Maybe taking two was too much at once - try one? If it were me, I'd first talk with my internist AND a pharmacist.

Was it the Advil brand, or a generic/store label one? I'll offer a similar exclamation as yours but slightly differently - I've had too many experiences of ineffectiveness or side effects with generics, I take brand names only. Does it really matter? For one prescription drug, it matters very much. My docs gave me the suggestion, three different docs each suggested avoiding generics (one drug by each doc, total of three) . For over the counter stuff, I don't know, maybe it's a result of the same placebo effect I suggest that others experience.

When I have episodes of lower back pain (maybe every 1-2 years), only Advil helps me. And ice. And inactivity - I stop my normal exercise and walking routines.

Good luck.

Aleve is the only nonprescription medication that gets rid of my headaches. But, I have not been allowed to take it for years because I am on two prescriptions for high blood pressure. I am also not allowed to take Ibuprofen, whether it is brand name Advil or a generic. I am allowed to take Acetaminophen (Tylenol).

Yes, Snidely, when I say "not allowed" and "allowed" I mean under direction of my Board Certified cardiologist.

I am on nsaids daily by prescription, I have been for years and likely will continue with them because they help. I have never, not once taken my medication without food NEVER. As is recommended. It can cause serious problems if you take nsaids without food. I take the instructions given by my medical team very seriously and that is something they all stressed, if you take nsaids never take without food, and preferably in the middle of a meal, that's what they said and what I do. It's worked out well thus far. If I can't do that I postpone it till I can. Because of that I have never had any problems with taking nsaids.

Talk to your medical professionals about them and how best to fit them into your regimen. Or if there's a better alternative.

My favorite NSAIDS is aspirin

It was generic ibuprofen, and I took the two pills without food--but I think the advice to take it with food has more to do with the drug's effect on the stomach than it does on the heart. At least that's what I've always assumed.

I like aspirin, but was hoping to avoid it because it seems to make my tinnitus worse.

I'm very familiar with acetaminophen because my husband used to own a chemical company that made it for McNeil (Tylenol). It's a good pain reliever, but it's not an anti-inflammatory. Right now I'm wary of it because too much of it can damage the liver, sometimes permanently, and one thing I learned from my DNA test is that I have a gene that makes the liver more vulnerable to damage.

I don't know if this gene is active, but I do know that one of my first cousins, younger than I, died several years ago from unexplained liver failure. So I try to avoid anything that can have a detrimental effect on the liver. Fortunately, despite the reputation I have at the KT (!), I don't drink alcohol very often. :-)

This pain reacts strongly (and strangely) to position. Sitting is generally uncomfortable. The act of lying down is painful, and it takes about 10 minutes for my pelvis or whatever to settle in and not hurt. After that, I'm careful not to change position all night, and in the morning it's a little worse than usual, but not bad, and only for a short time. But I've learned never to lie down during the day, even for 15 minutes, because the pain will be so severe when I get up. And if I get up during the night, say after 3 or 4 hours, it's so bad I can barely walk. Yet staying in bed for 6-8 hours doesn't bother it nearly as much. I don't get it, but I hope a medical professional will.

I am so sorry that you're going through this. I, too, have a bad reaction to NSAIDs and have to deal with pain without them for the most part.

I end up with bad fluid retention,which causes my heart to race and makes breathing difficult. Scary! Had to recover from my total hysterectomy without any pain killers, yikes!

When I feel like I have to use something, I take half the dose, half as often. That seems to work for me. That goes for aspirin, too.

I have severe sinus reactions to aspirin and cannot tolerate any NSAID -- because they have an aspirin component. (That's what makes them anti-inflammatory.) AFAIK only aspirin acts at the site of the pain; the other stuff tells the brain "nevermind". Through my thirties, half an aspirin was my cure-all, then I developed sinusitis and asthma; no more aspirin.

I get zero help from one manufacturer's zolpidem (generic for Ambien sleep aid), but another brand of zolpidem works fine.

They have to be taken on a full stomach. More than likely the pain you felt was gas which radiates in to the chest and shoulders. I hope it was. We have to be careful with otc pain meds. I took ibuprofen daily for 15 years only to find out it caused kidney damage and now I'm dealing with stage 3 chronic kidney disease. You need to find the source of your pain and get it fixed.

