my first choice has always been an aspirin, but most of my coworkers tell me I’m wrong and I should use ibuprofen first.
What’s your take?
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I’ll go plain old paracetamol which works for me most of the time. If that fails then ibuprofen would be my next choice.
Paracetamol is acetaminophen (Tylenol) for those of us in the States.
Cheers!
Excedrin = Aspirin + Tylenol + Caffeine
Ibuprofen if I’m at work, but at home I usually take a short nap and have some coffee after, which works better for me.
If it’s early and I’m under caffeinated, then I drink more coffee. If that doesn’t help or apply, then I assume I’m dehydrated and drink water. If that doesn’t help I try to take a nap. Usually by the time I run down the checklist it’s close enough to bedtime that I just turn in early. If none of that helps and/or I have stuff to do, then I reach for ibuprofen just because we are more likely to have that on hand than Tylenol.
I try to figure out what’s causing it, then treat. I get headaches from eyestrain (so I take addition and focus on something else), allergies (antihistamine/decongestant), sunglare (eyerest), overexertion/dehydration (drink water and take it easy), caffeine withdrawal (drink cola), etc.
95% of the time, a headache for me means I’m dehydrated. So I drink water + electrolyte drops.
It depends on the cause, and your own biology.
Aspirin reduces pain signals but also reduces blood clotting, If your headache is from vasculature issues in and around your brain it’s extra insurance.
Acetaminophen just reduces pain signals in the nervous system. It doesn’t have any secondary advantageous effects but it is easier on your stomach.
Ibuprofen reduces pain signals and also as an anti-inflammatory. So if your headache is caused from minor swelling in the head it’s the obvious choice.
I feel like at least in the US most people tend to overtake ibuprofen when they’d probably be better suited with Tylenol or aspirin.
Motrin(Ibuprofen) because it works better for me, assuming the migraine doesn’t cause me to puke it up right after.
Aspirin has never been of value to me and I would only take it if I had a heart attack.
Whichever is closest.
Acetaminophen kills your liver. Ibuprofen melts the glue holding your guts together.
What matters right now is your headache.
I’m in too much chronic spinal pain to register a headache. I don’t know why, but the question made me realize I haven’t had a headache in a decade since my broken neck and back. I get to a point where I can’t focus on anything. The anti inflammatory Tylenol Arthritis formula is the most effective by a considerable margin. I don’t have arthritis and am 40. I’ve been on most available pain meds over the last decade, and honestly this one beats most others for me. I used to have headaches, my issues are different but my family basically switched to the same thing too after trying it.
Meloxicam has been a major help in managing my back pain. It’s not recommended to take it regularly since it can cause digestive ulcers like high doses of ibuprofen. But I get bad flare ups with travel and meloxicam is very effective at helping me avoid a flare up.
It might be worth asking your doctor about if they haven’t had you try it before.
I default to ibuprofen. Feels a little more effective to me than acetaminaphen. I’ve never taken aspirin for pain.
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) if I can’t get it under control without meds but I agree with the other posters about trying to figure out the root cause! For me, the main causes of headaches used to be hormones from the pill until I switched to a different form of birth control (IUD). Nowadays my headaches are mostly dry eye or allergy related so I keep eye drops on hand and take allergy meds and I’m down to headaches once every week or two. Staying hydrated and taking fish oil supplements has also helped my dry eyes.
I prefer paracetamol since ibuprofen can create secondary effects in the gastric system.
Somewhat in order of action:
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check if I am clenching/grinding my teeth, relax shoulders and neck, center my thoughts, lower blood pressure and pulse
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thoroughly flush sinuses (like spend 20 minutes or more at least)
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drink lots of water and caffeine
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reduce sensory input: dark quiet room with comfortable seating
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double dose of Sudafed and Diclofenac sodium
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jump into traffic
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I pretty much always go ibuprofen, but aspirin is fine.
I’m pretty sure acetaminophen is snake oil though (this is a joke but I can’t recall ever having it resolve a headache for me like ibuprofen does).
Might not be snake oil, but that shit is bad for you. If it came out today it wouldn’t be sold OTC.
Yep. Got diagnosed with a genetic liver issue and the immediate rule from the doctor was “Nothing with acetominophen ever again. You can probably get away with a (alcoholic) drink or two a week, but don’t even think about acetominophen.”
My dumb ass had been practically living off Day and Nyquill.
Aspirin because I used to run ultras where they sometimes ban NSAIDs because it can cause acute kidney injury in those kinds of scenarios (rhabdomyolysis) but ibuprofin is the worst of the two.
And I don’t fuck around with tylenol ever because the effective dose is pretty damn close to a toxic dose and if you drink alcohol forget about it altogether.
But NSAIDs also inhibit bone remodeling so I tend to just avoid them altogether, running and all. Some cells in/on your bones (osteoblasts) rely on inflammation as a cue to shit out new bone, so reducing inflammation kinda messes with that
Tylenol is scary! But I’ve started using it because naproxen is fucking up my stomach.
Aspirin is an NSAID
but ibuprofin is the worst of the two
