Overuse of Anti-inflammatories (Read 1708 times)

Okay, another thread got close to a question I've been wondering. What are the effects of the sustained use of anti-inflammatories, e.g. one Aleve a day for a month straight? And how much is too much? I know these are fairly vague questions--maybe someone can make them more specific for me.

Thanks, Trent. The bottle says not to take longer than 10 days. But, this seems strange and kind of arbitrary to me. Can I take for 10 days, then take 3 days off, then 10 days again? In other words, is the problem sustained use over, say months or years, or intense use over a short period of time? Maybe I should ask my doctor instead of wondering aloud on a message board. But then, I'd have to get a doctor. And go see her.

I was taking Advil every morning for an ongoing elbow pain earlie this year. Until it finally gave me a horrible upset stomach, seems it's not smart to take it every day on an empty stomach and it irritated my stomach lining. Anyway, I finally decided to see a doctor for my real problem and found out I had tennis elbow/tendonitis. I went through physical therapy and am now on my way to recovery. Long story short: see your doctor! You dont want to take this stuff every day for the rest of your life!

I usually try to stay away from using any drugs unless it's really bad.

Me too. For the record, I'm not taking anything now. In my life, I've taken less than a bottle. In college we were given 1000mg a day of Ibu as a preventative. I always just palmed it. They make me nervous, which is why I asked. Like Trent says, pain is the voice of the body. I'd be interested to hear anecdotes of what and how much anti-inflammatories folks use.

don't you hippies have your own type of pain relievers

I did a quick literature search months ago to check on the use of NSAIDS (aspirin, motrin, advil, etc) during prolonged exercise use and dehydration.This definitely applies to marathons and ultras, not so much a halfmarry or less. The evidence was good enough to made me decide that anti-inflammatories weren't safe during these events for their potential to harm the kidneys when they are already stressed from dehydration from a race. I think Tylenol is a lot safer during these events. I'll have some time this afternoon to dig up that article. Google Scholar nsaids, exercise, and dehydration to get some interesting reads for those of us who are geeks.

With an injury, the body responds by initiating a process of inflammation. The inflammatory process brings to play the cells that will help heal the injury and the cells that will fight any infection, if that is relevant. However, inflammation typically also is associated with swelling and pain. Typically, as we understand the science, the degree of inflammation needed for healing is more than is necessary, and so there is excess pain. Think of a sunburn. Your sunburn would heal normally if you had no inflammation. But a sunburn is angry and red and painful. Excess inflammation. Antiinflammatories, such as ibuprofen, reduce the inflammation, but typically they do not reduce the healing. Which is to say, if you take ibuprofen for a twisted ankle, your ankle should still heal, but you won't hurt as much. That said, pain is generally not dangerous. If you can tolerate the pain, it is reasonable not to treat it. Pain reminds you not to go out running to quickly (or out into the sun, in the case of the sunburn). Pain warns you to take it easy, which may protect against further injury. Heat and ice both feel good. The reason why you do not want heat? I think of two: 1) you can actually increase the amount of unnecessary inflammation and therefore the pain and swelling; and, 2) you may soften the muscles around an injury which may predispose you to reinjury. It is reasonable to take antiinflammatories in the short term, but then to wean off as soon as you can tolerate it.

Trent... I've been under what appears to be a false pretense that reducing pain, inflammation and swelling helps to speed the healing process. From reading your last post, it appears that the healing process is not aided (or hindered for that matter) by using anti-inflammatories. Am I interpreting this correctly?