Ibuprofen: Benefits and Risks

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by Timbo's hopeless slice

am I correct in thinking paracetamol is not 'over-the-counter' in the states?

or is it chemically similar to Tylenol?

I know I could google it, but I was wondering what the forum thought?

'The truth? I can't handle the truth!'

Tylenol is acetominophen.

Paracetamol (one of the brand names is Crocin) is popular outside the US.

[Pacific lefty]

Prior to and after having SAD surgery for my shoulder, I was constantly taking Nurofen, and then my GP prescribed another NSAID called Keral. I really do not know if this is at all connected, and maybe I am making a random connection but here is the story. Last summer (and I live in Ireland) I experienced the worst hay fever I had ever had. When my shoulder was better and I was allowed to take up running again I had a couple horrendous experiences of being completely out of breath, struggling to get in air, and not because I was out of shape. It even started to happen when I was playing singles, or in doubles, under pressure. I went back to GP and he said it was exercise induced asthma. He prescribed salbuterol in an inhaler to take just before exercise. Strangely enough, I took out the notes to the "Keral" (dexketoprofin) and it immediately said it was contraindicated in those who had hay fever or asthma. I haven't taken any sort of NSAID for months now, yet I haven't tried exercising without using the inhaler first, as I am wary of getting that suffocated feeling again. I am just wondering if there is a strong link between asthma and NSAIDS as I never ever had that happen before. Maybe its just the horrible climate where I am living!!!

[rufus_smith]

A small percentage of people with asthma are sensitive to aspirin and NSAIDS. It exacerbates their symptoms.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11665870.

In my humble opinion, for most people. the benefits of ibuprofen still far outweigh the risks.

[Timbo's hopeless slice]

Originally Posted by sureshs

Tylenol is acetominophen.

Paracetamol (one of the brand names is Crocin) is popular outside the US.

ok, cheers

ye, 'Panadol' is very popular here (Australia), almost never see Tylenol.

[SystemicAnomaly]

Originally Posted by ollinger

the value of taking certain nutrients in supplement form is coming into question... turmeric is a substance ayurvedic practitioners tell me is only useful when cooked, so its value as an uncooked supplement pill is uncertain, much like lycopene.

I have been putting turmeric (haldi) powder mixed with a few other spices into capsules for several years now. In the past couple of years I have started to "cook" the powder a bit before encapsulating. I add some black pepper to, hopefully, improve the bioavailablity of the turmeric. Turmeric accounts for about 1/2 of my mix -- I also include ginger (root), tulsi (holy basil), and rosemary.

To further improve the bioavailability of the turmeric capsules, I take it with lecithin and some other fats (such as olive oil, coconut oil, high-oleic safflower oil or canola oil). I usually wash it down with green tea. Supposedly green tea with turmeric has a synergistic effect.

I also add turmeric to my cooking.

I have come across some conflicting reports about lycopene. It has generally accepted that we get more from cooked tomatoes than from raw. However, a WebMD page indicates that, "The lycopene in supplements is about as easy for the body to use as lycopene found in food.".

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supple...tName=LYCOPENE

I also came across a study from 2002 titled, "Synthetic and tomato-based lycopene have identical bioavailability in humans".

http://www.ff.ul.pt/FCT/PTDC/SAU-BEB/103714/2008/8.pdf

[El Diablo]

^^ "bioavailability" refers to how efficiently it is absorbed from the GI tract. It isn't a reflection of how the body utilizes it.

[SystemicAnomaly]

Originally Posted by El Diablo

"bioavailability" refers to how efficiently it is absorbed from the GI tract. It isn't a reflection of how the body utilizes it.

While bioavailablity is related to to absorption, it is not quite that simple. The term, bioavailablity, is defined/used somewhat differently in the nutritional sciences than it is for pharmacology. For pharmacology, bioavailablity refers to the degree of activity or amount of an administered drug that becomes available for activity in the target tissue. For nutrients, including nutritional supplements, the concept of bioavailablity appears to be less clearly defined.

http://jn.nutrition.org/content/131/4/1349S.full
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/131/4/1344S.abstract .

[Avles]

ibuprofen + exercise = intestinal leakage?

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/1...ibuprofen-use/

[ollinger]

^^ I've said before in this forum that taking ibuprofen before exercise is a risk to your health, my primary concern being that both the exercise and the ibuprofen tend to raise blood pressure, so the combination could raise it to levels that can be harmful. These authors present another risk, intestinal leakage. A third is stomach ulceration and hemorrhage. All in all, it's just dumb to use ibuprofen while you exert yourself.

[bhupaes]

In the NYtimes article, there was mention of taking 400mg of Ibuprofen at night. Assuming the subject goes to sleep soon afterwards, will it have any deleterious effect on the intestine or other organs? Also, will it have any effect on exercise performed the next day? Seems pretty useless to me... unless I'm missing something here.

[rufus_smith]

That finding refers to endurance athletes who were continuously bicycling for an hour. It is unclear that it would apply to recreational tennis which is more anaerobic, where the heart rate has a chance to rest every ten minutes or so, and where the large uppper leg muscles are much less stressed. In most tennis matches players aren't huffing and puffing like they would in bicycling or endurance running. In other words there is more opportunity for blood flow to reach the intestines when playing tennis than when performing pure endurance exercise, so intestinal leakage might be minimal. I doubt that recreational doubles players would experience it at all. It would be useful to test tennis players to see.

[SystemicAnomaly]

Originally Posted by Avles

ibuprofen + exercise = intestinal leakage?

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/1...ibuprofen-use/

Originally Posted by ollinger

^^ I've said before in this forum that taking ibuprofen before exercise is a risk to your health, my primary concern being that both the exercise and the ibuprofen tend to raise blood pressure, so the combination could raise it to levels that can be harmful. These authors present another risk, intestinal leakage. A third is stomach ulceration and hemorrhage. All in all, it's just dumb to use ibuprofen while you exert yourself.

Will aspirin, naproxen or other NSAIDs prior to exercise have similar side effects or lesser effects that IB?