Pain relief patches

I'm not sure if this is the best subject for my first post, but... oh well :)

Pain relief patches... not necessarily something that originates in Korea or something that can't be found in any other country, it's just that I never got to use it before I got to Korea. I'm sure they had them in Japan when I used to live there, but anyway, I tried them here for the first time.

Pain relief patches are actually a really good thing. I sometimes get a pain in my lower back when I sleep in a weird position at night. Since it's hard for me to actually stretch that part of the back, it's also hard to get rid of the pain. So... during my last 3 years in Korea I learned how to get rid of it.

1. do a simple 15min yoga for lower back pain that I found on youtube

2. put a pain relief patch on the lower part of your back and take some painkillers

About number 1 - it seriously works!!! Who would have thought, such a simple yoga exercise that doesn't take more than 15mins and you feel such a relieve after you're done! I don't know how I managed to live without it. I was going to post a link to the video, but I can't seem to find it. I hope it's not gone forever :'((( I'll include that later if I find it.

And number 2 - so convenient! These patches are really cheap and can be purchased at any pharmacy or even in a convenience store. There are usually 4 or 5 of them packed together and you can wear one for 24 hours. I never need more than 2 of them to get rid of the pain.

But, as I have recently learned, there is a big difference between the patches you buy in the pharmacy and those you buy in the convenience store. Or was I just really unlucky this time? The things is... I used two of the patches before going to sleep; one on my back and one on my neck. And I was going to change them the next evening but... I couldn't get them off!!! Not without screaming anyway... omg such pain!!! o_O All the hair on your back sticks to the patch and it is a torture trying to get it off! I tried both, taking it off really slowly and carefully, and kind of just pulling it off quickly all at once. I seriously don't know which was worse... terrible... Well it was kind of funny at the same time when I think of it, but still so painful.

Here's the difference.

This is the pack that I bought at the pharmacy. There are 6 pain relief patches in one pack and they are about 8*12cm big. They have a strong smell of medicine (which I kind of like) and they work amazingly. I paid 5000krw for the whole pack, so that's about 5$ or a bit more than 3.5eur.

And this is the one that I got from a convenience store. There are only 4 of them in a pack and the size of each patch is 10*14cm. I am not sure about the price 'cause I wasn't the one paying for it. You can see it looks completely different. It also works well, has the same smell of medicine (maybe not as strong as the one from the pharmacy), it's just the.... taking it off part that's the problem....

I've never ever had that problem before and I've used several of these pain relief patches. Another good thing about getting them from the pharmacy is that you usually get painkillers to go with them. I'm sure you can buy some painkillers at a convenience store as well, but pharmacist usually knows better, I guess.

So, to sum up:

+ they start working as soon as you put them on
+ you can usually get rid of the pain in less than 2 days

+ you can use one of them for 24hours

+they're cheap

+you can easily buy them pretty much anywhere

+/- they have a strong smell (some like it, some hate it, I rather like it actually)

- it hurts like hell trying to get it off if you don't buy the right kind

So lesson learned:

pain relief patches are awesome, but DON'T BUY THEM AT CONVENIENCE STORES!!!

Again, as far as I know, these types of patches can be bought pretty much anywhere in the world. I just never heard of them before and here, in korea, it seems like everyone is using them. As soon as you mention a little bit of pain to a friend or anyone, they go "let's go buy you a patch".

Have you tried them? Have you had a similar painful experience with them? :) Post a comment and let me know! ^^