Ibuprofen - Motrin, Advil, Nurofen

[BP4MS]

Ibuprofen is one of the most commonly used non-prescription drugs for helping with back pain and is widely available in pharmacies. It comes in a variety of brand names such as Motrin and Advil in the US and Nurofen in the UK.

There's a lot of detail about Ibuprofen on wikipedia.

[Rose]

I wanted to say that Ibruprofen hurts my stomach and makes me feel ill if I take it over a long period of time, try drinking milk with it. Also, painkillers when you take them every day make your body very acidic. This isnt good for your overall health and liver, combat this with lemon juice. Although this is citric acid it becomes very alkaline in the body. You won't feel nearly so ill ensuring you keep as alkaline as possible whilst on all your meds. This helped me and the more alkaline I could make my body the less painkillers I actually needed! Instead of a vicious circle a good circle! Be strong!Rose

[BP4MS]

Rose, I find the same with Ibuprofen - it's OK when you need it for short periods. But if I take lots of it or if I take it for several days it starts to cause stomach problems and I just have to stop taking it.

[Pauline]

See if you can hold of Nurofen Plus it is great an anti inflammatory and never had any stomach problems, another way is to get a script for suppositories, work straight away and no stomach probs obviously.

[sandrawall]

There are several medications that are used for back pain other than Ibuprofen. They are Anaprox (Naproxen), Indocin (Indomethacin), Relafen (Nabumetone), Colchicine, Celebrex (Celecoxib), Motrin (Ibuprofen), Feldene (Piroxicam), Robaxin (Methocarbamol), Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Indocin (Indomethacin), Piroxicam and make incredible savings

[Chriswa]

Ive taking ibuprofen for years for various aches and pains, never had stomach pain. Guess im lucky, glad theres alternatives for other folks though

[Highlander2000]

I wanted to say that Ibruprofen hurts my stomach and makes me feel ill if I take it over a long period of time, try drinking milk with it. Also, painkillers when you take them every day make your body very acidic. This isnt good for your overall health and liver, combat this with lemon juice. Although this is citric acid it becomes very alkaline in the body. You won't feel nearly so ill ensuring you keep as alkaline as possible whilst on all your meds. This helped me and the more alkaline I could make my body the less painkillers I actually needed! Instead of a vicious circle a good circle! Be strong!Rose

Thanks for this. My father takes ibuprofen on a regular basis for a neck problem he has been suffering from for years. Unfortunately the painkiller causes stomach discomfort. I'll pass this information on to him. I hope he gives it a try.

[wiccibat]

A side effect of all these non steroidal anti inflammatories is gastric irritation, heartburn or even gastric bleeding. Long term use can lead to kidney failure too. If you have to take them advise your doctor who may prescribe a different pain relief, or something to protect your stomach such as ranitidine or omeprazole.
Try alternative pain relief such as co-codamol 8/500 or 30/500 dose this is codeine and paracetamol combined so you need to watch you don't get constipated! My GP gave me tramadol but I found it was no better than the 30/500 co-codamol, instead it made me drowsy and mushy brained.

[Leeann]

The only problem with those two drugs - co-paracetamol and co-codamol is that they have too much "tylenol" in them ~ if taking them for a long period of time, your liver can be affected. If you have severe pain, you'd be better off taking extended release opiates, which "as a rule" don't affect the liver - at least not like tylenol!

[lifeisattitude]

If you truly have severe back pain like me, these over the counter medicines will not even touch the level of pain. My Dr once stopped my prescriptions of vicodin and I literally thought I was going to die. Back pain can be so excruciating. My only remedy has been a decent set of medications and a positive attitude which is hard to maintain when your throbbing in pain.