Argument188

nerdUID: 2760293

TOPIC: ARGUMENT188 - A new report suggests that men and women experience pain very differently from one another, and that doctors should consider these differences when prescribing pain medications. When researchers administered the same dosage of kappa opioids-a painkiller-to 28 men and 20 women who were having their wisdom teeth extracted, the women reported feeling much less pain than the men, and the easing of pain lasted considerably longer in women. This research suggests that kappa opioids should be prescribed for women whenever pain medication is required, whereas men should be given other kinds of pain medication. In addition, researchers should reevaluate the effects of all medications on men versus women.


The speaker concludes that kappa opioids should be provided for women, and men should have something else instead, for the reason that women feel less painful and also have a longer time on easing the pain. However, I cannot agree with the arguer. He may neglect some other elements in his statement.

First, the arguer fails to rule out alternative explanations in why men felt much more pain and had a shorter time in easing the pain and then got the conclusion that they should use other medicines instead. It is possible men and women in this experiment have a different capacity of standing pain so that they will have a variety of reactions on the same dosage of kappa opioids. Also, the feeling of pain totally depends on the person himself, that is to say, when the same degree of pain pushes on two different people, they may feel quite different. So, the arguer cannot conclude that kappa opioids are not useful for men.


Then, the arguer could not simply generalize using kappa opiods for women whenever they need it. Different pain medication has a variety of effects. Some can make the pain disappeared forever, whereas some may only have effect in a short time. Even if the kappa opiods are useful when women have their teeth extracted, the doctor cannot prescribe the medication for them whenever they feel painful in other parts of the body. It may be useless when they have a headache or stomachache. The arguer didn't give more proof that kappa opiods can cure other pains as well.

Finally, the assertion that researchers should reevaluate all medicines on the effect between men and women is a gross overstatement. Even if men and women have a different reaction on kappa opioids, we cannot get the conclusion that doctors should prescribe different medicines on men and women. As we all know, most medicines are only varied when they give to people on different ages. Some are only for adults, some are more helpful for children, and others are useful for the senior. Unless the arguer could prove that some medicines are better for men and others are more useful for women, researchers don’t need to reassess all medications.

To sum up, the arguer did not give enough proof to support his conclusion. The speaker should first make sure that people in that research are representative and in the same condition so that he can know much more about whether kappa opioids are useful for men or not. Also, he can find some other medications to do experiments to compare with kappa opioids and then get the conclusion.

好混乱的一篇啊...