have you tried different kinds? apparently it really varies what the standard pain reliever is depending on where you go, i believe what i've always taken is ibuprofen here in sweden and that is basically a miracle pill that dissolves any sort of pain and cold symptoms within half an hour for me.
What? Whenever I've needed pain relief enough where I've been to the doctor, they tell me to use both ibuprofen and paracetamol, as they have different active ingredients, and that precisely because of that it's perfectly fine. They stress very much to not take too much of one at a time though.
Yes, but any time I've mentioned that to a doctor they've said that that's just a legal disclainer, and it's not an issue as long as you don't take more than the normal dose.