With so many products on the market that target pain and inflammation, it's important to clarify whether these products can help or hinder your progress.

To start, your doctor will know the answer to this question because there are many different pain medications, steroids, anti-inflammatory drugs, muscle relaxors, etc.

Without knowing your medical history, what you are taking, the dosage, for how long, and why, it would be challenging at best to provide you with any answer, let alone an intellectually honest and ethical answer. Even if I did have this information, I must respect my scope of practice and not give medical advice, especially regarding medication, even over-the-counter substances.

I encourage you to ask your physician or the doctor who prescribed you the medication how it affects the nervous system and if that could have any potential side effects or negative outcomes in restoring neuromuscular function and movement capacity.

In my experience, pain pills helped me get out of a really hard place when my nerve pain was at its peak. It took that 'edge' off and helped me survive the day. However, at some point, drugs/medicine went from an aide, to a crutch, to addiction, eventually holding back my progress in so many ways; mentally, physically, and emotionally.

I noticed that having a constant chemical concoction in my system altered more than just lower perceived pain levels; it altered my mood and motivation to do anything. It somewhat reduced my pain yet created many other problems...

On top of the mental challenges that came from relying on prescription pills to get through the day and addiction begging to form, I noticed I also pushed my body further than I should have because the drugs gave me this false sense of security and confidence. My nervous system wasn’t able to communicate with me accurately. The drugs did exactly what they were designed to do and block or reduce pain signals, which came at the cost of not knowing where my limitations were with my soft tissue and movement.

Said differently, numbing/altering incoming information from my body distorted my ability to feel where my limits were, and I continually re-injured myself.

Ultimately you have to make this judgment call - I can’t advise you other than recommending you speak to your doctor and share my experience with you.