When I was younger, I went through a period that had me taking ibuprofen like it was candy. I eventually had a surgical procedure that fixed the issue. Yay! But I’ve been super leery about NSAIDs ever since because I know that excessive use can lead to all sorts of problems.
In my head, it’s kind of like radiation exposure. Like there’s a lifetime limit of NSAIDs my body can tolerate and every additional ibuprofen or Tylenol is pushing me towards it. Or that maybe I already caused minor damage to my kidneys (or whatever) and now my body could be particularly sensitive to the stuff.
So what’s the dope? Is that completely silly, or am I right to exhibit extra caution when taking these meds?
ETA: Consult my physician, nobody here is my doctor, etc.
Tylenol is acetaminophen (which for some bizarre reason tends to put me to sleep), which isn’t usually considered an NSAID, so far as I know.
I do tend to take higher-than-average amounts of ibuprofen (Advil) and naproxen (Aleve) myself, especially in winter, due to arthritis. I’ve also recently been instructed by a doctor to take an aspirin a day, following a TIA.
IANADoctor…best you talk to a real doctor about this.
That said, I found this:
Heavy or long-term use of some of these medicines, such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and higher dose aspirin, can cause chronic kidney disease known as chronic interstitial nephritis. The warning labels on over-the-counter analgesics tell you not to use these medicines for more than l0 days for pain and more than three days for fever. SOURCE
I do not know if the kidneys can recover from previous damage or just stay damaged. Again, talk to your doctor about it.
EDIT to add: It seems kidneys might repair themselves. It was thought they didn’t but some research now suggests they do. See article below. Not sure how much someone can rely on that regeneration.
It depends. If you’re taking a lot of an NSAID, you should also be taking a proton pump uptake inhibitor. I was prescribed Naproxen without a PPI for about a year and ended up with an ulcer. Sometimes ulcers go away on their own; mine hasn’t yet, and this is nearly ten years later. But it hasn’t got any worse, so hopefully it will heal eventually.
According to the medical report for 23andme, I uptake proton pump thingies very quickly, so I might be more susceptible to damage from NSAIDs.
(I shouldn’t have been on Naproxen at all due to my asthma, and it did make my asthma a lot worse. My asthma’s still worse but there’s no way of knowing if it’s due to the Naproxen).
IANADoctor, but I know enough about NSAIDs, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, to know there’s some misinformation in the above posts. Tylenol (acetaminophen) is an NSAID. They all tend to irritate the stomach, and this varies from person to person, and some people get along better with one NSAID than another.
At the recommended doses, they won’t cause kidney damage, or so my doc says. Read the labels.
You may or may not get stomach aches (heartburn) from an NSAID. If you do, PPIs such as Prilosec (omeprazole) will usually ease that. Tell Duckduckgo to look for proton pump inhibitors to get a list.
All these drugs are now available as generics at your drugstore, and the generics work just like the more expensive name brands.
I’m not a doctor. I’m not your doctor. I’m just a guy who’s been taking omeprazole every day for years. I also take acetaminophen, 500mg four times a day. I get complete blood tests twice a year, and they show that my 72-year-old liver and kidneys are working just fine.
Pharmacist here. Tylenol (acetaminophen) is NOT an NSAID, because it has little, if any, anti-inflammatory action. It’s an analgesic and anti-pyretic, or in plain English, a pain reliever and fever reducer. It’s metabolized in the liver, which is why an overdose, or long-term heavy use, can lead to liver damage which is sometimes permanent.
Whether NSAID body damage is permanent will depend on the drug, and the person.
Anti-inflammation drugs are complicated, as are the chemicals they block and their relation to each other. They are pretty good at helping with many, but not all, types of pain. They are the best agent for a few types of pain.
Some increase the risk of bleeding, ulceration, miscarriage, nephritis or less common side effects like ringing of the ears. These are usually temporary and things often go back to normal on stopping the medication.
But if you are at increased risk of bleeding and fall and bang your head, that is not always so easy to reverse.
Your doctor can help you make decisions that weigh the risks and benefits. These differ with dose, medication, age, conditions and other medicines you are taking. For thst reason, plus those of privacy, it is hard to give a more detailed answer for you. But the general answer is that unwanted changes often go back to normal on stopping the causative medicine. If that is the cause. Except when they don’t.
I can provide an anecdote that potential damage can be permanent, but perhaps not for the reasons you fear. My sister took Ibuprofen too often and too long for her body, and she ended up with an ulcer that required a third of her stomach be removed.
It was blamed on her usage of Ibuprofen, at least, and she hasn’t had ulcer problems since then. However, even that’s not conclusive proof, I’m not a doctor, you’re not my sister, and if Ibuprofen was the cause I imagine she probably could have avoided permanent damage by moderating her intake.
Tylenol (acetaminophen) is most definitely NOT an NSAID.
It does not have anti-inflammatory properties, which differentiates it from NSAIDs. It does relieve pain and reduce fevers like NSAIDs, but it does not reduce inflammation.
ETA: ninjaed by @nearwildheaven, a pharmacist. I’m only a nurse.
Apparently, I was wrong about acetaminophen being an NSAID. If anything else I said was mistaken, feel free to tell me about that, too. I don’t mind that. When I’m wrong, I admit it.
It’s a very widely known consequence of taking an NSAID like Tylenol for too long, and they would have tested her for the bacteria that can also cause ulcers (because they can be treated with antibiotics), so it’s as close to 100% likely as any medical cause is that the NSAIDs caused the ulcer. Same as they caused mine.
It’s not moderating the dose that’s necessary exactly (though that can be a good idea), it’s taking a proton pump inhibitor.
Sorry for mistyping - I do know what NSAIDs are (think my other post shows that), I mistyped after reading the other posts and realised too late to edit (we don’t use the term Tylenol in the UK - we say paracetamol).
