Over the counter pain killers act different with different people. Tylenol is for headaches, other slight pains and fevers. It works well for some. Tylenol does absolutly nothing for me except pull down a fever a degree or so.

Aleve works even better than Tylenol for most people. It just makes me feel so crazy that I don't take it.

Ibuprofen works best for me. That said, I'm not supposed to take it because I take Mobic.

I'm not familiar with how good Vicodin is.

Asperin works better than Tylenol for me for slight aches and pains and getting fever down. It also hurts my stomach.

Hydrocodone comes in various strengths and is better for stronger pain, however it is highly addictive. If you took two 5 MG caplets it will not hurt you.

Looks like it's a personal choice you have to make.

Aspirin and ibuprofen are bad for people with lots of allergies or sensitivities. They are both generally bad for asthmatics.

Tylenol is really hard on the liver. If you drink more than one or two drinks/wines/beers a day, avoid Tylenol.

I take a lot of Aleve (well, the Costco brand generic) for my hip pain. I am trying to figure out when I will need a hip replacement surgery. Some days yes, some days no.

Some are "processed"....detoxified through the liver....some through the kidneys...
What you take may depend on what else you are taking.
Tylenol... can be hard on your liver....some cases or liver failure in conjunction with alcohol consumption have been reported.
Aspirin doesn't seem to work as well in lower doses as the others do.
Vicoden is ibuprofin plus hydrocodone which is a narcotic. It workd well with some to relieve pain but can cause dizziness and be habit forming.
I used Aleve once....wasn't impressed.
My OTC pain reliever of choice is Ibuprofin...AKA Advil. When Dr's recommend it for post surgical pain and Rhumatologists recommend it for the pain of arthritis...I figure why try other stuff?
And Ibuprofin is Motrin....a long trusted pain killer.
Linda C

Aleve lasts a long time and works for my joint and muscle aches. Ibuprofen works better but doesn't last as long. I never use aspirin. Tylenol is less effective than any of the above for me. I spent several months on Vicodin for a sciatic nerve injury. Effective but I hated the side effects with long term use. I eventually had 2 appointments with an acupuncturist out of desperation and was able to stop the Vicodin.

Okay... understand what the drug is doing.

Asprin, ibuprophen, and naproxen sodium are all NSAIDs. They go by the brand names Bayer, Motrin, and Aleve. There are also generic store brands of each. These drugs all reduce swelling of tissues. NSAID stands for Non-Steroid Anti-Inflamatory Drug. These are good for arthritis, irritated tendons, and bumped joints. Things that might cause injured tissue to swell up... which is part of the healing process. Asprin is the strongest but lasts the shortest amount of time and Naproxen lasts much longer but is not as strong. Motrin is sort of in the middle. I think all bottles of these medicines recommend they not be taken for more then 3 days... after that see a doctor if it still hurts.

NSAIDs are hard on your stomach and thin your blood. Asprin in particular is associated with bleeding because it will thin the blood. Some people with heart or circulation problems take tiny theraputic doses because it thins the blood.

Tylenol/parcematol/acetominaphen are all the same drug. Different names in different countries... Tylenol being a brand name. Tylenol blocks nerve pain signals.... sort of plugs up the nerve so pain signals can't get to your brain. Top daily dose is now 2000 mg a day.... which is still a huge dose. It is detoxified by the liver and uses up a vitamin in the process... use up that vitamin and your liver rapidly starts to die. Small normal doses are not going to be a problem in normal healthy people.

Vicodin is prescription only. For the most part you should not have perscription drugs "left over". Once your perscription expires it is illegal for you to have that drug. Cops are not apt to raid your medicine cabinet but I have seen people fired for taking vicodin from an expired perscription... you will "flunk" a drug test.

Vicodin is a "opioid" and tylenol blend. People often poison their liver because they keep taking the vicodin for the hydrocodone portion and the tylenol portion kills their liver. Some are drug abusers and some are just in more pain then vicodin is designed to handle. Vicodin often has 500mg of tylenol... so taking 2 pills puts you half way to the maximum dose of tylenol.... 2 more later in the day and you are max... 2 more and you are in danger. Very easy to hurt yourself with vicodin. The FDA is supposed to take vicodin and darvocet off the market because of that problem.

Opioids... hydrocodone, morphine, codine, fentanyl, oxycontin, hydromorphone, and good old opium are all nerve blockers that bind to the mu-opioid nerve receptor. That is to say they block pain from getting to your brain. Morphine and heroin are noted for a massive histamine release as a side affect. Some people will suffer respatory depression and die because they stop breathing as a result. Never "share" an opioid as people can have that allergic reaction and drop dead from a single dose.

I recommend tylenol and motrin for the home medicine cabinet. Take them according to the directions on the bottle with a full glass of water. Pain is actually a good thing! Pain lets you know something is wrong. Pay attention to it. For example if your hand is on a hot stove it will hurt... remove your hand rather then take a pill. If playing tennis for hours hurts your elbow then stop playing so hard so long. Sometimes we have a temporary ache that tylenol or motrin helps us get past.

I have chronic pain from a back injury so I take opioids daily and will for the rest of my life. My personal preferred opioid is Tramadol Hydrocloride. It goes by the brand name Ultram. While a perscription drug and an opioid it is not highly regulated because it has a low abuse potential... people simply don't like to "get high" off it. It is a very strong painkiller I would compare to hydromorphone... 4 times stronger then morphine sulphate. Because it is not highly regulated and seldom abused your doctor will probably give you a perscription if you ask. The generic tramadol is very cheap... about $10 per 100 pills. All opioids if taken for pain are not addictive! The only people that get addicted are those that take drugs for fun.

I think Vicodin is garbage. It does not work on pain very well... the tylenol portion does most of the work.

Talk to your doctor if you need more then Tylenol and Motrin. If you have a temporary problem you can also take tylenol and motrin together! Because they work on different things to reduce pain it will not hurt to take both at the same time if needed. Together they are probably stronger then two Vicodin without the danger of flunking a drug test at work.

A neat trick I learned from my grandfather is cold water for sore joints. If you pinch a finger or over work your wrist/elbow holding it under cold running water for 60 seconds can reduce or eliminate the pain. I work in a factory and sometimes just push more steel then my arms are happy with... cold running water is a life saver! Cold reduces swelling just like asprin only it works better and faster.

Another "painkiller" you should know about is caffine... as in coffee. Headaches often respond very well to a cup of coffee. If you look at the headache pills in the store they are most often a mix of asprin and caffine.

Walking also often helps some types of pain. It circulates blood which carries oxygen to tissues and speeds healing. A back that is sore from playing with the children or working hard can often benefit from a brisk walk around the block.

Hope you feel better soon!

: )
lyra

Good job, Lyra. An easy way to think of all of that is if it is just a head ache, then either Tylenol of an NSAID will do the trick. But if there is any sort of inflammation, then you need and NSAID to do some healing. Tylenol is just for the symptoms.

Also, the OTC dosage of Ibuprofen is 200mg. But, the prescriptions dosage of it can be as much as 800 mg. Therefore, many of you that may not be getting pain relief from Ibuprofen are probably just not taking enough of it. I usually take 400-600 mg at a time.

And when me or my children are in need of something for fever, I usually alternate the ibuprofen and Tylenol. This way we are able to take something every 2-3 hours for the fever and it usually keeps it under control better.

Advil (ibuprofen) works much better for me than the others. The Advil Liqui-Gels are the fastest-acting. But I never take it on an empty stomach, because it is hard on the stomach.

I take ibuprofen for nearly everything. Aleve has not worked for me either.
A nurse told me that the standard pain killer at the hospital is 800 mg of ibuprofen every 6 hours. I usually take 400-600 mg at a time, however.
For me, it's usually cramps or a headache. Occasionally back ache. But I don't take painkillers everyday at all.

