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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Excedrin = Aspirin + Tylenol + Caffeine
Mine is excedrin and a big ass cup of coffee
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.
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!
95% of the time, a headache for me means I’m dehydrated. So I drink water + electrolyte drops.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I just deal with it unless it’s a migraine.
How do you recognize your migraine? And what do you take for it?
Many people have auras before and during migraines. These can be visual (seeing colors or black spots or colors/lights look brighter or dimmer), sensory (sensitivity to light/sound), speech-related (difficulty speaking or understanding speech), motor (impairment to movement), and brainstem (vertigo, tinnitus, ataxia, decreased consciousness, etc).
I get sensory, speech related, motor, and possibly some brainstem aura symptoms. You kind of just learn to recognize when a migraine is coming on and not a regular headache.
My migraines are actually usually without headache, just a lot of aura. That might sound not so bad, but it’s pretty bad.
They tend to start a bit insidiously, with a little bit of sensitivity to light and sound and, even more so, frequently changing or bright light and fast sound.
That’s when things start to feel overwhelming in my head, so if I’m not being obtuse, I recognize that it’s time to take medication. Sometimes my partner realizes it before I do because I’ll start covering my eyes and just mildly complaining about things being too bright or too much.
Anyway, at that point I take sumatriptan. It requires a prescription, but it’s not expensive. It works like magic for me.
Before I found sumatriptan, I would have to be in a dark, silent room with my head in a pillow.
I default to ibuprofen. Feels a little more effective to me than acetaminaphen. I’ve never taken aspirin for pain.
If I can’t avoid it or if I’m in a hurry, I will take Paracetamol 500mg. If there is no change within an hour, I’ll take Ibuprofen 600mg. But if I have time, I will get some rest (avoid bright light, close eyes and listen to podcasts).
Known as acetaminophen (Tylenol) in the US
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
Ibuprofen for tension headaches, acetaminophen for the rest.
As other comments have said, deal with the origin of the pain first, THEN…
If it’s bad enough to take meds but not too bad, then one 500mg paracetamol and 200mg ibuprofen (my go to for pain). The paracetamol will generally be one with some caffeine in it.
If it’s a BAD headache, then 900mg aspirin.
I do have a headache hat which is kept in the fridge.
I have never in my life heard “medicament” before. Is there a particular reason that word was used here? Is it used often across the pond or something and I just never heard it somehow? Or is it somewhat seldom used and you just decided that was the word you wanted to use?
