How do pain relievers work? What is pain?

A normal and healthy person would feel pain. To alert the person that he is in pain there are special pain alerters which are nerves called nociceptors. When we feel pain, we hit our nociceptors alerting us to do something about the pain. Sometimes when cells get damages they give out certain chemicals tune your pain threshold. One of the chemicals is arachidonic acid this acid gets reacted with two enzymes produced in the body COX1 and COX2 creating prostaglandins. Prostaglandins give out some other enzymes which increase body temperature, cause inflammation, and decrease the pain threshold. This would mean when a person just touching something would feel pain. Aspirin, a pain reliever, blocks and prevents the reaction of arachidonic acid by blocking the active site of the enzymes also known as the reaction center. Aspirin is a permanent pain reliever whereas ibuprofen is a temporary pain reliever as it can be thrown away by the enzymes. But it can hold the arachidonic acid for a while before it can be thrown by the enzymes.

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