I took some ibuprofen this morning. Knee One and Knee Two told me I needed to. :)

I've been very lucky not to have chronic pain in my life. Headaches, backaches, etc. So far so good.

My experiences - woke up with neck, upper back pain once, many years ago. Tried Tylenol, heating pad, ice, to no effect. Then someone gave me an NSAID and I was fixed, just like that. On another occasion, I had the flu and could barely get out of bed. Very feverish. Took NSAIDs again and they killed the fever and aches and pains. So I am a believer in these anti-inflammatory drugs.

That said, I do not take any drugs lightly and try not to take them unless I really need it.

Vicodin is the devil. I know people who pop them regularly for backaches and headaches and have seen that it comes with side effects and addiction. I don't think narcotic drugs should be prescribed so lightly.

I've wondered about Aleve myself. I swear by Excedrin (which has caffeine in it) for the occasional headache, and Advil/motrin for everything else. I rarely take Tylenol and as others have mentioned, one can run into serious problems if taking it with other medications (even OTC ones) affecting the liver.

I recently discovered that I'm allergic to codeine/derivatives. For years, I believed I was allergic to Penicillin - I had a severe drug reaction after major dental surgery, and my dentist and GP both assumed that the Penicillin I took was the culprit because I had taken multiple doses of that, and only one dose of Vicodin.

Fast-forward 10 years to similar surgery and a more severe reaction to a different antibiotic prescribed for Penicillin-sensitive patients. I had again taken one dose of Vicodin, and realized in the ER that it was the common denominator to both episodes. Went to an allergist, who proclaimed me free and clear to take Penicillin. (No one had ever suggested this, and I had no idea it was so simple to test.) Unfortunately, there's not direct test for a codeine allergy, but I'm presumed to have one.

So, for me, Vicodin, etc. IS the devil.

For years, I got migraines without realizing what they were. Finally described the headaches to my doc, who felt bad that I'd never said anything earlier. He gave me a Rx for Maxalt and it was a miracle drug. These days, since I'm older, I rarely get migraines anymore but I've found that taking 2 Excedrin Migraine as soon as I feel sick does the trick. Definitely the caffeine helps.

Another doc once told me to take Aleve for bursitis in my shoulder, every 4 hours. Well, some people get hives from Aleve and I'm one of them. Of course, you could break out in hives from many medications.

Advil Liqui-Gels are my preference.

Goldgirl, what kind of allergic reaction did you have to the Vicodin?

dlynn - The initial reaction, years ago, was hives that began on the inside of my arms and thighs. That time, Benadryl was enough to get through the swelling/itching.

This time, the hives were much more severe - from one end of me to the other and involving major swelling/lesions, terrible itching, racing heart, etc. Even with immediate ER treatment and a regimen of steroids, I wasn't completely healed for well over a month. I was lucky that I never got to the point of a breathing problem, but the ER doc did prescribe an EpiPen, so I have one now just in case.

He did mention that many people have a slight reaction to codeine derivatives, including itching and/or stomach sensitivity. I believe that's because all opiods cause histamine to be released in the body. It's considered somewhat normal, as opposed to a true allergy.

Yes, all opioids cause a histamine release... some more then others. Some speculation that morphine/heroin addicts actually like the high from the histamines more then any painkilling affect. Heroin addicts will sometimes have open sores from scratching the itch. Histamines cause swelling... a bumped joint, bee sting, asthma, swollen runny nose... all the work of histamines. There is a "bee sting" therapy for arthritis where the patient is stung by a bee to draw the histamines out of the joint and to the skin... it works!

