Image description: A bottle of Ibuprofen containing 1000 tablets.
(Originally published earlier today on mastodon.social)
Do Americans need these giant packs to deal with daily life in America?
That and to deal with the symptoms of their illnesses that have gone untreated because a) too expensive and/or b) doctors here gaslight you that it’s just anxiety.
My wife just paid $150 to go to a walk-in to check what is clearly a swollen blocked gland or something under her ear. It’s killing her. She was there for an hour. The doctor was in and out in under 2 minutes. He told her to take Tylenol and come back when it gets worse.
So yeah, it’s cheaper and you waste less time buying OTC pain killers in bulk I guess.
This sounds insane.
I’ve heard ear infections can develop into stuff that can only be treated with IV antibiotics taken for months, otherwise they’re deadly. Stay safe.
LOL.
“Come back later when it’s time to remove the entire ear.”
This is way cheaper than health insurance.
No. This was purchased because someone thought it was a “great deal”. They will use about a quarter of the bottle before it expires and then just throw the rest out.
Everyone I know who buys these will definitely use them before they expire. Most common reasons seem to be back pain and headaches.
Feel bad for the sucker who sees this and only buys one.
alt-text: screenshot of bottle of 1000 CVS ibuprofen, “Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off; $29.79; 3.0¢/ea.”
They won’t be thrown out, who are you kidding?
Some people also have families.
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Not for long, if they’re taking that amount of drugs regularly.
Yea, well some families are annoying.
Can confirm, I’m European and my mind cannot comprehend this.
1000 pills? I’ve never seen so many pills all at once. Do you use them to flavor your dishes or something?
Pill are cheaper than surgery.
Signed: an American.
You guys pay for surgeries??
Signed: a European
Hearing Europeans mock how much we pay for health care never gets old. I mean, the stupid high bills just don’t get the point across.I would be ecstatic with a single payer system supported by taxes. A system that doesn’t rely on an insurance company whose sole purpose is to deny me the coverage I am due. My favorite part is the fake astronomical prices they put on stuff just to charge insurance companies a “negotiated” price.I get that we, as a nation, truly suck. At best we are a corporatocracy. At worst, a straight oligarchy. We’ve got a feeble minded , racist, oompa loompa running for a second term as president. And he has a legit chance of winning! There is almost no part of our society that does not suck in some way. And the vast majority of us know it but the government is so bought and paid for that no real change is possible without bullets.But please, my European brothers and sisters, can you please stop rubbing it on our faces. I assure you we hurt enough already.(edit: a word)
Agreed. Like any cheap shot, it must be used strategically to remain classy.
Signed: A Canadian.
Edit: Of course, using all your shots at once in a busy place would be more American! BAHA! See what I did there???
It’s simple, we mock the costs of the American healthcare system, and mock prices of the Canadian cheese supply.
Lame! Well, also true, the dairy mafia is crazy, but you can do better.
Forest fires, no houses despite all the land and technology, the telecom mafia, Jean Chretien’s face, seal clubbing, that SS officer we just did a standing ovation for in parliament. And of course, if you need the big guns, native genocide.
It’s also not good cheese to start with. I think one British immigrant/expat described it as orange-died blocks of fat. I’m not entirely clear if that’s just because we’re tasteless heathens, or because the cheese making is also managed by the government monopoly with no concern for competition.
So do you, just with taxes.
Except your taxes as an american are often higher, but don’t help you in any way.
So how many do you take a day, for this to make sense? A dead liver is also a big medical bill, I assume, but maybe that’s a future you problem.
Ibuprofen is metabolized in the kidneys, not the liver. That’s acetaminophen.
Dosage is 2 pills every 4 hours. But prescription strength is equal to 4 of these, so it could be as many as 16 a day.
16 a day? A medical prescription here would usually target 1200 mg/day, maybe go as far as 2400 mg/day, but not a single milligram more, as that’s the maximum daily dose recommended before side effects start cropping up. You’re taking 3200 mg/day for extended periods of time? You’re poisoning yourself trying to escape pain.
When they give you ibuprofen following surgery, yea, it can be 800mg pills every 4 hours. It’s not the normal dose most people take. I didn’t say it was extended periods at that dose.
Otc, they max at 1200mg/day but it’s the same drug that by prescription the max is 3200mg/day.
So ~64 days, then. It all makes sense now.
Ibuprofen is metabolized in the kidneys, not the liver. That’s acetaminophen.
TIL. Metabolised, or just peed out?
