What effect do pain killers have on muscle growth?

**1-Cent** · 12-22-2004, 10:26 PM

Just curious about this one, I get frequent migraines (see a neurologist, gp, etc all the time) and I get perscribed a whole cocktail of pain killers depending on which doc I'm seeing. Most of them contrain either codiene or OC - which I try to stay away from when possible. 9/10 times I'll use the codiene, sometimes these migraines can last weeks on end (yes its hell) and I end up using narcotics everyday for that period, but only at night so I'm not a total retard all day at work. I've posed this question to my gp and he said narcotics have an anti-catabolic effect so I assume by that they actualy help maintain the muscle I already have is that correct?

I always feel so weak after it wears off sometimes I can't help but wonder if I'm losing anything... I would switch to a non-narcotic pain killer if I was. Anyone know for sure what effect they have?

**squatster** · 12-22-2004, 11:11 PM

Thay just had a great article on this in I think MD. It was on exactly gains ahd pain killers. get this months and take a look. Pritty interesting

**1-Cent** · 12-23-2004, 12:02 AM

Do you remember what conclusion they came to?

AnabolicAlien · 12-23-2004, 12:40 AM

i hear there's a study out there showing that if you take 4 grams of acetaminophen (tylenol) or more per day you're virtually stopping muscle growth. see if you can find it. i'm too tired too. i'd be more worried about all the **** tylenol in that stuff than the actual narcotic. the actual narcotic won't stop muscle growth unless it screws up your workouts.

A.A.

**thegodfather** · 12-23-2004, 05:15 AM

If you take a 10mg Vicodin,Percoset,or Tylenol3(with codeiene), you can expect it to contain at least 500mg acetametophen.

**ChrisB** · 12-23-2004, 06:49 AM

Originally Posted by AnabolicAlien

i hear there's a study out there showing that if you take 4 grams of acetaminophen (tylenol) or more per day you're virtually stopping muscle growth. see if you can find it. i'm too tired too. i'd be more worried about all the **** tylenol in that stuff than the actual narcotic. the actual narcotic won't stop muscle growth unless it screws up your workouts.

A.A.

I'm interested in hearing more about that.

**STAYHUNGRY** · 12-23-2004, 03:15 PM

Given that Nubain addiction is incredibly high amongst top bodybuilders, my hunch is that pain meds have little or no effect on muscle growth. Nubain is an analgesic, which is the main type of drug that most serious pain meds are. If fact, some pain meds are known to lower cortisol which would actually help muscle growth. I see no scientific basis for pain meds hurting muscle growth.

**buff999** · 12-23-2004, 03:27 PM

4 grams of tylenol is quite a lot.....isnt each pill like 200mg or something? i usually drop 2 a day when i do my prop shots.......i didnt realize it was acetaminophen that it bad for muscle growth....i thought it was just ibuprofen?

**squatster** · 12-23-2004, 03:40 PM

sorry guys- I can't remeber what issue- I will look it up. It is this month of Flex or MD or the other one with Chris Everit

**1-Cent** · 12-23-2004, 04:07 PM

4 grams of acetaminophen is a ton, each T3 contains only 300mg and I usualy take two at night, maybe a 3rd if I wake up with it again. You'd need to take 13-14 T3's to get that much and thats probably closing in on LD-50 for codiene which I believe is roughly 500mg.

Anyone have anything solid?

**1-Cent** · 12-30-2004, 03:31 PM

Bump!

Ok I've switched painkillers to a time release form of oxycontin (wholey crap they practicaly make you sign your soul away to get this stuff), seems like a fairly safe way to use the drug as long as the tabs are intact. It doesn't contain any other drugs other than the narcotic itself, I'm assuming this won't hinder muscle synthesis like acetaminophen or IB does? Can anyone confirm this (or otherwise)?