【Big Fish】03月10日Argument188-By FF

FloridaffUID: 2772878

Argument No.188

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.

This argument primarily points out that considering the differences between men and women that they experience the feeling of pain differently from each other, doctors should prescribe pain medications according to the patient's situation. Furthermore, the author cites a relevant research to conclude that a kind of pain medications is suitable to women rather than men and a suggestion additionally. Close scrutiny of each of the supporting evidence, however, reveals that none of them lend credible support to the conclusion.

First of all, a threshold problem with the argument involves the statistical reliability of the research. The researcher fails to consider whether men and women taking part in the research have the same condition, such as their age, their health, etc. It is possible that a mass of 28 men unfortunately catch a cold that lead to the result of more pain on men. There might be almost men of elder ages who have less endurance in the face of pain. Moreover, the different amount of men and women and the insufficient quantity in this research cannot convince me to accept the conclusion of the research.

Secondly, even assuming that men and women satisfy the research referred to above, the author still fails to take into account other possible differences between those men and women that could also explain the difference between their feelings on pain. For instance, the pain they suffer from extracting their wisdom teeth is such insufficient that could not be a representation of all feelings on pain. What's more, what effects the feeling on pain probably depends on the factor of their mind rather than the feeling. Lacking more specific information about whether women have much more powerful mind and endurance than men do or other factors, the author cannot justifiably rely on the research to draw any conclusion whatever.

Thirdly, there is no unnecessary reasons for that all medications on men versus women should be reevaluated their effects, even though men and women have different feelings on pain. This suggestion is not only of no significance but also a waste of time as an abundance of workload.

Finally, the effect of Kappa opioids on pain feeling could not be hastily generalized to all other pain medications. The research merely done with kappa opioids has no strong convictive evidence to demonstrate the conclusion. It is very likely that some certain other pain medications would be more powerful effect than kappa opioids for women and other pain medications would reflect less impact on men, hence it is quite necessary to concern diversity significantly.

In sum, the argument is unconvincing as it stands. To strengthen it, the argument's proponent must provide further evidence that the difference between men and women on pain, which leads the doctor to give contingent prescription. To better assess the argument, I would need better evidence comparing the effectiveness of several pain medications enough rather than all--perhaps through clinical research or reliable surveys of the general population.