Image description: A bottle of Ibuprofen containing 1000 tablets.
(Originally published earlier today on mastodon.social)
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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In Europe, generally paracetamol (brand name Tylenol in the US) is recommended for headaches / the common cold / flu, and ibuprofen for muscle aches / inflammation.
For something more severe, they'll recommend taking one type of painkiller, waiting 2 hours, taking the other, then 2 hours later repeating the process.
Asprin is has mostly fallen out of usage as a painkiller, but is sometimes still used for heart / blood problems.
These painkillers are out of patent, so there is never a good reason to pay more for a fancy brand.
That's long been my approach with the starting meds reversed (ibuprofen, then Tylenol if needed). Acetaminophen/paracetamol's therapeutic dosage is much closer to the amount required for liver toxicity than Ibuprofen's is for kidneys, so I think it's better to start with the lower-risk medication. If I'm in the middle of a multi-day episode that's well-managed with just one medication at the regular dosing schedule, I will often alternate between them.
Tylenol (we call it acetaminophen generically) never worked as well for me as ibuprofen. Plus, it is way too easy to destroy your liver with Tylenol.
Plus I like the method of action. NSAIDs help control inflammation. Tylenol just blocks pain receptors.
Acetaminophen is pretty rough on livers and kidneys. People also overdose on it pretty routinely as a lethal dose is like eight pills.
I prefer ibuprofen, but only because I'm a little chicken when it comes to stuff like that.
Nobody in a civilized country takes EIGHT fucking pills, unless they want to die. A full card usually has less than 20.
Costco sells a 1000 pills bottle just like the ibuprofen one
Again, "civilized". America and its vassal state (Canada) don't count.