Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen • Hacker News Board

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#501

Post by vanderZwan » Thu, Apr 30, 2026, 10:52 AM UTC

brightball wrote: post #357

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…

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…

I just realized I forgot to reply to this, but just in case you still read it: I'm so sorry that you have to deal with that, I hope that you're currently living in an environment that doesn't cause headaches.

I also really appreciate that you added nuance to the discussion by sharing your experience. My comments were not intended to imply that dealing with pain symptoms without fully understanding the cause is an inappropriate treatment in situations like yours. Hopefully they did not come across that way, and if so my apologies.

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#502

Post by emj » Thu, Apr 30, 2026, 8:24 PM UTC

rustyhancock wrote: post #265

emj wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"pain free" is a long way from the pain is manageable. Pain is an understudied subject, where we have too little knowledge. Just using the word manageable is an indication of this.

That's very true, but the metric is applied to all medications you compare against that's what's important. You also just get a baseline idea of what's good by guessing what you'd accept. Episodic tension type headache tested with ibuprofen Vs placebo NNT is 14. (Btw that's not great itself) But it's better than paracetamols often quoted figure 20. Here's why I say it's not great. Why don't you guess some reasonable…

Good answer from you part, but I am not qualified to write an response. Pain is temporary for most of us, what we mostly need is something that is slightly better than placebo. I will stick to my "it is probably more complex" I will not make a decision.

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#503

Post by tstrimple » Thu, Apr 30, 2026, 9:39 PM UTC

thepryz wrote: post #434

KacharKhan wrote: post #417

Doc here. One thing every single member of the general public needs to get drilled into them: Medical science is NOT intuitive. You cannot just read the mechanism of action of a drug and infer a dozen things from it. A drug's mechanism of action, its indication (when it ought to be used) and its adverse effects CANNOT simply be inferred logically from each other. Biology is orders of magnitude more complex than SE/CS…

While I don’t disagree, the problem I often have with medical professionals is that they tend to be arrogant and unable to take in new information to adapt and evolve their frameworks. I was married to a doctor, helped them study for board exams, etc and was surrounded by other doctors within our social circle. What most people don’t realize, and most doctors themselves refuse to acknowledge, is how limited by specia…

Having built software distributed in clinics and troubleshooting with doctors has absolutely confirmed this for me. They are some of the worst clients to deal with. It’s not all that different from many “technologists” though when they casually suggest “easy solutions” outside their domain of expertise. How many ignorant HN posts have started with “why don’t they just”?

Re: Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen

#504

Post by agos » Mon, May 04, 2026, 7:40 AM UTC

marcosdumay wrote: post #453

lapcat wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that headache is caused by something Thanks for the diagnosis, Dr. Internet Rando. > you'll be much better taking an anti-allergic, or a sinus cleaner, or whatever else actually solves the underlying issue or make the specific symptom go away. You can't even say what I should take. X or Y or... whatever else? That's not helpful at all.

If you don't know what causes a random headache, that's a good reason to ask a doctor.

if you go to any doctor of any specialization in any point of the world and tell them "doctor, once every three months I get an headache" I guarantee that the answer will be "does it go away with an ibuprofen/paracetamol?"