Apparently aspirin may be good for something else. Then again, I can barely spell doctor, so don’t be taking medical advice from me.
It’s still useful for preventing strokes: it’s just that at that point it creates too much risk of bleeding problems.
Yeah, I’d stick with the USPSTF. They recommend against the routine use of aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to prevent colorectal cancer in individuals at average risk for colorectal cancer.
Heck, even the site you linked to doesn’t recommend using aspirin for colon cancer prophylaxis:
Forgive me if this is too paternalistic and obvious, but you might want to discuss with your doctor exactly why you feel you’re chronically dehydrated. I mean, clearly, over the course of a day you get enough water, or you would have died by now. If it’s just a general feeling of 'I’m supposed to drink <X> glasses of water a day, and I don’t think I do" then you can probably stop worrying. If there are particular symptoms, then bring those up with the doc.
Yes. About three years ago, I dabbled briefly with being overweight. As in I weighed 30 lbs more than I do now, and was beginning to have high blood pressure. The doctors told me I should watch it, because I’m at risk for hyper-tension, and the usual spiel. At one point, they started telling me about possible medication. I thought to myself, “What? This is crazy. I’m 25 years old (or however old I was), and they’re going to drug me because my blood presssure is too high. Dude, I’m fat.” I changed my eating habits and exercise routine, and am now back at my playing weight. My blood pressure is back to healthy again, and has remained that way since I went back to eating healthier food and exercising.
Anyway, I’m glad you recognize your need to lose weight, and wish you success and good health.
Bolding mine.
WHAT? Really? I thought “Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, usually abbreviated to NSAIDs or NAIDs” pretty clearly included Tylenol. What am I missing?!
Thanks! Please fight my ignorance!
Sorry for the hijack.
To the OP; I would say go for it, but IANAD, and I would definitely check with one, or at minimum, call the advice nurse on your insurance phone number if you have that. Most insurances do.
Tylenol is non-steroidal, but is is not an anti-inflammatory drug.
Wow.
Double-wow.
I feel like I just realized that ‘their’ was really spelled ‘there’, or something similar…
I have been on pain meds of varying types for years for back stuff. I wonder how often I have referred to tylenol containing substances as nsaids.
I now wonder what the point is, if they are NOT anti-inflammatory- reducing the inflammation which in turn ends the pain is usually my goal when taking tylenol.
I just learned something that will affect my behavior for the rest of my life!
Thank you!
You’re welcome. Tylenol is commonly recommended for fever and as a painkiller, but it doesn’t have the added benefit of anti-inflammatory properties that NSAIDs offer. If inflammation is what is causing your pain, then you should definitely talk to your doctor about using NSAIDs instead of Tylenol for your back pain.
I’m so glad you’re talking to a medical professional! It sucks trying to lose weight. I struggle daily with my eating habits. No matter how much weight I lose, I probably always will. Personal problems definitely don’t make things any easier.
Did you say you were thirsty throughout the day? If you’re thirsty, do you drink something? What do you drink?
For what it’s worth, what helped me the most was re-structuring my food “pyramid.” I have to have two vegetables or one vegetable and one fruit with every meal. The fruits & veggies should take up at least half my plate when I eat (and I now use smaller plates than I used to - I use salad plates instead of dinner plates) Proteins - meat/beans/nuts - come next, then dairy and grains. Only after I’ve eaten my daily allotment of each do I get to even consider sweets or non-nutritive food like chips and such. By that point, I’m usually so full or satisfied with what I’ve eaten, it’s much easier to limit how much of it I eat, or choose not to eat it altogether.
Another thing that helps (or at least helped me): I have to work really hard at the way I plan my meals. It’s not that I don’t know what’s healthy, but sometimes I overplan my meals - spend too much time thinking about them - that I wind up bringing way too much food and almost force myself to eat it all by the end of the day. If I make something and limit the amount of time I can spend making it, I’m more likely to make something smaller and less complicated that will taste just as good and satisfy me for just as long.
Just remember this about NSAIDS: They need a anywhere from a few days to few weeks to fight inflammation, as a general rule. That means taking ibuprofen 600 mg 4 x a day for 7-14 days, or taking Naproxen 375 or so 2 x a day for 7-14 days, or taking piroxicam 20 a day for 7-14 days before you get really significant reduction in inflammation.
