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Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

asteriskmag.com

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Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#351

Post by simplicio »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #27
pugio wrote: post #17

Really lovely article. In paramedicine we usually treat 10g of acetaminophen in a 24-hour window as a potentially fatal overdose. That's also why the law in Australia was changed to require acetaminophen to come in blister packs (harder to get each pill out) of no more than 16. At 500 mg, that only gets you up to 8 g if you eat the whole thing, which is still hopefully non-fatal. I always thought a simple over-the-co…

What does ingesting 10g of acetaminophen even look like? I've got to imagine the fatal dose is far, far, far lower with chronic usage. Finding out that people are ingesting grams is profoundly disturbing.

Extra strength tylenol is 500mg a tablet, so 20 pills. Think most of the accidental ODs are due to people not realizing its included in other cold meds, and also being loopy from whatever illness they're trying to manage, and so end up forgetting when they last took the meds.

Its also a pretty popular choice for people trying to kill themselves, though, so I suspect a non-trival chunk of ODs in the statistics given in the article were intentional.

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#352

Post by Supermancho »

lapcat wrote: post #331
Supermancho wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's no more rational than the human mind Neither is a car, but I still take it to get checked out when a warning light is on.

> Neither is a car, but I still take it to get checked out when a warning light is on. I can't believe I need to say this, but cars did not evolve by natural selection. Cars are intelligently designed (by humans, not by God) to show a warning light when there is a problem you should get checked out. So cars are actually rational in that respect. Hacker News comments never fail to depress me.

> I can't believe I need to say this, but cars did not evolve by natural selection.

You didn't need to say that because that's not relevant. The issue was about signal to noise. The logical stance is to assume signal is signal, until you know otherwise.

> Hacker News comments never fail to depress me.

That's also a signal.

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#353

Post by cucumber3732842 »

nbaugh1 wrote: post #313
Insanity wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might just be an artifact of the broken healthcare system. Painkillers are cheap and over the-counter. Going to a doctor is not. Additionally, in EU you can just take a sick day to rest and recover pretty much any time you need it. In the US you have limited “sick days”. E.g I now only have 6 “sick days” per year.. (and I’m fortunate to work in tech, I just WFH when I’m under the weather. But people who are less well…

Like I just mentioned in another comment, they're also a way to get you back to work ASAP. Just about everyone NOT working a comfy white collar office job needs to be working in order to make money. Time off is less income, people can't afford that so they do what they need to do to get back to work. Sprained ankle? Injured back? Headache? Broken bone? All things that people work through everyday with some NSAIDs bec…

>Like I just mentioned in another comment, they're also a way to get you back to work ASAP. Just about everyone NOT working a comfy white collar office job needs to be working in order to make money. Time off is less income, people can't afford that so they do what they need to do to get back to work. >Sprained ankle? Injured back? Headache? Broken bone? All things that people work through everyday with some NSAIDs because calling out sick means losing income

The office workers will just pop the same damn pills and show up too. Office workers are more likely to show up when in pain specifically because their job doesn't aggravate it. Most people don't have a lavish BigCo sick time policy and even if they do why burn sick time just to be in the same pain and pop the same pills at home. Most people will just have to work harder to make up for being out anyway. It makes sense to just be in pain at the office.

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#354

Post by squidbang »

diogenes_atx wrote: post #333

Scattered throughout this discussion are a number of comments concerning the potential damage to the stomach lining from ibuprofen, naproxen and aspirin. This is an important consideration when choosing a painkiller. According to a recent Washington Post article by Trisha Pasricha, MD, "You should avoid taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs — such as ibuprofen, naproxen and aspirin — whenever possibl…

Anecdotal, but this is what got me to finally see a doctor about purpose-made migraine abortives. I was taking huge doses of naproxen multiple times a week, until I started to get terrible heartburn with every dose.

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#355

Post by AshamedBadger56 »

vanderZwan wrote: post #245
magicalhippo wrote: post #110

> But if acetaminophen is safer, then why don’t official sources tell you that? Guess it depends on country. Here in Norway official sources[1][2] do say acetaminophen (paracetamol here) should be the default for treating fever and pain in kids, adults, pregnant women and elderly, and have for some time. Ibuprofen they say should be used with caution. [1]: https://www.dmp.no/nyheter/behov-for-smertestillende-slik-ve.…

I feel like this is one of those things where Europe and the US are very different, culturally speaking - I've lived in the Netherlands, Germany and now Sweden, and the amount of painkillers used and prescribed here seems much lower than what Americans tell me is normal in the US. Pain a warning signal from the body. It's something one should listen to, not just try to ignore and overrule. If I sprain my ankle it onl…

You're forgetting that when you're sick and hurt yourself in the US you very likely still have to go to work. Doing some quick research, roughly 25% of the US workers don't have any sick time whatsoever, so you gotta take some painkillers and get back to work. If you need to take time off to go to the doctor, you're no longer getting paid, so...a lot of people don't do that and instead hide the pain with painkillers.

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#357

Post by brightball »

vanderZwan wrote: post #245
magicalhippo wrote: post #110

> But if acetaminophen is safer, then why don’t official sources tell you that? Guess it depends on country. Here in Norway official sources[1][2] do say acetaminophen (paracetamol here) should be the default for treating fever and pain in kids, adults, pregnant women and elderly, and have for some time. Ibuprofen they say should be used with caution. [1]: https://www.dmp.no/nyheter/behov-for-smertestillende-slik-ve.…

I feel like this is one of those things where Europe and the US are very different, culturally speaking - I've lived in the Netherlands, Germany and now Sweden, and the amount of painkillers used and prescribed here seems much lower than what Americans tell me is normal in the US. Pain a warning signal from the body. It's something one should listen to, not just try to ignore and overrule. If I sprain my ankle it onl…

I've taken so much Advil/Ibuprofen in my life it would be impossible to count at this point.

I always got headaches when I was younger and it didn't really stop until I went to college at a higher altitude. When I go back to my hometown, after a couple of days they come back. Some headaches will go away on their own with water or rest, but others that seem to go from one side of my forehead all the way down the same side of my neck seem to only go away with medicine.

I used to have to take Advil what seemed like every other day to get them to go away. Tylenol never seemed to help at all. Aleve actually works better than anything for me.

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#358

Post by SlightlyLeftPad »

AshamedBadger56 wrote: post #355
vanderZwan wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is one of those things where Europe and the US are very different, culturally speaking - I've lived in the Netherlands, Germany and now Sweden, and the amount of painkillers used and prescribed here seems much lower than what Americans tell me is normal in the US. Pain a warning signal from the body. It's something one should listen to, not just try to ignore and overrule. If I sprain my ankle it onl…

You're forgetting that when you're sick and hurt yourself in the US you very likely still have to go to work. Doing some quick research, roughly 25% of the US workers don't have any sick time whatsoever, so you gotta take some painkillers and get back to work. If you need to take time off to go to the doctor, you're no longer getting paid, so...a lot of people don't do that and instead hide the pain with painkillers.

Harder, faster, stronger, smarter

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#359

Post by arijun »

Why don't we package Acetaminophen with NAC? The reason I can think of is it will be delivered earlier than it normally is in cases of overdose. That would mean there will be less NAC in your system than at the peak dosage when the body starts using the pathway that needs it. But every little bit must help, no?

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#360

Post by [deleted] »

pikminguy wrote: post #336

Something I'm surprised this article didn't mention is that sometimes the anti-inflammatory is the point. If you have swelling along with the pain then ibuprofen or any other NSAID is going to be much more effective. That would be the main reason to go with ibuprofen in my opinion. But again if you take medical advice from an internet comment you're already doing it wrong.

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