightened to do anything that might trigger the pain to return. We can get very rigid in our beliefs about our body, thinking that some movements are safe, whereas others are bad and must be avoided at all costs, or that our body is weak and fragile.

Takeaways

1) When taking painkillers containing Acetaminophen or Paracetamol your perception of danger is altered and you may take more risks. This has implications for every day situations like driving your car or crossing the road, but also for professionals like surgeons, pilots, train drivers and machine operators.

2) Reducing fear and anxiety can be beneficial for chronic pain or when recovering from a serious injury that will take a long time to heal.

Tips For Managing Chronic Pain or A Long-Term Injury

You can use this knowledge to help manage your pain or an injury in order to stay mobile, keep moving and get back to the activities you love doing.

• Reduce stress and anxiety - deep breaths, meditation, mindfulness, time in Nature, walks outdoors, being in a supportive community
• Increase cognitive function and reduce fear-based behaviours - develop conscious awareness of what's happening in your body through somatic or mindful movement practices and pandiculation techniques
• Become aware of your core beliefs about your body, movement and pain - reframe if these aren't helpful using meditation, mindfulness, Yoga, CBT, somatic practices
• Be mindful of any increased risk taking or behaviour changes if taking Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) based painkillers.

The links to the article that inspired this blog and the research study on the effects of Acetaminophen on the brain are listed at the bottom.

NEXT STEPS

• Come to a Stretch, Yoga or Pilates class with me - here you can spend time observing how your body responds to different movements in a guided sequence of mobility exercises for the joints and core stability plus pandiculation stretches
• Book into the "Moving Away From Pain With The BYB Method", a 2 hour workshop showing you how to reduce chronic pain and release muscle tension using somatic movements and pandiculation techniques so you can move with ease and joy again. Sunday 3rd September, 1pm to 3pm - click HERE for all the info (3x spaces left).
• Attend a half-day mind-body retreat - these are deeply relaxing, fun, social small group experiences typically held in various locations within easy reach of Worthing, West Sussex. The next one is on Sunday 3rd December,
• Subscribe HERE to receive "The Movement Chronicle", a weekly e-newsletter delivering mobility and pain reduction tips directly into your inbox every Monday morning,

To find out more about my classes and retreats, or to join my email list you can contact me via any of these channels:

• Email at norma.pearson1@ntlworld.com
• DM me on Facebook Messenger 
• WhatsApp message to 07801 867361.

Links

• https://neurosciencenews.com/acetaminophen-risk-taking-16984/
• Alexis Keaveney and others, Effects of acetaminophen on risk taking, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Volume 15, Issue 7, July 2020, Pages 725–732, https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaa108