Excedrin, The Headache Medicine

They're not kidding around with that tag line.  Excedrin works!  I don't get headaches that often anymore, thankfully, but when I do I am immensely grateful that Excedrin exists.  Nothing else works nearly as well.  I can take four Ibuprofen and get no result.  But I take two Excedrin, stop moving completely for 20 minutes, and my headache is gone.

Really. I can't imagine how people got by without painkillers.  I suppose we're a bit spoiled.  Because we know that we don't have to live with pain, we believe we can't live with pain.  But even as recently as 150 years ago people had to suffer through surgeries with no anesthesia, and no follow up therapies.  Imagine getting a limb amputated with a saw, with nothing but a few shots of whiskey to dull the pain.  Ridiculous.

I think it's safe to say that anesthesia and general painkillers are on the top ten list for most important human discoveries.  Along with antibiotics and ramen noodles, these drugs make living on earth a far more palatable experience.