nine Advil a day keeps the foot pain away

[pantryslut]

So, yes, I saw the doctor yesterday, due to an ongoing bout of foot pain. Got a referral, as expected. What was unexpected was this conversation with my doctor:

"Are you taking any anti-inflammatories?"

"Yes, ibuprofin."

"How much?"

"Two, once or twice a day."

"That's not enough. Take three, three times a day. With food."

So I bought a whopping big bottle of ibuprofin and started my regimen immediately. And you know what? I'm feeling no pain at all. No. Pain. At. All.

I wonder if the increased dosage accounts for my otherwise unexplained drowsiness yesterday, though.

(And check out the new warning on the box about taking ibuprofin in the third trimester!)

Less banal entries soon, I promise.

P.S. Saw Inside Deep Throat last Friday. I guess watching something of that sort is a bit of a busman's holiday, but I enjoyed it.

Comments

Not sure, but....

[thomasroche.livejournal.com]

I don't think Ibuprofen usually causes drowsiness since it's an NSAID....if it's on the bottle as such, then it's probably one of those random side effects that never seems to happen in the real world. Unless I'm totally misinformed.

Now, stomach problems.....that's another story.

Re: Not sure, but....

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

yup. when your doc says take with food, they are not kidding.

Re: Not sure, but....

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Drowsiness is not a listed side effect on the box. I checked. I was wondering b/c once in college, I accidentally took 1200 mg of ibuprofin and promptly fell asleep in a seminar class. Maybe my body chemistry's just weird that way.

Re: Not sure, but....

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Prolonged pain can interfere with sleep (even if it's prolonged pain that's not terribly intense.) So when the pain goes away after a long time, you can have a lot of accumulated exhaustion catching up with you.

Aspirin has this effect, and it also works directly to reduce cortisol -- one of the stress hormones. If someone is in too much physical and emotional distress to sleep, aspirin can seem like a sedative, even though the mechanism is very different from other sedatives.

Re: Not sure, but....

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

Fascinating re: aspirin and cortisol.

I don't feel like I've been losing sleep, but it could be. redshrike's comment that pain in itself is exhausting is also apropos, and one I tend to forget.

Re: Not sure, but....

[thette.livejournal.com]

All medications have drowsiness, headache and stomachache as side effects.

Because someone reports them during the clinical trial, no matter whether they are caused by the medication or not.

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

I never heard ibuprofen = drowsiness, but everyone is different.

[redshrike.livejournal.com]

i've found that prolonged pain tends to wear me out and make me tired and sleepy— whether i'm feeling it or not, if that makes any sense.

also, when i used to have to go to free clinics with painful infections, they'd give me a whole lotta ibuprofen. thanks for the reminder that (provided they're taken on a full stomach) ibuprofen doses can be upped somewhat to cope with more pain. also keeping in mind that if i'm hurting, it's usually a sign of something wrong, and i should have that something checked out.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

I need to remind myself that it's OK to up dosages, too, obviously. I think I worry that I'll dose myself out of dealing with it/getting it checked out. Considering it took me a month or so to get myself to the doctor for the foot pain, this is not an idle worry, either.