• Question: Why is it that when you have a headache or something along those lines, that painkillers can target that specific pain?

    Asked by Sam to Aaron, David, Elaine, Sarah, Zoe on 13 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Sarah Ashwood

      Sarah Ashwood answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      When you have a headache, some sort of inflammation is sending messages through your pain receptors to you brain saying “I have a headache”. Generally when you have a headache you take aspirin or paracetamol. These painkillers work in a way that they reduce inflammation and fever. The cells around the inflammation will have specific chemical targets that the painkiller notices, and that’s where it works. I realise this is a very hand-wavy explanation, but I’m not much of a biologist so most of my explanations fail to be specific! But it is just that the chemicals in the painkillers are directed to the site where the pain is occurring by slight changes in the chemistry of the cells there.

    • Photo: David Foley

      David Foley answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      They don’t! They generally mask the pain from inflammation. If you had a headache and a swollen wrist, the same tablet would reduce the pain from both

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