I believed metabolized, but I’m not super intimate with its method of absorption.
Most people won’t take such large prolonged doses, but when you have a family of five, it’s not hard to go through a good number of these. It’s a rather safe drug with pain relieving, antiinflammatory properties and a fever reducer.
So muscle aches and headaches. It’s taken when someone has the flu. It can be taken to help with even a cold to help with the inflammation in the sinuses. It’s rather versatile. My back is spasming today, I’ve taken like 6 or 8 today.
That’s actually insane. I never saw anyone taking more than 200mg every 8 hour, even after surgery.
You can get a 2x1000 pack at Costco
This is what I do. They last for years and years.
They do expire
They just get somewhat weaker, they don’t become toxic.
Mainly just on the label. At a certain point their effectiveness may decrease slightly, but they dont go bad in any harmful way. Nor do they just stop working.
Experience disagrees with you. They’re still effective painkillers
A lot of Americans have been trained to only look at dates and throw everything out after. It creates a lot of unnecessary waste.
I know people who throw out everything if it hits the date. Milk, eggs, yogurt, sour cream, canned goods. Food that’s still fine, but the magical date has been hit so they must buy more and feed the consumption machine.
We need them because it’s cheaper than going to the doctor. Headache? Ibuprofen. Cold or flu? Ibuprofen. Shattered femur? Ibuprofen.
Well, they are 200mg pills so you will need to take 4 at once for them to make a difference, multiple times per day
Isn’t 400mg the normal adult dose and 600 the bigger?
Those numbers are unamerican. Real Americans take 5 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon, and 8 to go to bed.
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I’m not sure where you were that the SMALLEST bottle was 100 or more but you’re either mistaken or at a Costco (or they were just out).
The small size packet for paracetamol is because you can kill yourself with it. A big enough dose will fuck your liver up, so that even if you survive you’ll need a transplant. It’s also extremely painful, apparently. So it’s best not to be able to buy a fatal dose on a whim.
Please don’t think of doing it, life is beautiful and full of possibilities, even if some days that’s hard to believe.
For when you really refuse to deal with the underlying issues causing pain, i guess.
Someone obviously doesn’t have rheumatoid arthritis, or any other one of a plethora of painful diseases. Even with my biologics, flare ups happen, and ibuprofen takes the edge off.
On the other hand, maybe Europe has cured RA, and just hasn’t shared it with the rest of the world?
Sure, NSAIDS are great, but 99.9% of RA patients still shouldn’t need 1000 tablets of half strength Ibuprofen if they are actually seeing their rheumatologist. We usually use coxibs for prolonged therapy supplementing with paracetamole or paracetamole codeine as needed. Most of the time pain control is achieved quickly via steroids and we generally recommend patients to try and avoid NSAIDS once they are started on steroids.
200mg is standard dose in the US. 400mg or more requires prescription. Common Rx are 800 and 1000 mg. However, people are not stupid and just take more than one if they need a bigger kick, just watch out for the side effects and avoid frequent use.
Not all of us have 100k lying around 😔
Yea, thats the one problem with RA we have, in fact, solved in the EU. 🤷🏻♂️
… and are American where the healthcare is mercenary
Nice to know I’m the 0.1% of some club. Wish it wasn’t this one.
Prednisone helped out immensely, but that’s a deal with the devil… Gonna pay for that if I stayed on it. Methotrexate was decent, but it would knock me on my butt and make me unreasonably short tempered the day after taking it (and that was splitting the dose up overnight). Biologics (Humira, Enbrel, Cimzia, Simponi Aria infusions) all worked for nine months, then I’d start flaring up after each dose. Rheum said my immune system was building up antibodies against the biologic proteins, and confirmed via one test (Enbrel, if I remember right, but I could be wrong).
On Rinvoq now. Does the job most days, but I’ll still flare up once every couple months. Ibuprofen helps on those days. After seeing painkillers blow out my aunt’s kidneys, I’m happy to stay off the ibuprofen as much as I can.
This is cheaper.
By a lot
Things the american mind can’t comprehend: free healthcare.
It’s the American way.
You can’t buy more than 10 at a time here unless you have a prescription… On the plus side, you can almost get them for free if you do have a prescription
Why?
I hope nobody over there has regular headaches, or works construction.
You can get them if you have a prescription so if the doctor seems a good reason, there is no problem. Note that its free to visit the doctor and free to get a prescription. Also prescribed medication is cheaper than over the counter medication even if it is the same medication. The state helps cover the cost of prescribed medications.
