[jasperry]

This is some of the most useful information I've received in a while. Like the author, the low overdose threshold of acetaminophen made me avoid it, even though I always take low doses anyway and ibuprofen gives me acid reflux almost every time.

[makeitdouble]

Still take it with a huge grain of salt. Even official advice usually has severe limitations due to its broadness or straight politics, so medical analysis from random blogs truely isn't the best.

Acetoaminophen also has issues for people with weaker stomachs (I can attest), and will come with additional medication to cover these effects as needed. The whole "Is it safe yes/no" table has many asterixes and might be outright false depending on the how you look at it.

As usual, it's just complicated.

[dncornholio]

Never take anything that written on the medications with a grain of salt. Disregard everything that you have read online. The medicine instructions are your single source of truth

[ButlerianJihad]

Is the salt supposed to offset hyponatremia or something?

[the_sleaze_]

Same here. Great article.

I avoid both and stick with naproxen sodium. Any issues with that one? Lasts the longest too.

[pkaye]

Both ibuprofen and naproxen sodium are NSAIDs and are bad for your kidneys especially in long term. I had kidney failure due to what was eventually diagnosed as an autoimmune disease but they first thing the ER doctor will ask is if you have been taking NSAIDs. My nephrologists told be its still safe to take acetaminophen at the proper dose.

[kirrent]

None of us are your doctors but Naproxen has well-known gastric issues up to ulcers and stomach bleeding which is why it's advised to be taken with food and why it's also often prescribed with a PPI or H2 Antagonist. Cox-2 selectives such as Celecoxib greatly reduce this risk but seem to be associated with some small cardiovascular risk (admittedly this is a feature of all NSAIDs though less so in Naproxen apparently).

[dreamcompiler]

Cardiovascular risk increase is not a feature of aspirin, the original NSAID. Aspirin lessens cardiovascular risk which is why we give it to patients in the initial stages of a heart attack: It decreases the likelihood of further clotting.

[y1n0]

Some believe naproxen sodium is worse for you because it lasts longer. Longer duration for reduced mucous membrane coverage in your stomach and intestine. Longer duration for reduced blood flow to your kidneys.

I would definitely have a chat with a doctor about it.

[Mars008]

I had to use naproxen for some time as most effective way to control inflammation. Actually the only way, ibuprofen had some effect only in horse dozes. After visiting doctor, analyses, checking available sources was able to eliminate the reason of inflammation. Apparently it was a well known problem/solution. So far so good. Not sure about the long lasting effects of naproxen use.

[jasperry]

Looking at the Wikipedia article, it seems naproxen is a NSAID like ibuprofen and can cause all the same gastrointestinal issues.

[dilyevsky]

Naproxen sodium has much higher risk of GI damage especially with long term use.

[guelo]

All the over the counter NSAIDs have a similar safety profile.

[KaiserPro]

wait, how are you getting naproxen?

Whenever its prescribed here, its paired with some sort of intestine protection medicine to stop it burning holes in your stomach/intenstines

Ibuprofen is much safer, so long as you eat with it.

Paracetamol is also safer, so long as you don't OD.

BUT! so long as you stay below 4 grams a day, you'll be safe. (yes yes, in some situations you can take double, but unless you are under supervision, thats asking for liver pain.)

[Jach]

In the US, Aleve is the name-brand pill for naproxen, available in grocery stores next to everything else. I have a bottle of 160 gelcaps. Each pill is 220mg naproxen sodium or in parentheses 200 mg of naproxen. The advertised effect is 12 hours / all day, getting anywhere near 4g would only happen in a suicidal "swallow bottle of pills" situation.

[reducesuffering]

GP meant 4g is the safe limit to paracetamol (hence "liver pain"). About 8 typical doses over 24 hours. It's little known amongst the general population, who have the occasional extreme of people taking double doses every few hours

[KaiserPro]

So its a bottle, not a blister pack?

wild.

I know that blister packs are a pain, but in the places that they are introduced they reduce pill based suicide by up to 40%[1]

Sorry I should have been more clear about the 4g, that was for paracetamol. I have no idea what it would be for naproxen

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC526120/

[atombender]

That combo is naproxen/esomeprazole. The brand name is Vimovo, but they don't have a patent, so you can get it as a generic. To work, though, it has to be taken 30 minutes before food.