I am resistant to NSAIDS. I don't even bother taking Tylenol or whatever anymore. My rheumy has put me on several prescription NSAIDS that either work for a week and then stop, or don't work at all. I broke my wrist last year, had to have surgery on it and I was on Percocet and Oxycodone while I was healing. I was feeling no pain whatsoever!
My rheumy finally gave me a small prescription for Hydrocodone, and at first it made me feel very fuzzy & out of it and it worked for a couple hours on the pain. I can tell that my body is getting used to it, because I don't feel nearly as out-of-it when I take it and it only works for a little while. I remember when I broke my wrist and was in the hospital getting checked up, the nurse was giving me pain meds in my IV. I asked her, "Will this take care of the pain, or will I just not care?" she laughed and said "Yes to both."
I am wondering if, because our bodies respond differently to pain, that our wiring in our brain responds differently to pain meds. The way I see it, it's like my body is saying, "Hey, this medication stops the pain! I want more because there is so much pain in here!" It is that way for everything- the first time I went on a short course of Prednisone, I felt great, had very little pain, and I actually had energy! Then next time I did a course, with the same dosage, it didn't help. The same thing happened when I treid ULtram. Very little pain for about a month, then it stopped working. Next time I took it, nothing. I don't know what th answer is! I try to deal with my pain, because I worry that if I called my doctor more, she would think that I was drug seeking!