# Pain relief powders **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495 "2005-08-17T22:26:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495/21 "2005-08-18T22:10:25Z")
**Oy!** , the powders I’m familiar with are just like that. I think you just try to swallow them the best you can, with water if you need it. That’s how I’ve always seen them used. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495/22 "2005-08-18T22:36:23Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > [Goody’s](http://www.goodyspowder.com/faq_top10.aspx) is huge in the southeast. Though growing up in Milwaukee I’d never heard of it before getting into NASCAR. Then in my years of driving a semi I saw just how popular it is, especially in the Carolinas and Georgia. > > I’ve tried it, and as the website attests, it works _very_ fast. I just couldn’t find anything short of a cocktail that made it palatable. And I usually need a headache medicine _after_ I drink the cocktails. Go figure. ☹ Agreed. I live in NC and BC is very popular here. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495/23 "2005-08-18T22:38:50Z")
> [@Oy!](#): > > But I’ve always wondered since just what the heck that stuff was (the form, not the drug) and how I was \*supposed \* to take it. Any Japan experts here who might know? I’m not a Japan expert, but pretty much anything that’s crystaline and doesn’t dissolve in common solvents (water, oil) is meant to be eaten. If this was a street drug I’d suggest it’s meant to be smoked or cooked into an injectable, but a prescribed pharmaceutical is probably meant to be swallowed. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495/24 "2005-08-19T00:44:20Z")
Got hooked on using them about a decade back and I find that the best way to take a powder is to pour it under my tongue, at the front. Then throw down a glass of fizzy pop, doing sort of a Flashdance thingy where the head’s thrown back and all the gunk slides easily down in to the gullet. It helps if you raise your soft palet at the same time to create a bit of a vacuum. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495/25 "2005-08-19T00:46:55Z")
Huh. Well, it burnt my nose a bit, but it worked quite effectively snorted. I imagine regular tablets ground up would too - and like powders, they would work faster (even faster really than tablets, since they’d enter directly into the blood stream). That being said, I think I’ll continue to take any meds I need in the usual way - by swallowing them with liquid. ---
**Author:** ![headache\_lady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@headache\_lady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/headache_lady)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495/26 "2013-08-15T23:10:18Z")
The best way to take a headache powder is tO put it under your tongue(sublingual )which is rich with blood vessels. This is the quickest route to absorption- Much faster than swallowing a pill. I have really bad migraines and had tried everything including strong prescription pain pills, but was amazed to find if I use a Goody’s headache powder at The first sign of a migraine then I can ward it off. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495/27 "2013-08-15T23:19:17Z")
Those “headache powders” never really went away. Chances are, the company was bought out and decided to launch a big advertising campaign. As for the Japan med, in some places, cachets are popular. They were popular in the States for drugs that tasted bad or didn’t compress well until capsules were easier to make. Anyway, the drug is encased in a little wrapper made of rice paper, and it’s designed to be wetted, rolled up, and swallowed whole. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pain-relief-powders/317495.md?page=1)