Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Ibuprofen

My back thanks you in advance

Countess Elena — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:22:34 -0800

Will prescription-strength ibuprofen have expired since it was prescribed in March 2008? I have some leftover 800-mg prescription ibuprofen. The pharmacy's "discard by" label dates are always one year after the prescription was filled, which in this case was March 2008. Surely it isn't done for yet, though? Internet answers are inconsistent.

Why don't painkillers or caffeine affect me?

timory — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:10:53 -0800

No matter how much ibuprofen, acetaminophen or naproxen I have, it does absolutely nothing for me. No matter how much coffee I drink, I'm just as sleepy as ever. What gives? This isn't just drugs in general. Melatonin puts me to sleep. Alcohol gets me drunk. Cigarettes make me jittery sometimes (although I've never, ever been addicted no matter how hard I "tried"... even a pack a day in college for a few months had no effect on me when I abruptly stopped).

I should point out a few things:

1) I do drink coffee a lot, but it's the same as with cigarettes. I can stop drinking it for weeks or months at a time, and I never feel any kind of withdrawal. When I start up again, it doesn't give me the intended effect at all.

2) Don't worry, I'm not popping entire bottles of Tylenol. I rarely take painkillers at all because they don't have an effect on me, so I don't think I have built up a resistance. Occasionally, when I get a truly horrible, brainsplitting headache, I try to take a painkiller in the hopes that something will happen. At that point, even when I take several times the recommended dosage, nothing happens to me at all.

3) I saw this post, but I don't think it answers my question.

Germy McGerm calling

dancinglamb — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 19:22:14 -0800

At what point is an adult fever too high? Is there some sort of time frame or temperature cutoff where it's time to pack it in and head to the ER? I know the whole 'if you can't put your chin to your chest thing' is a major sign to get there pronto. But what if it's just an evil, evil fever that breaks with acetaminophen/ibuprofen only to return when the meds wear off?

If it matters, I've had a fever for the past 24-ish hours ranging from 101-105.3F. I can get it to go down to about 99.7 with the aforementioned meds. I've got a killer headache that comes and goes. Thankfully, it's been gone for the past few hours.

I think I'm possibly on the mend, because the chills have finally gone, and I'm no longer freezing. Just the opposite, in fact - I'm hot and keep lowering the thermostat.

BTW, I know you're not my doctor, etc. etc. And I do plan on going to the doctor tomorrow morning if it's not better. (and if it gets any worse tonight, I suppose I will have to go to the ER...)

Which PainKiller is best? Aspirin, Paracetamol or Ibuprofen?

complience — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 07:31:45 -0800

Which PainKiller is best? Aspirin, Paracetamol or Ibuprofen? I suffer from a condition which is similar to cerebral edema, I have recently started taking painkillers to get me through the day.

I like to self medicate myself as much as possible, so I want to find out exactly how these drugs work.

As well as pain control, I also suffer from poor circulation which results in my extremities getting cold.

I believe asprin causes thinning of the blood which might improve circulation, but what about paracetamol and Ibuprofen and which of these 3 is most powerful in stopping pain and in what way?

I also read somewhere that because Aspirin and Paracetmol work in different ways.. you can take them both at the same time without risk of OD.

I'm also interested in other pain killers like Tramadol and Diclofenac,

Is it okay to take Asprin with Morphine based drugs like Tramadol? I heard either Asprin or paracetamol boost the effect of morphine.

Basicly im after all and any infomation you can give me on all the different painkillers out there from doc leaves to
diclofenac.

Can NSAID reaction look like Crohn's?

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 08:11:08 -0800

Medical/pharm filter: Could use of NSAIDs end up looking like Crohn's or IBD? (Warning: contains potentially gross descriptions of Crohn's.) I've suffered with GI tract problems since my early teens. I started using Ibuprofen in my late teens or early 20s. I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease in my early 20s. Tests showed ulceration and I frequently had bleeding. In my mid-20s, I was put on an NSAID (Alleve) to control some migraine problems. That entire year, I was in and out of the ER with bowel problems, especially bleeding and blood in the stool. I ended up with a fistula and an abscess, following by surgery. THings settled down and, aside from bouts of diarrhea (which could be just IBS, I suppose), I was fine. A few years later, I had a baby and was given Voltaren, an NSAID, which is contraindicated for people with Crohn's and IBD. I started having bloody diarrhea right after the birth and then a Crohn's flare up caused ulceration of a perineal tear. My GI explained that I should not have ever been given Voltaren suppository, since it is an NSAID. I don't think I was ever told to avoid NSAIDs before that. My GP, OB and a few other doctors were stunned to hear that Crohn's patients should not have NSAIDs.

Aside from occasional bouts of "normal" diarrhea, my Crohn's has gone into remission. Scopes and tests show that all the ulceration has gone away. Even when I had the flare up after childbirth, all the internal ulceration was gone and the external ulceration was around the tear.

I am expecting another baby. Because of the problems healing, my team of doctors has recommended a C-section. After researching childbirth & Crohn's and going through what I went through before, I absolutely agree with them. (Among other things, I don't want a recto-vaginal fistula, let alone any of the things I experienced last time.)

However, is it at all possible that I don't have Crohn's and that all the problems have been caused by NSAIDs so far? Could it just be a repeated reaction to NSAIDs?

I know you are not my doctor and that you are probably not a doctor. However, I can't get in to see a GI for 2-3 months and I wouldn't mind some info right now. I'm also not sure if I could get referred to a GI just to ask that question.

Ibuprofen and Pregnancy

blueshammer — Wed, 16 Jun 2004 08:02:00 -0800

IANAMDFilter: My wife is in her 25th week of pregnancy and has developed costal chondritis -- that is, her last rib on the righthand side is being displaced a little bit by her uterus, making it inflamed, swollen and very tender. It was recommended to her by an OB doctor at her clinic that she take 600mg of ibuprofen (an anti-inflammatory) every six hours for a few days, and to repeat this if the pain returned. Wanting a second opinion, another doctor at the same clinic said this would be OK for a few weeks, but that during the third trimester, ibuprofen should not be taken because it contains prostoglandin, and during the third trimester, the baby is sufficiently developed to react to the increased prostoglandin levels, which can cause one of its heart valves to shut prematurely, resulting in, well, unpleasantness. Specifically, the second doctor said that the baby was sufficiently developed to have this reaction by week 32, and recommended taking ibuprofen no later than week 28. But my wife is a nurse from a family of nurses, and still thinks that taking a course of ibuprofen even at this stage is too much of a risk because, apparently, not a lot of research has been done with fetuses and ibuprofen. So, rather than medical advice, I'd like to ask: Does anyone have any resources they'd like to recommend that we consult? The pain is intense enough to make tasks like traveling by car or picking up our 19-month-old pretty unpleasant, so we'd like to be able to take something (besides percocet) to make things more bearable, but there's something ominous-sounding about a prematurely closed heart valve. Any pointers?