I prefer placebos that don’t look and taste like water. But I’m a big fan of placebos. I take vitamin C when i have a cold because damn, it’s a tasty placebo.
It’s diclofenac gel is available OTC in the US as Voltaren Gel.
That stuff made me bruise horribly! And I was just rubbing it on a sore thumb joint; I can’t imagine what the recommended dose would have done to me.
Aspirin, a single tablet, takes care of my migraines, which are mild to begin with. Other OTC NSAIDS do not, and while my doctor wanted to prescribe Imitrex, I declined because a cheap, safe, OTC med works for me.
I like aspirin for headaches, too. But i use ibuprofen or naproxen for muscles and joints
Is there a chart that shows the type of pain reliever, the actual name, the product name, and expected benefits/or what it’s primarily for???
@smithsb This page has charts that at least note the type, generic name, and typical brand name (in the U.S.), along with recommended dosages.
And, this page has a chart (near the top of the page) which lists which OTC (in the US) medications are recommended for various uses (pain relief, fever, etc.)
You’d have to name your country, because drugs have different names, dosages, and OTC/RX statuses in different countries.
USA for at least 5 letters!
It actually could slightly help.
Common colds: Does vitamin C keep you healthy? - InformedHealth.org - NCBI Bookshelf.
Taking vitamin C every day to try to prevent colds won’t protect most people from colds. It only slightly shortens the amount of time that they’re ill. Starting to take vitamin C once you already have cold symptoms won’t have any effect on your cold.
My Doc told me never to take aspirin and naproxen at the same time.
It is usually just fine for most patients to take low dose aspirin daily (81 mg) for cardiovascular health reasons if recommended by one’s physician and to still take other NSAIDs as needed for pain. I’ve had many patients on daily low dose aspirin plus meds like naproxen or ibuprofen or diclofenac as needed. One needs to be vigilant for GI side effects whenever regularly taking NSAIDs, though and 81 mg aspirin plus another NSAID may slightly increase the risk of GI bleeding over just taking a single NSAID.
The two are taken together because a daily low dose aspirin does reduce the tendency of platelets to be overly ‘sticky’ and hence can reduce the risk of clots in folks pre-disposed to them. Other NSAIDs don’t have this particular effect, but are better at relieving pain and inflammation than low dose aspirin.
Okay, but what he meant was taking two normal aspirin for headache pain + naproxen.
Once rephrased like that, that’s good basic advice. But I didn’t want to have anyone acting on your statement about “never to take aspirin and naproxen at the same time” when such an action wouldn’t be appropriate and could be very dangerous.
That’s not what i said. I said that i like aspirin for a headache and prefer naproxen or ibuprofen for muscle and joint pain. But i don’t ordinarily take them at the same time, i take one or the other, depending on what symptoms i have.
I also sometimes pop an aspirin tablet before a long flight, to reduce the risk of blood clots when I’m stuck sitting still for hours on end. I suppose if i arrived and twisted my ankle, i might also take ibuprofen, but it hasn’t happened yet. And I’d be careful of my stomach.