That said, it’s better to fight the cause of the pain instead of the pain, You can also get physiotherapy prescribed or other treatment that will help against whatever is hurting.
Also construction work is often very safe and protected both by education and insurance due to unions. Although its hard work it is often strongly regulated and controlled to follow rules that will protect workers from getting hurt or worn out
You sound like you are from some kind of ultra based future society
It’s sad isn’t it?
Yeah
Damn, so do women get automatic prescriptions then? Period cramps are no joke! It would suck to have to keep buying those at 10 at a time endlessly. How often do you have to see the doctor to renew the script? Because that’s also a time suck.
No automatic prescriptions based on gender. Only if there is a need for them. If the doctor deems painkillers necessary though, then yes. Often they will work on finding a solution that helps minimize pain instead of treating the pain. That said, most people do just fine with 10 pieces at a time. You can buy them everywhere so it’s not difficult to get some of you need them.
Prescriptions can be “chronic” so they don’t run out or limited. You can have it renewed when it expires though. You can do this on an app (or phone call) and your doctor will evaluate and my extend the prescription.
Damn, so do women get automatic prescriptions then?
In fact, they pretty much do, yes. Just got to ask the doctor during a regular visit. Do note that I’m Brazilian, not European, but Brazil is essentially a fusion of Portugal and Italy.
Most women I know (including myself) aren’t in excruciating agony for the entire time they’re bleeding. But admittedly there’s always the occasional one that’s way worse than usual, and sometimes I’ll go through a whole box of 16 ibuprofen during the week.
In which case we just…add a new box onto the shopping delivery for a few pence? It’s not like it’s some kind of major hassle, it’s just one more click on the weekly shop, and we tend to always keep a spare box around just in case of emergencies.
In the UK you get them in boxes of 16 and you can buy 2 boxes at a time.
I assume the amount required to overdose and die is quite a bit higher than that.
Please do not overdose on Ibuprofen. It’ll take a week and it’s going to hurt 9/10 the whole time.
Or longer. My aunt was diagnosed with failing kidneys, but the doc’s were having difficulty understanding why. She’d never had a problem with diabetes or the usual causes. Then she explained how she’d been covering up her back pain for years using pain meds.
Now she’s having dialysis sessions a couple times a week. Doc gives her a few more years of this, unless some miracle occurs and she finds a replacement kidney. Miserable way to go.
What kind of doses was she taking?
Ask her, and she’d shrug. Whatever was enough to make the pain go away. She’d had back problems for years, too. It’s gotta add up over time.
Damn. That sucks. I’m taking it as a cautionary tale as I have a tendency to take more ibuprofen than I should. Thanks for sharing
That sounds more like a paracetamol O/D. NSAIDs hit your stomach something harsh.
At least you won’t have a headache
I don’t think the concern is due to the risk of death but to prevent addiction and overuse.
Ibuprofen is not good for kidneys and can also affect bone growth and regeneration (if remember right)
No the limitation on how much you can buy is very much to prevent deliberate overdose or attempted overdose.
Ibuprofen is hard to overdose to the point of fatality, but other drugs are already limited (like Paracetamol) and if Ibuprofen wasn’t limited people could try that and end up causing huge damage to their bodies even if they don’t kill themselves.
The law limits how many packets people can buy in one transaction. There is no way to stop people going multiple stores to stockpile or to keep buying them every two weeks. It’s not effective at combating dependence.
It’s really not really aimed to preventing people overusing the medications. It’s just a way to try and prevent impulsive mass purchase with the aim of suicide attempts. And it does work on a population scale at reducing harm.
For example the classic ED attender of a young girl who impulsively take 2 packets of paracetamol as a cry for help is well served by this law.
Edit: worth emphasising too - you can get many more in one go on prescription. This is very much about over the counter purchasing.
Ibuprofen is habit forming?
Any painkiller can be.
I never really thought about it like that but it makes sense if the pain is chronic.
In that not being in pain is habit forming, I suppose, but ibuprofen does not cause dependence like opioids.
It works by reducing inflammation to control pain, not blocking us from feeling it.
Also liver damage and platelet dysfunction (stops blood clotting)!
My liver hurts from just looking at that bottle
Well actually… Ibuprofen hurts your stomach. Acetaminophen hurts your liver.
(Oh what a rush, hope I’m right. Do I go check the facts or keep rolling in my smugness a little longer?)
Kidneys I believe
It’s broken down in the kidneys, but overuse can cause stomach ulcers.
Plus heart attacks
Correct
Bold. I like it.
