I take a daily low dose aspirin but it got to me wondering, do people still take aspirin for pain relief? So here’s a poll. I realize that what’s available over the counter will be dependent on location but since this is a US based board, I went with the ones that are available OTC here in Murika.
Which of the following are you most likely to reach for for pain relief? I understand that some are better than others for different types of pain. This is just your “most likely chosen” option.
Tylenol just doesn’t work for me.
Ibuprofen works very well for me.
Aspirin in a pinch, but it doesn’t work as well and hits my stomach much harder.
Caffeine does help with some of my morning headaches.
I use Aleve if I’m really feeling achy. Excedrin if it’s a headache or less pain. I do take a daily 81mg. Tylenol does absolutely nothing for me, as I found out after knee surgery.
Different pain relievers work in different ways, which means the types of pain they address are different. Ibuprofen is mainly an anti-inflammatory, which means it helps relieve pain that comes from swelling. If you are sore after physical exertion, it’s probably from inflammation of joints and muscles. That swelling presses on nerves and causes pain, so taking an anti-inflammatory like ibuprofen can reduce the swelling and resulting pressure on the nerves. Acetaminophen works by lessening the pain sensation and reducing fever. If you have a headache or aches from a cold, acetaminophen may work better. If your pain is mostly from inflammation, acetaminophen may not provide much relief. For the best pain relief, you should consider which type of pain reliever works best for the underlying cause of that pain.
Any kind of ibuprofen.
I have chronic pain.
Sometimes I take 10 - 12 a day.
I am not supposed to because I am on Eliquis but there’s nothing else I can do at this point.
Luckily, I very rarely have pain and almost never a headache. But when I have a cold, I take Ibuprofen and it works quite well against the body aches. I also took them when I had a broken rib a few years ago, which was very painful for weeks.
Ibuprofen.
Aspirin tends to upset my stomach. And Tylenol (acetaminophen) doesn’t seem to work as well, plus I’m a bit wary of it from the point of view of liver toxicity… (I do like my red wine with dinner)!
Don’t use any very often though: fortunately I don’t get headaches the way I used to when younger.
I very rarely take pain relievers, and when I do, it’s generally for some sort of tooth problem. I’ve read that ibuprofen is more effective than most others, especially better than acetaminophen, for tooth issues. I see from its popularity in the poll that it’s apparently better for everything!
I once had a really painful tooth and was concerned about it flaring up badly during the night prior to my dental appointment the next day. I was able to get an emergency prescription for Tylenol 292s (acetaminophen, caffeine, and 30 mg of codeine). Despite this allegedly powerful narcotic painkiller, IIRC it really didn’t do much for the toothache. Had I known, I’d probably have been better off with OTC ibuprofen.
After surgery last month was prescribed Metamizole (banned in the US) along with Paracetomol. I plan to stick to ibuprofen, but I’ll probably finish the Metamizole at some point.
I prefer ibuprofen and naproxen. For whatever reason, aspirin is further down my list, and acetaminophen has a tendency to put me to sleep (I do tend toward idiosyncratic reactions to meds).
We use Aleve/Naproxen mostly in our house, but we keep Tylenol on hand for a varitey of uses. I used to take a daily baby asprin but since my Dr took me off that we rarely use any asprin.
If we don’t have Aleve handy Ibuprofen works fine for me, you just need to take them more often. That’s generally why we use Aleve, fewer pills to take.
All of the above? Seriously, I rotate through them, so that they all work reasonably well for me, though some work better than others. From lowest (general effect to highest):
Naproxen (though I often take it for longer periods of time, like overnight pains) → Aspirin (low effect but cheap) → generic Ibuprofen ( good all purpose) → acetaminophen (strongest/highest dose, but avoid because too many other products ALSO include it).
I also have a bottle of “Migraine Relief” which is Aspirin/Acetaminophen/Caffeine that works pretty well on certain headaches.
But again, I’ll make a conscious effort to switch between all four of the main options depending on the sort of pain, the circumstances, and effort not to overtax any one set leading to less usefulness in the future.