I have taken ibuprofen and acetaminophen at different times for different aches (especially headaches) and ibuprofen works SO MUCH better. Am I the only one?
I have also had minor surgery several times (and one coming up Friday!) and they always prescribe the 5mg oxycodone with 325mg acetaminophen pills. Not only does this pill do nothing for pain, it literally gives me a headache when I take it.
For my upcoming surgery they told me I can’t take ibuprofen after the surgery either. That’s just great.
Same. Tylenol is pointless for me. That fact, combined with its uncomfortably low lethal dose makes Tylenol abstinence an easy choice. I just have to be careful about all of the other medications where they sneak the stuff in.
I find maximum strength Tylenol fairly effective with headaches and fevers. I prefer it to ibuprofen because IB tens to upset my stomach, particularly if I take it on an empty stomach.
For NSAIDs, I prefer naproxen sodium, it doesn’t give me the same stomach issues as IB, and lasts longer.
Tylenol does work for me – which is lucky, because I had bariatric surgery in late 2021 and NSAIDs are now no-nos. I generally only take it for mild headaches, though. (In the past I used other/stronger stuff for migraines, which stopped after menopause, and joint pain, which stopped after weight loss.)
Acetaminophen works for me about as well as aspirin. So perfectly well for minor aches & pains. My usual use case is after my dermatologist has scraped, burned, or sliced off one malignancy or another. Once all the lidocaine wears off his handiwork stings pretty good. Acetaminophen at the normal 2x325mg dose pretty well kills that discomfort.
IME/IMO the dangerous dose isn’t so close to the normal dose that one needs worry about it. Though, as @minor7flat5 says, it is included in a lot of combination meds, so an inadvertent doubled dose is always a possibility lurking out there. Assuming your liver is in good shape anyhow, even a single doubled dose is nil risk. But that’s not something to screw up very often.
Acetaminophen works for headaches and fevers and sore throats for me, but nothing else. I can’t take ibuprofen or Aleve because they wreck my stomach, so I have a prescription for Meloxicam, an nsaid which theoretically is formulated to be easier on the stomach. I’ve taken it several times for things like plantar fasciitis and suspected arthritis pain, and so far so good.
It works for me, if my expectations are reasonable. I can’t expect it to resolve my chronic pains, but for acute flares it does reduce the symptoms to some extent. It also helps with acute pains unrelated to my chronic pain. It works as well as NSAIDs for me. Which is good, as I too need to avoid NSAIDs.
As a physician, I found it worked for at least half of my patients, IF their expectations were reasonable. If they were requesting narcotics, it rarely worked (nor did NSAIDs).
Sadly, meloxican tends to cause as much GI inflammation in the average patient as any other NSAID. Glad it doesn’t bother your stomach, but for those taking it chronically, I recommend watching for signs of GI bleeding, and perhaps even taking antacids.
I grew quite wary of all the claims of “more GI safe” NSAIDs after the whole COX 2 inhibitor (i.e. celebrex, etc) debacle.
Quick question. I am assuming it must be the oxycodone that is giving me a headache when I take it. If that narcotic causes headaches, is it likely that all narcotics will? Are there any other real options? I am scared of even talking about narcotics with doctor because I am afraid I will get labeled as a problem.
I haven’t had issues with many drugs, but when I got my migraines nothing OTC helped me. I might as well have been taking nothing. When triptans came along I was shouting hosannas. As long as I didn’t wait too long, they’d do the trick.
Ibuprofen has always worked better for me than acetaminaphin (sp?) for “normal” pain.
But I now have arthritis in my right knee…well, it’s been developing for a while. My doctor prescribed meloxicam, and it works! Tylenol did diddly squat.
I’m having trouble parsing this (probably me). Are you saying I should take antacids if I have stomach problems or I should NOT take them because they would exacerbate the bleeding issues? TIA.
If I’m in the throes of a TMJ flare, nothing helps but a coupla ibuprofen (or going to bed). If I’ve got a sinus headache or something, I take Tylenol. I’d love to take ibuprofen on the regular but it definitely hurts my stomach so I take it sparingly.
My mom just had spine surgery and they sent her home with instructions to take a muscle relaxer, oxycontin and Tylenol. Iiiiii dunno if the Tylenol does anything for her but she takes it, cuz it’s better than nothing, and better than relying on the Oxy.
They gave her Meloxicam when she complained of too much pain about 5 weeks in, but it ripped up her stomach pretty good so she stopped it right away.
I’ve got a million different pains, but I’m not allowed to take anything but acetaminophen and low-dose aspirin these days. In the past I thought every option worked better than them.
I take the acetaminophen in the hopes that it reduces something somewhere. Some days are better than others but I can’t figure out any correlation.
I’m saying you may want to take antacids regularly if you’re taking NSAIDs regularly. Sorry I wasn’t clearer. Your own practitioner can help you decide what’s right for you.
Tough to say, too many individual variables to be sure. Oxycodone in its long acting form causes headaches in about 14% of reporting users, but in the short acting form it’s closer to 3%. Short acting morphine’s rate is about 2% (I can’t find stats on the rate for long acting forms).
But it doesn’t differentiate what kind of headaches are involved, what the opioid is prescribed for, how long it’s in use, etc so it’s hard to generate recommendations.
