[rubicon33]

I've taken ibuprofen in the past for other things, minor headaches, muscle aches, etc... Never really felt like it did much. Always kinda wondered why it was such a popular drug.

Well, I'm a believer now. When it comes to fevers ibuprofen appears to be incredibly effective. I took 800 at the peak of my 102 fever, and within the hour, my temperature was back to normal. Amazing stuff.

[forgotpassagan]

IMO OTC pain meds are much more effective for pain and fever than people give them credit for. On opiods you feel messed up and it's clear that you took the medicine.

Tylenol and ibuprofen are very transparent. There's no obvious effects to remind you that you're on it. Yet multiple scientific studies have shown that the two in combination are just as effective for relieving some kinds of pain as Vicodin.

I can't count the number of times I took Tylenol and 800 of ibuprofen then told everyone at work I was feeling 'better', only to train wreck at the end of the day and feel just as bad as I did that morning

[jacobolus]

Ibuprofen does a great job reducing inflammation for me. Not sure about just “aches” in general.

For example, I caught the Coxsackie A virus (“hand, foot, and mouth disease”) from my toddler a few months back, and it got in my gums and made them swell up very uncomfortably for a week. Ibuprofen significantly reduced the inflammation.

[Mithaldu]

Different "pain medicines" do different things. NSAIDs like ibu are literally only effective for for fever/inflammation. Always check what a pain med does before trying to take it without doctor's advice.

[dmoy]

Huh I once had a fever of 103.6 in China and took some drug that was in a powder which worked similarly well. Maybe it was just ground up ibuprofen.

[forgotpassagan]

Could have been, injectables are frequently sold as reconstitutable powders where refrigeration isn't reliable. It's easy enough to just measure an oral dose from that in pinch