this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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I'm not looking for medical advice, but more understanding. I have chronic back pain. I can alleviate it completely with only 2 things - alcohol and a heating pad. Ibuprofen lessens it but it's still present. Muscle relaxers do nothing (which makes sense because it's not muscle related, it's spinal disk degeneration).

A tall glass of whiskey makes my back relax and I can move normally. Once it wears off tho, it's right back to tense and painful.

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[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 102 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Alcohol is a known muscle relaxant. That fact is even a plot point early in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but I digress.

It's also something of a mind relaxant. If your pain is made worse by tensing up worrying about the pain, then alcohol is going to help both ways, because you'll be less able to worry and you won't be able to tense quite so much anyway.

I'd be surprised if neither ibuprofen nor diclofenac have any effect at all - but don't take those with alcohol in your system. Liver damage is not something you want to add to your list of ailments.

Consult a physician, etc.

[–] protist@mander.xyz 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

While we're talking about OTC NSAIDs, might should mention aspirin and acetaminophen/tylenol have even higher risk of liver damage when used with alcohol

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Yes, having paracetamol for the hangover after you've been binge drinking puts a lot of strain on your liver so best avoided.

I knew someone in uni who'd have a xanax if they felt they would have a hangover the next day. Had to tell them it was a borderline suicidal "trick" because they were potentiating all the booze in their system, SMH.

[–] idiomaddict@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Holy shit, what a “trick”

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[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 45 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Degenerative disc disease ftw?

Generally, it depends on what's causing the pain as regards what reduces it.

Booze is a CNS depressant. It puts a damper on everything in the central nervous system, and that includes pain perception.

Heat typically works by improving blood flow to affected areas.

So, most likely, what's happening is that your muscle spasms are caused by the pain, rather than being the immediate source of pain. The tension does make pain levels increase, but stopping that without addressing the originating cause can't and won't eliminate all of it.

So, muscle relaxers can only do so much. I would argue that they're doing something, because there's not been any cases of total immunity to any that I've been aware of, and they're a first attempt for most chronic pain cases. But if they don't target the actual cause, then they can't do enough. In other words, if the pain is causing your muscles to tighten up, a muscle relaxer is only going to partially reduce that tension because only part of that tension is involuntary.

It may not be conscious tension, but it isn't something that is caused by the muscle itself. It's a response to pain. So a muscle relaxer is kinda like a bandaid, not stitches.

Booze, however, is going to work in your brain, blocking off the pain signals, or more accurately reducing your ability to perceive them. Once you no longer perceive the pain, that part of you that's holding those muscles tight to try and prevent/reduce the oh-so-lovely pain from bulging, slipped, or herniated discs start to relax almost all the way, as opposed to the tiny bit that the muscle relaxers can make them unclench.

Now, it's important to note that the use of involuntary here doesn't mean that the rest of your muscle tension is a choice. It just means that the part of your nervous system that is making it happen is a different section than the involuntary part. Now, you can actually exert conscious control over that kind of muscle tension, but it takes effort and practice. And, it probably won't reach 100% release because your brain and body are going to resist it. Plus, pretty much the second you stop doing the methods that relax the muscles, they'll go right back to trying to keep your back immobile. So it's never a permanent solution.

The key to finding a balance often means the long, hard road of physical therapy combined with training in progressive relaxation, breath control, and all the other tools that give you the ability to intercede in the process.

Alcohol isn't a long term solution. To the contrary, the longer you rely on it, the worse you're gong to perceive the pain, and the more it'll take to get relief.

There is, however, some good-ish news. DDD is progressive. But! Most of the time it'll reach a point of relative stasis. Things will bulge and slip more radically during the early part of the disease process. At some point, it'll slow down its progression, and the changes tend you be more localized than along the entire spine. So you'll reach a point where it won't get worse fast, and will usually only get worse in small sections. I'm in that phase of things myself, and it isn't exactly fun, but it means my pain and mobility levels are stable. There's a high chance you'll reach that point too.

Once you hit that point, as long as you haven't pushed things into addiction, stuff like muscle relaxers, Tylenol and the like can keep pain levels under control enough to get by.

Until then, keep on your PT program. You want to keep as much flexibility, mobility, and joint health as possible. It really is one of those things that if you don't use it you will lose it. But don't make the mistake of doing absurd shit when you aren't in debilitating pain. You can't actually move normally, you just can't perceive all the minor injuries you're causing that make the pain worse once whatever you use wears off. That's one of the reasons I quit accepting opiates. Yeah, I hurt less, but I couldn't tell when I was doing something wrong, so I was getting worse, faster. I'm just now recovering properly from fucking my back up the last time I took some of my opiate pain meds. And that was in November ffs.

So, if you need the relief to get by, use what you gotta. Just don't fall into the trap of thinking that lack of pain means there's nothing wrong.

As someone who was just diagnosed with C5-C6 spondylosis and facet arthritis, with an MRI ordered to see how absolutely fucked my trapezius is; thank you for reinforcing what I've already told every doctor since my ex-fiance's little brother overdosed and died:

Fuck opiates.

Everything else you mentioned was informative or reinforced my doctors advice, I appreciate it.

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 6 points 1 week ago

Wow, great writeup.

Movement is the body's lubrication! 100%

People have found success with avoiding all sources of external inflammation, such as the dietary pattern that shall not be named.. yes it's only anecdotal at this point, it could be something to try as a pain management strategy for a few weeks

[–] SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Heat typically works by improving blood flow to affected areas.

Alcohol is a vasodilator, so I think it helps in that regard too

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

It can indeed. Tends not to be the main factor, but it can help

This was fascinating, thank you for taking the time.