I've been asked to become a care provider for a medical marijuana patient. Older lady has chronic pain from an injury. Allergic to opioids her doctor said she was a perfect example of someone that would benefit from marijuana. She had tried it back in the 70s and knew I was good with plants so out of the blue she approched me with the paperwork in hand. Don't think the license allows me to sample any... : (

: )
lyra

Johnliu, as someone who has suffered from chronic migrane pain almost all my adult life, I am the pain med. queen. It's very important to use pain killers correctly or you can damage your body as others have pointed out here. And of course become addicted, even to supposedly "non-addictive" stuff, which with headaches can cause you to get "rebound" headaches if you stop taking the stuff. For a low grade headache I take a mix of asprin and acetemiophen (however you spell it). Caffeine makes it work faster, so I sometimes take this with coffee if I think it will help. I like this way better because then I can control the level of caffeine. There is an Excedrin back pain formula that is just asprin and acetemiophen without the caffeine which I keep in my purse to save space. Like I said, if I need the caffeine chaser I can drink a cup of coffee. Regular Excedrin with caffeine gives me the jitters.

These kinds of pain killers are not good for long term use. For long term pain I use Naproxin, an NSAID which is the stuff in Aleve, but I buy generic. I take it for cramps and usually need to take it for 3 days. By the third day my stomache is NOT happy! Motrin doesn't much work for me so I have no experience with it. I was prescribed Vicodin for the headaches once, it didn't work and it upset my stomach. I consider it good that these powerful pain killers didn't work, because that is the standard operating procedure for some doctors who have patients with chronic pain, just prescribe ever stronger pain killers. This is not solving the problem, be it short term or long term pain. Chronic pain needs to be managed differently than acute pain, with a varity of strategies of which painkillers are only one part.

Painkillers also block vitamin C's absorption, so I sometimes get a canker sore after a long bout of painkillers. For chronic migranes, FORGET any of that stuff, you will just wreck your body with it and it won't really bring any relief. Also, it is VITAL to take a painkiller at the first sign of pain, because that's when they are most effective. Some people don't want to take a lot of drugs so they wait until the pain is unbearable to take the painkiller. NOT a good strategy. Take the pain killer when you just feel the pain coming on, you will end up using MUCH LESS of it actually. If you wait until the pain is bad you can take half a bottle and it will not work that well. Ask me how I know!

I was given Tramadal for terrible neck pain once. What a WEIRD experience! It was like and out of body experience. It felt like "Somebody down there has neck pain." It was like I knew I had pain but I simply didn't care one whit.

I have not tried maxalt yet for migrane but a work colleague swears by it. But these types of drugs are not for your average aches and pains.

But like I said, the most important rule is take your pain meds early on in the pain cycle. Also, take good care of yourself so you don't get the pain in the first place if you can!! Exercise and stretching like yoga helps a LOT, so does meditation, a good diet and regular sleep. Regular sleep is a biggie, but I know pain can interfere with it too. Holistic remedies usually don't work for the worst of it, but help to lengthen the good times in between flare ups.

As LindaC mentioned, there can be mechanisms at play "on down the line"... so if you have kidney or liver damage or organs that could be impaired (you drink alcohol, so your liver might not be a totally happy camper), avoid the drugs which interact with those organs. It will tell you on the label. For me, aspirin is great for a headache, tylenol for fever (and you can alternate with motrin when you have a fever, so that you're taking something every two hours if you need extra help keeping it down), advil for muscle aches, and aleve is great for arthritis. Only ever had Percocet for pain (surgical removal of all four molars simultaneously), outside of over the counter meds. It relaxed me so much, it gave me hiccups! Not a good thought afterwards, relaxed lungs might have decided to take too long of a "break".

Lpink, do you take triptans for your migraines? Imitrex (sumotriptan) is now generic so is much cheaper than it used to be. Maxalt is another triptan.

There is an interesting migraine drug (Levadex) that will probably be approved soon. It is an inhaled drug that is supposed to have fast action and be effective for people who don't respond to triptans. It is an inhaled version of a drug called DHE, which is supposed to be highly effective but is currently only given intravenously, e.g. for severe migraine pain in a hospital setting.

