[Humpty Dumpty]

First I'm not sure if this is even the right thread for this question. If not I apologize.

What are the long term risks of high doses of ibuprofen? I am currently dealing with really bad back pain and on average I take 800 mg of ibuprofen a day all at once. That seems to really help and some days I don't take any. I'm just wondering about the long term risks of this.

Flood doses of Ibuprofen stole 20 IQ points. I mean, WTF.

[healingme4me]

I think it can cause ulcers.

[Gus1234U]

do you love your liver ? could you live without it ?

[Blueberrybook]

Yes, it can cause ulcers. Worse, you might be unlucky enough to develop an ulcer and not notice it because you don't have any symptoms or very, very minor symptoms. It happened to me. I got an ulcer and the only symptom I had was very minor heartburn, which I put down to stress (tight finances, my mother-in-law had just passed away). It was so minor, I didn't even think it was worthwhile to see my family doctor, and I didn't even take anything OTC for it.

I was clueless about it. The day before anything happened, I ran 3.6 miles around the neighborhood, easy. The next morning (which happened to be Valentine's Day 2018), I woke up, had a cup of coffee, took Excedrin for a migraine headache. I was also taking a med for fibromyalgia, had been on it for years. I'm sure when I first got the med, I read the info sheet and saw it contained an NSAID but thought nothing of it and completely forgot about it. On Valentine's Day, I developed what I thought was a cramp in my right side that seemed to ease up as my husband was leaving for work. I got my daughter up for school and realized the pain was back and worse. Ten minutes later, I was wondering how I was ever going to even drive her to school. I got clammy and nauseous, started gagging and nearly throwing up. Honestly, I thought it was appendicitis. My daughter helped me call my husband at work. He made it home 15 minutes later. As he was trying to get me to the car, I passed out from the pain & the low blood pressure associated with the event (in my case, a perforated duodenal ulcer). That scared my husband into calling an ambulance. After a CT scan, everyone seemed surprised it was a perforated ulcer, it seemed everyone thought it would be appendicitis (the pain was a bit focused on my right side) or gall bladder issues.

Perforated ulcers are very rare these days because most people know they have an ulcer and if they don't self-medicate with OTC medications, they consult a doctor. But when you don't know and don't have symptoms, it's a different story all around. That ulcer can perforate at any given moment. In my case, it burned through the stomach into the small intestine, causing free air intestinal materials to leak into my abdomen. Perforated ulcers are considered medical emergencies. Without treatment, your prognosis is most likely death. Things go from bad to worse quickly, you can develop sepsis, code, and die. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to realize I needed immediate help. The surgery for a perforated ulcer is so unbelievably painful. It made childbirth look like fun. I woke to over a 4 inch scar from my belly button up, staples, IV, tubes down my throat, catheter, on a morphine drip (the morphine did nothing to touch the pain). I couldn't have anything to eat or drink for over 5 days except ice chips and only small sips of water to swallow medication. I was in the hospital for 6 days, in such pain I was hallucinating and if I read one text message in a day, that was some effort. I couldn't shower for days. I lost a lot of weight and really didn't have any to lose in the first place.

The ulcer was caused by a combo of a bacterial infection combined with heavy NSAID use, but NSAID use alone can cause such ulcers too, without the bacterial infection. To say the recovery was painful, is an understatement. It took several months and was agonizing. I was (ironically) told fit people tend to feel more pain with this surgery than those who are a bit overweight. My gastroenterologist kept stressing to me that I was extremely lucky not to have had complications or died, especially since emergency ulcer surgery is not that common nowadays.

Now, I can't take NSAIDs the rest of my life. All I can have OTC for headaches and stuff is Tylenol, which doesn't do a thing for me. I had to get my fibro meds changed too.

It played havoc on my mental health. It is very traumatic to nearly die if you are not trying to harm yourself and think you are healthy because your weight & BMI is good, you are exercising regularly, and then, boom! The next day you are at the door of death.

All in all, I have to say this was one of my worst life experiences ever, and I've lived through a LOT of crappy stuff. So if you are going to take high dose NSAIDs, I would be monitored closely by a doctor, get regular upper endoscopies to be sure you do not have ulcers you are unaware of.

Originally Posted by Humpty Dumpty

First I'm not sure if this is even the right thread for this question. If not I apologize.

What are the long term risks of high doses of ibuprofen? I am currently dealing with really bad back pain and on average I take 800 mg of ibuprofen a day all at once. That seems to really help and some days I don't take any. I'm just wondering about the long term risks of this.

Seriously, go to your GP and ask him/her for you to be referred to a pain management specialist.

I used to take Oxycodone for almost a year and I developed an addiction to it.

My doctor was livid when he seen that I was also taking high concentrates of Ibuprofen.

I'm not so lucky though, I have liver cirrhosis and I've always been a popping pill type.. the alcohol didn't help...

Anyways, I'm now on Tramadol for my pain and it's got a bit of a "kick" to it, so it takes at least (imo) 2 months to get used to the what I can only describe as a personality adjustment. But this is all done with the pain management dude.

I'm very angry at a friend (not here btw) that misinformed me that pain management was a waste of time. She obviously went there for other reasons than me, I was in ..well, like you.

But when I got advice from a known drug forum to go. I knew he wasn't talking shi* PM is the holy grail for chronic pain.

Just don't expect them to give you a prescription. They forward a letter to your doctor who then writes you up when you need more of better stuff than that.

Taking long hot, really hot showers help. Also lay on your bed and learn laying down back stretching.

Anyway again. Be patient and keep nursing it and never ask a doctor for a drug by it's name!

[Unrigged64072835]

I have chronic low back pain as well. I saw a pain management doc and he did a nerve block. Worked great for a year, but now have to do it again.

I'd rather do that than keep taking large amounts of NSAIDs.

[Humpty Dumpty]

Originally Posted by Fharraige

I have chronic low back pain as well. I saw a pain management doc and he did a nerve block. Worked great for a year, but now have to do it again.

I'd rather do that than keep taking large amounts of NSAIDs.

I really try hard to not goto doctors. Last time I went to the Dr they just prescribed me 800 mg ibuprofen. So now I just get it OTC. I try not to take it everyday but some days are worse than others.

[*Laurie*]

I have severe lower back pain. Have it following an injury 3 years ago. It truly impacts my life. In addition to physical rehab, I was taking ibuprofen for a year, and worrying about taking it. I got a sample of Topricin Fibro Cream at a natural foods store and very skeptically tried it. Well, what do you know - it really helped! I used the little sample and found it helped every time. So I bought a larger tube and I'm very pleased with the stuff. I definitely recommend it.