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 37 points 1 week ago (6 children)

If alcohol works it might be neuropathic pain and then this could work on it as well, using some of the same mechanisms of action as alcohol

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabapentin

But I dislike giving medical advice as am not a doctor. Something to research at least.

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[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Maybe it has to do with its effects on GABA receptors? Have you ever tried something like gabapentin or pregabalin?

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The doc put me on gabapentin for my nerve pain (ulnar and carpel tunnel) and I thought it was hitting the right receptors to help me stay off of alcohol, or dulled my desire for it. Turns out I was just self medicating the nerve pain and with the GABA I didn't need the booze so much.

[–] Genius@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

Don't drink and take Gabapentin. They work on different receptors on the same channel. That means they have unpredictable effects together. The effects aren't additive, they're more like multiplicative. And more random than either alone.

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 2 points 1 week ago

These make you stupid but they do help

[–] RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (14 children)

To piggyback on another comment. Massage. I'm a massage therapist who sees clients with disk issues all the time.

99% of the time it's because of shortened hip flexors (your psoas attached to your bottom vertebrae and as it shortens, is too tight to let your spine stretch which then just crushes your disks) due to both extended time in a seated position as well as a weak core. Stretch, get a massage, find a PT to help with chronic back pain. Start doing crunches before bed.

Also drink more water. Only kinda related but basically everyone should be drinking more water.

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Hip hooks are also great for getting at those muscles, which are otherwise very difficult to stretch.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Might be neuropathic.

If so, they give gabapentin out like candy, it is addictive tho so you may want to consider it "as needed" even tho they'll want you to take it on a schedule.

[–] Nurse_Robot@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

Gabapentin isn't addictive as far as I'm aware, but pregabalin aka lyrica is. Both do similar things

[–] sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I have neuropathic pain and acupuncture has helped manage it so I can stay away from these kinds of medicine. Might be worth giving a shot (if nothing else you get a nap, which I always welcome).

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (9 children)

If gabapentin is addictive it must be psychological because I've been on and off of it for years now and there isn't any withdrawal I can discern.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Everybody is different.

I can't metabolize most painkillers, they do literally nothing to me because I'm missing a liver enzyme. I could eat a handful of percacet every day for months and quit cold turkey easy, because I was never really getting anything out of to begin with.

There are countless reasons why people react differently to medication, that's why doctors just try random shit till something seems to work.

It might be educated guesswork, but it's still guesswork. And there's very little effort put into why/how one thing worked over others, if it works that's the end of it.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I get it. Alcohol and marijuana actually tends to make my whole body feel numb, whereas medically prescribed painkillers like oxycotin or codeine just give me a head fog and make me sleepy while doing nothing for physical pains. Over the counter shit like ibuprofen and aspirin are utterly useless for me unless taken to reduce a fever. Even the inflammatory properties don't help alleviate swelling or anything for me.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago (3 children)

whereas medically prescribed painkillers (...) just give me a head fog and make me sleepy

which is in start contrast to marijuana 😂

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Well, I mean at least the head fog and sleepiness from weed also comes with actual pain relief. 🤷🏻‍♂️

But also, it really depends on the weed. Some strains make it impossible to function from the fog. Others help with sleep. And still others give me crack-like energy.

[–] 14th_cylon@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Well, I mean at least the head fog and sleepiness from weed also comes with actual pain relief. 🤷🏻‍♂️

ok, i am glad it works for you.

But also, it really depends on the weed.

well, for me all the "positive effects" disappeared over time and i was just left with those meh ones, which is why i ultimately stopped. but it may not be the experience of every person in the world, so...

[–] deranger@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

all the "positive effects" disappeared over time and i was just left with those meh ones

This is the case for every single drug I’ve tried over a long period of time, and one of my hobbies is treating Erowid like a Pokédex.

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[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Marijuana doesn't make me sleepy. It makes me horny.

[–] rc__buggy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Night and day though. I can smoke weed and still get stuff done, it's almost like spinach for Popeye to grind out a menial task.

Dope though? Fuuuuuuuck it, lets just sit here and watch TV. I don't normally watch much TV but on any narcotic it's perfect.

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

I've got a degerative disease called Anklyosing Spondylitis, bit of a tongue twister but also my pelvis is splintering due to arthritus associated with the condition so very painful. I find dicofenac works pretty well for flare ups but sometimes I'll switch over to booze if I'm going out since that works better. NB: I don't mix booze with the NSAID if I can avoid it, might just intersect at the tail end.

Opiates work better for the pain too but that's a whole other can of worms I try to avoid opening.

[–] jeffw@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

What you’re really asking is “why do some drugs work for me, while others don’t?”

I’d bet there are some prescriptions that would work for you and probably a number of other “recreational” drugs too

[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 7 points 1 week ago
[–] Genius@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Sounds like the pain is coming from one of the systems inhibited by the GABAergic system.

[–] RedditIsDeddit@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

alcohol is a muscle relaxer. Go to chiro or massage.

[–] DerArzt@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (11 children)

Go to chiro

If OP does do that, please, please, please get informed on what the history is around chiropractic adjustment, and then determine which practitioner (not doctor since they aren't medically licensed) fits your needs and acceptable methodology.

Chiropractic practice originated around spiritualism, and to some it's a con man's version of osteopathic treatment.

Chiropractic adjustment reportedly works for some people, but there are many practitioners out there that may do more harm than good.

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[–] Greg@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

Alcohol is a solution

[–] FelixCress@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

In your face, nondrinkers! 😂

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