I have been dealing with knee issues and was prescribed anti inflammatory and muscle relaxant meds to help because the xrays showed no issues. But If the pain is being caused by inflammation or something, wouldn’t it just come back when i stop taking the meds? I don’t understand how the meds aren’t just a bandaid to an issue so please ELI5
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The best thing for my knees is ice packs. The moldable, gel kind. I can take 5 ibuprofen, 2 Aleve and not get the relief that ice packs give me.
Inflammation itself can cause damage. So if things are inflamed without any relief from that inflammation, it can cause structural damage to your joints and so forth. Dampening down the inflammatory response allows things to heal. But you’re right, if the source of the problem isn’t addressed, your knee will just get worse again once the anti-inflammatories are stopped. It is kind of a Band-Aid solution, unless it gets rid of enough inflammation so that your body can stop freaking out/making more.
Inflammation is the core problem and the meds are addressing it, but stopping it *permanently* is beyond current medicine. There are lots of chronic (auto)inflammatory diseases with similar prognoses, where the only recourse is to simply keep suppressing disease activity with continuous treatment. It’s certainly better than just taking pain meds.
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