Nope, I'm an old hand at chest pains, and these were the disturbing kind. Five years ago one shot from the left side of my neck straight down into my chest. This time I had a couple running up the underside of my left arm, and another above my left breast toward the underarm, feeling like a painful heartbeat. Happily, all have subsided.

Yaya, I'm sorry about the kidney damage! Sometimes I wonder why certain drugs are still on the market, especially the kind that are so easy to obtain.

When I had a uterine biopsy done last month I took two ibuprofen beforehand because I remembered how painful the procedure is. I told the nurses that I took two, and that two was a big deal for me. They laughed and said they take four at a time every month for cramps.

Alisande do you have a type of arthritis? I have psoriatic arthritis and before I got everything under control I found sitting/going to sleep unbearable. It's like my joints seized whenever motion of my body stopped and the pain was also unbearable for nearly an hour after being mobile and then there was no stopping all day as a fifteen minute sit down would cause a seize up.
I was nervous about the liver thing too but if you do change medications (prescribed, of course) they do monitor your blood work regularly - I went in once a month. I chose to go the natural route and that has surpassed all my expectations and am off all medications (NSAIDS and DMARDS) but will take an Aleve a couple times a year when I get off course. There are also blogs once you find out your condition that you can use as a support system. I really feel for you because it is truly an awful place to be and hope you can see a specialist soon.

I won't comment on the drugs or their side effects, but for the pain you mention have you considered going to a chiropractor? Mine has certainly helped me tremendously over the years with this type of pain, and without even OTC's.

Cookie, that's interesting. I know you're knowledgeable about nutrition and holistic health. Sometime I'd love to hear details about the natural protocol that has enabled you to get off pain meds.

The recent x-ray of my hip and pelvis revealed "a little arthritis, nothing to worry about," according to my doctor's office. X-rays of my knees five years ago revealed the same thing. I've had fibromyalgia since the 1980s, and around the same time was also diagnosed with lupus--but some years later was "undiagnosed." I don't think I have lupus, but something has kept me in various kinds of discomfort for decades. Mostly l've just learned to live with it.

Maxmom, I visited the chiropractor 6 or 7 times since this started. At first the treatments eliminated the pain for about 3 hours, and I hoped subsequent treatments would help for even longer. But somewhere around treatment #4 they stopped helping. And treatments #6 and 7 made the pain dramatically worse. So I'm not going back, at least for this condition.

I've gone to this chiropractor for almost 30 years, and he's gotten me out of pain many times. But not this time. It's possible the mere act of lying on his table has aggravated the pain.

Not sure if I can e-mail you or not. I have dealt with chronic knee pain for over 20 years (since my late teens) and have gotten rid of it over the past three months and I am in heaven! I can even sit on a my leg with it bent underneath my body whereas for much of my past I couldn't straighten it or bend it to a 45 degree angle. I hear you about the lupus thing as I was tested a few times and come up just clear of it but still not good and yeah, you just live with it. All my treatments also just stopped working if they worked at all. I wouldn't accept "a little arthritis, nothing to worry about" because these things don't usually fix themselves.

Always best to be safe and make sure there is nothing heart-related going on, but NSAIDS can cause/aggravate reflux and reflux can cause all sorts of weird chest/arm/neck pains. So if you are prone to those conditions there could be a non-heart related explanation for the pains. I even had a nuclear stress test to rule out heart issues and it turns out everything was caused by GERD.

I take an x strength Advil gel cap whenever I leave the house and I will be walking for a length of time. I never take it when I am at home. I haven't experienced chest pains. With the lower back pain I am experiencing now I am walking differently and my bad knee, the one I broke is compensating for the way I am walking so I have pain in both areas.

Cookie, can you try messaging me via Houzz? I'll then give you my email address. Thanks!

I asked my doctor's office to put the x-ray report in my "patient portal" so I can read it myself, and guess what--it says nothing about "a little arthritis." In fact, it says "Normal looking right hip." It also says "Minimal left sacroiliac joint disease." LEFT? My sacroiliac pain is on the RIGHT.

My doctor referred me today to an orthopedist. I just discovered he's a hip surgeon. None of this feels like I'm on the right track.