Painkillers

[bluefoxicy]

Looking at NSAIDs for this sore throat and they're all pain killers.

I've noticed that Aspirin, Acetaminophen, and Ibuprofin do nothing for headaches for me.  Naproxen sodium works EXTREMELY well.  None here, so I tried Ibuprofin.

... now I HAVE a headache, but the sore throat has become less bad.  I guess Ibuprofin helps with sore throat.

Anyone else notice different pain medications do/don't work on you?  Is this normal?  Should I find a doctor and ask him if there's something wrong with me because ibuprofin causes headaches?

[phillamb168]

You might have some trouble with sinus drainage and/or lymphatic drainage. I have bad headaches when the weather changes dramatically (here it dropped ~10 deg c in a week) so, oof.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA-wi0d7-Ro&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qjtn3PigXg

Also, turtles.

[erockrph]

NSAIDS give me headaches too. It's actually a fairly common side effect of them. Kinda sucks since they're supposed to treat pain and everything. FWIW, I discovered that I'm allergic to aspirin a while back so I avoid NSAIDS altogether now and just stick to Tylenol. I get tension headaches quite a bit (damn TMJ) and I can usually get them under control by massaging the tight areas on my head and neck.

Visualization techniques work pretty well for me as well. I close my eyes, block everything else out, then focus on the painful areas and imagine the pain slowly melting away. Bizarre, but it works incredibly well if I'm able to focus in a quiet environment.

[Slowbrew]

Dark chocolate will take the edge off most headaches for me.  One or two bite size bars is all it takes.

Paul

[morticaixavier]

Dark chocolate will take the edge off most headaches for me.  One or two bite size bars is all it takes.

Paul

sounds like you might just have a little caffeine jones on your hands. just the tiny dose of caffeine in a good dark chocolate is enough to take the edge off a withdrawl headache. Course this does nothing to deal with the underlying addiction but as those things go it's not a very bad one to have.

[Slowbrew]

Dark chocolate will take the edge off most headaches for me.  One or two bite size bars is all it takes.

Paul

sounds like you might just have a little caffeine jones on your hands. just the tiny dose of caffeine in a good dark chocolate is enough to take the edge off a withdrawl headache. Course this does nothing to deal with the underlying addiction but as those things go it's not a very bad one to have.

It's possible.  On the other hand it works on my 11 year old too and, as far as I know, she doesn't have the same 50-50 mix of blood cells and caffeine in her veins that I do.   

A good, strong cup of coffee won't have the same effect as a bit of chocolate for me.  The caffeine is likely part of the cure but there is something else in it that has some effect too.  By no means scientific but it has worked well for me and won't kill my liver.

Paul

[anje]

It's usually a good first step to make sure you're well-hydrated when headaches crop up. Certainly not the only headache cause, but it's an easy one to solve. A cup or two of coffee help too, for anything migraine-ish.

(Oddly, I don't addict to caffeine. Can drink pots of it per day, then go cold turkey with no symptoms. Have been lead to understand that this isn't normal.)

[morticaixavier]

Dark chocolate will take the edge off most headaches for me.  One or two bite size bars is all it takes.

Paul

sounds like you might just have a little caffeine jones on your hands. just the tiny dose of caffeine in a good dark chocolate is enough to take the edge off a withdrawl headache. Course this does nothing to deal with the underlying addiction but as those things go it's not a very bad one to have.

It's possible.  On the other hand it works on my 11 year old too and, as far as I know, she doesn't have the same 50-50 mix of blood cells and caffeine in her veins that I do.   

A good, strong cup of coffee won't have the same effect as a bit of chocolate for me.  The caffeine is likely part of the cure but there is something else in it that has some effect too.  By no means scientific but it has worked well for me and won't kill my liver.

Paul

interesting. Well learn something new everyday. There are a lot of active compounds in chocolate so I guess it's not that suprising. well, as if I needed it, I now have another reason to eat chocolate. even if it doesn't work for me I'm gonna stick with that excuse.

[garc_mall]

caffeine is known to reduce headaches in people who don't regularly ingest it as well. One of the effects of caffeine is a slight dilation of blood vessels. That is why it is used in some "extra-strength" headache medicine such as Excedrin.

[nateo]

Is this normal?

I would never accuse you of being "normal."

[weazletoe]

I have and awesomely wrecked back / neck. I get headaches that last for days, to the point where I sometimes see double. What pain pills I take depends on what type of headache it is, a migraine, from my back being out, or my neck, or stress. I take excederine migraine, motrin, or ibuprofin depending on what it is.

[1vertical]

I notice that certain meds do NOT address headaches for me...Ibuprophen seems to work
and the others you mention do not....diametricly opposed i suppose....anyhow of importance
is the fact that I can borrow the wife's medical oxygen tank and huff a bit of the O2 and
kick a heacaches A$$!  (Coupled with a hot rice bag on the back of my neck)