Pain
Why don't my pain medications work like they're supposed to
The dose that's supposed to take the edge off barely touches it, or it works for an hour and then the pain is back like nothing was taken at all. It's a frustrating pattern, and it can make a person start to doubt what they're feeling.
There are ordinary reasons medication response varies: dose, timing, tolerance, drug interactions, and the source of the pain itself. Those are worth ruling out first with a doctor or pharmacist before looking further.
The Hypermobility Link Behind Pain Medication Not Working
A 2025 retrospective review by Desai, Brestle, and Jonely, published in Pain Practice, looked at 82 people with hEDS or HSD and screened them using the Central Sensitization Inventory, a validated tool for measuring this. Of those 82 patients, 71, or 86.5%, met criteria for central sensitization. That's a measurable state where the nervous system amplifies pain signals over time rather than dampening them, and it's a documented reason why standard pain management can feel like it's not doing its job.
A separate 2025 study adds another piece. It compared 37 adolescents with HSD or hEDS to 47 controls and looked at exercise-induced hypoalgesia, the normal effect where exercise temporarily reduces pain sensitivity. That effect was impaired in the hypermobile group. Put together, these two studies point to a nervous system that processes and dampens pain differently, which is a different problem than a medication being the wrong choice or the wrong dose.
Read more on the hub page
Chronic Widespread Pain and Central Sensitization in Hypermobility
Where to take this next
Central sensitization changes what kind of treatment actually helps, since it's not addressed by simply increasing a dose. If pain medication consistently underperforms, it's worth asking a doctor about screening for central sensitization and what treatment approaches target it specifically. Our Chronic Widespread Pain and Central Sensitization page covers this research in full.
Sources referenced on this page
- 01Desai, Brestle & Jonely, Pain Practice, 2025, retrospective review, n=82 hEDS/HSD patients, Central Sensitization Inventory (link not yet sourced)
- 02Study, 2025, n=84 (37 adolescents with HSD/hEDS, 47 controls), impaired exercise-induced hypoalgesia (link not yet sourced)