I'm not a medical person or migraine sufferer, just did some research on this for another purpose.

I have migraines. I prefer Imitrex but get Maxalt from a doc friend. It works. But I feel like my brain has been scrambled.

Just chiming in to day I find Aleve is a wonder drug for muscle pain - either intense muscle soreness from over exercise, or also for intense tightness (like knots in my back) from stress. Two Aleve work on those pains like nothing else for me...

Yeah, I snort Imetrex (faster acting). I'm finding it doesn't work all that well anymore. Seems like most migrane drugs loose their effectiveness after a while. Has to do I think with seretonin receptors. Knock some out and your body just sets up some more eventually. A lot of the miracle drugs you read about for migranes come with their own fun set of side effects. Oh well, it might soon be over. Most of the women I know who suffered from migranes stopped getting them after menopause. But as my good friend added, "Now I have arthritis!"

"Most of the women I know who suffered from migranes stopped getting them after menopause." That's my status, exactly, Lpink! It's probably been a year since I've had one. I sitll carry a Maxalt in my purse though, just in case.

Due to a suspected kidney stone that derailed my Friday morning in a burst of vomiting and rocking pain - how's that for too much information - I am now on oxycodone. Gee, this stuff does work.

Just be careful with that stuff John. The most addictive of all the pain meds. Tramadol is good but has terrible withdrawal symptoms and doctors aren't exactly sure how it works...a bit scary....but all drugs have risks....just love the t.v. commercials with the side effects read off.....may cause possible stroke, heart attack, rectal bleeding, seizures, hallucinations, dizziness, possible death, etc etc etc. Sounds like I want to pop those pills!

Duane

Addictive drugs are some of the best pain meds out there with some of the least side effects. Just so long as your realize they are not for long term use. But same with over the counter pain relievers too. If you have long term pain you have to use a different approach. That's the danger, not realizing your acute pain has become long term. I was popping Vanquish like sweet tarts before I realized I had a chronic headache problem.

I use Tramadol 100 mg. The OTC stuff doesn't help anymore.

I'd forgotten about this thread.

Well, I personally took oxycodone for a day, when I had my kidney stone. The stone hurt a lot, but the oxycodone made it all go away like magic.

This thread is timely because Daughter-san is in the hospital with what is believed to be a stomach ulcer. I am about to settle down for the night in the reclining chair in her room. She is on morphine IV and oral oxycodone, and while her pain is mostly controlled, she still gets waves of breakthrough pain that make her groan and gasp.

It must be severe. Again, oxycodone made my kidney stone pain vanish, but it isn't making her ulcer pain vanish. She has tolerated third-degree burns without complaint, so when she stays it hurts, it really does.

Painkillers on my mind -

I thought I typed a response but it doesn't show up here. John I am so sorry you are having to go through this. You and your daughter will be in my thoughts this week. Keep us posted on her condition Healing thoughts going out to both of you!
LR

I've found the most interesting discussions in that right side bar under Recent Posts! Sure hope your daughter is coping with the pain, John, and will be improving very soon.

As to pain meds: earlier in June of this year (2014) I had miniscus surgery on my right knee and have been dealing with the pain of that recovery. The knee (and the pain) are doing better, but I'm not back to 100% yet - or even 85 to 90%. I took Tramadol for a while for pain before the surgery until the night I had little twinkly lights running around on the bedroom ceiling - my first (and I hope my only) hallucination. Then I was perscribed hydrocodone acetominophen after the surgery June 10. Now I want to try to get off that and the doc said to take Tylenol or call him for another prescription of the hydrox-aceto.

I'm such an anti-pill person you would not believe, but I've had to come to terms with meds to get through the past six months. I just talked to our nurse practitioner here at our office and will try getting off the hydrox-aceto by taking one in the morning and 2 extra strength Tylenol at night and see if that manages the pain while I continue to recover.

Thanks to all for your posts.....I read every one.

Teresa