The relief one gets from a dose or 3 of aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, etc is due to its pain-relieving properties, not its antianflammatory properties.
And tylenol (acetaminophen) has been shown to be equal to NSAIDS in pain-relieving properties.
You might remember my posts lauding naproxen a year or two ago. I gave it up on my doctor’s recomendation in order to take a baby aspirin once a day for heart/circulatory system effects. What is interesting is that the constantly recurring joint paint I was subject to prior to taking naproxen just did not recur after cessation of my ingestion of naproxen.
It has been a year at least since taking naproxen, but I’m still pain free. Go figure. My analytical mind suggests I addressed the root cause of inflammation. What ever.
My own doctor doesn’t seem to think my experience is that big a deal.
Whatever.
And tylenol ? I’ve tried it numerous times for tooth aches and post dental surgery and joint pain and even supplemented with codeine doesn’t get me excited as a pain reliever.
To each their own. Overall, there doesn’t seem to be a dime’s worth of difference between the different NSAIDS and tylenol as far as pain relief goes, but everyone has their own unique internal neurophysiology. Which is why I’ll rotate patients through the different pain killers; NSAIDs and tylenol alike, to see what seems to work best for them.
I understand that, but my post was to respond to your implied assertion that pain relief and and anti inflammatory effects were independant given the the different time frames for results… Pain relief based on effects on the brain do not excite me as much as pain relief based on effects at the pain site, and anti inflammation is definitely not “in ones head”. I , at the moment, take the position that my pain was a result of inflammation.
Now, reading numerous literature on the net I’m led to consider that inflammation is a very serious problem for my future health.
Pain relief is fine, but ant-inflammatory intervention is healthier don’t you say ? So, does tylenol / acetomynophen do anything in that regard ?
Actually, I’d dispute your assertion that either mentioned med are acting solely in the brain to reduce pain. They function by inhibiting prostaglandins, especially at the site of pain, changing the way swelling occurs AND the way the local nerves mediate pain. Tylenol tends to be lousy at mediating the swelling but okay at mediating the pain.
And frankly, most studies have shown that for garden-variety injuries, the inflammation is helpful for the healing process, and inhibiting it overmuch may not be good for the area. Hence a lot of docs I know, including orthopedists, recommend tylenol over NSAIDs for pain relief from minor injuries.
Even osteoarthritis and degenerative joint disease, doesn’t seem to have its progress changed at all by using NSAIDs. In fact, many experts believe it is better to use tylenol for these conditions, if it helps as much as NSAIDS in relieving pain, because the NSAIDS have caused a lot of debility and death among older folks in the form of hemorrhagic stroke and GI bleeding. While study after study shows that for the typical patient, NSAIDs don’t relieve pain any better than tylenol.
Now, if one has an actual inflammatory disease, such as Rheumatoid arthritis, where the body’s own inflammatory reaction is running away and damaging things, then yes, NSAIDs are the preferred agent.
So, in most conditions, any inflammation present is there as a part of the body’s own response to injury or infection, and it isn’t necessarily desirable to reduce it in your average case.
If chronic pain is present, especially in a specific area of the body, and chronic inflammation may be present, such as in a stress fracture or an elbow bursitis, then yes, NSAIDs can make sense.
So, should you use NSAIDs? If they work better for you for acute pain relief than tylenol, yes. Just recognize the risk of bleeding.
And I wouldn’t believe everything you read on the net about inflammation, either. 
there’s a lot of meat here, but forgive me if i feel over whelmed.
Just heard the latest on daily aspirin, aspirin reduces cancer risk study says, on the radio.
See post # 23
It’s complicated. And the more I learn about it, the more I realize just how little I really know.
I think the gist of my issue is that I don’t pay enough attention to my body and what it needs. Sometimes I even eat when I’m thirsty- trying to satisfy a need that I’m not paying attention to. Generally I have 2 cups of coffee in the morning, maybe something to drink with my lunch (iced tea or water), maybe a cup of coffee in the afternoon, and in the evening I usually feel thirsty and have a glass of water. Obviously I need more water in my diet. (drinking water as I type- I’m trying!)