What Dangers Are Associated With Analgesics?

Drugs for the relief of pain are readily obtainable in most countries without prescription, and are probably among the highest on the list of pills that people are 'living on' today. The name "analgesia" literally means "absence of the feeling of pain" and is a reminder that pain is a sensation, not a disease. Analgesics include aspirin (or acetylsalicylic acid), as well as other pain-killing drugs such as phenacetin (or acetophenetidin) and paracetamol, sometimes in combination with other drugs.
These drugs raise the threshold to pain probably by acting on a part of the brain called the thalamus. Being antipyretic, they also effectively reduce a raised temperature, hence are widely advertised and used as remedies for sore throats, common colds and influenzal illnesses. Aspirin particularly is regarded by some as a panacea for all sorts of complaints—indigestion, settling nerves, promoting sleep, and so on.

In recent years it has been discovered that aspirin frequently causes bleeding from the stomach.  It is reported that oozing of about a teaspoonful of blood per day occurs in 50 to 70 percent of the people taking aspirin. In certain individuals, the blood loss is greater and can lead to iron-deficiency anemia; in a few individuals it can endanger life as a result of massive bleeding. It is believed that aspirin interferes in some way with the mucus that protects the stomach lining. The gastric juices, or the aspirin itself, then damages the lining epithelium and causes small erosions or ulcers that bleed.