!You chose wisely!<
- Don’t take that many.
- Take even more so you can check out or be the next Chuuby Emu video.
Your options.
music plays
“A man takes 50 value pack ibuprofen a day, this is what happens to his stomach.”
I think there was actually an episode last year where a man took over a 1000 a month.
You’re thinking of tylenol
But it’s your stomach that will get the burn.
Why is your post blue
I’m not sure what part I shouldn’t be able to comprehend
The part where you need 1000 tablets, that’s more than a lifetime supply. If you need that many you’re better off visiting the doctor and fix whatever the issue is.
Tell me you don’t have chronic headaches without telling me you don’t have chronic headaches
nsaids for chronic headaches?
Jesus, No.
What would you suggest as an alternative, then? Most sources list ibuprofen as the first line drug of choice for moderate tension headache.
In Europe, generally paracetamol (brand name Tylenol in the US) is recommended for headaches / the common cold / flu, and ibuprofen for muscle aches / inflammation.
For something more severe, they’ll recommend taking one type of painkiller, waiting 2 hours, taking the other, then 2 hours later repeating the process.
Asprin is has mostly fallen out of usage as a painkiller, but is sometimes still used for heart / blood problems.
These painkillers are out of patent, so there is never a good reason to pay more for a fancy brand.
That’s long been my approach with the starting meds reversed (ibuprofen, then Tylenol if needed). Acetaminophen/paracetamol’s therapeutic dosage is much closer to the amount required for liver toxicity than Ibuprofen’s is for kidneys, so I think it’s better to start with the lower-risk medication. If I’m in the middle of a multi-day episode that’s well-managed with just one medication at the regular dosing schedule, I will often alternate between them.
Tylenol (we call it acetaminophen generically) never worked as well for me as ibuprofen. Plus, it is way too easy to destroy your liver with Tylenol.
Plus I like the method of action. NSAIDs help control inflammation. Tylenol just blocks pain receptors.
Acetaminophen is pretty rough on livers and kidneys. People also overdose on it pretty routinely as a lethal dose is like eight pills.
I prefer ibuprofen, but only because I’m a little chicken when it comes to stuff like that.
as a lethal dose is like eight pills.
Nobody in a civilized country takes EIGHT fucking pills, unless they want to die. A full card usually has less than 20.
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Go to the doctor? What do you think I am? Made of money?
Some have frequent need for them. It’s not a specifically American thing to have chronic pain…
Chronic pain patients in civilized countries get a prescription note for a single card of, say, 20 tablets, then visit their local pharmacy in a walkable neighborhood to get their free medicine every other week or so.
A very sizeable percentage of Americans can’t even afford rent on a one-bedroom apartment working two jobs, and they don’t have health insurance. There is no “going to the doctor” when paying out of pocket at even just the clinic costs more than a week’s wages. Between chronic discomfort and homelessness, they choose discomfort.
This is what they have instead of healthcare
…fixing general muscle pain? What do you expect a doctor to resolve there? This is fucking Ibuprofen. Advil. Am I taking crazy pills or is this thread actually happening in real life?
General muscle pain, as in pain after exercising? A few times? Sure, I get that. Regularly enough to buy 1000 Ibuprofen tablets? Pretty sure that’s not recommended.
Are we sure this was bought for just a single person’s use?
People don’t have families or roommates in Europe /s
Am American. This many pills would expire long before the bottle was even close to being empty. I maybe take ibuprofen maybe once or twice a year.
Damn look at no-pain McGee over here. I rarely go a week without a headache necessitating a few ibuprofen
- ibuprofen is addictive, in my country they are a prescription only medication because of this. Paracetamol on the other hand, is available off the counter
- too much ibuprofen or paracetamol is bad for you. Youre poisoning yourself
- never, ever, take that much pain killers unless you have a known condition and the doctor agrees. You could be hiding something else by using the painkillers
- i feel bad for you. Is the headache that bad? I usually ignore those but i have a high pain tollerence :)
I’m gonna need to see some citation on the addictiveness of ibuprofen.
Multiple neurologists have just told me to take 800 mg of ibuprofen whenever I get a headache.
800mg is no laughing matter. Feel bad for ya. Have they mentioned why ?
There is a “cavernous malformation“ in my brain.
Oh. Fuck. Feel really sorry for ya
have you tried making more money?
/s
I fortunately do not get headaches often. I usually get them when I stop drinking caffeine for a day or so. When I do get headaches, I take acetaminophen.
This bottle has more active component than I would expect any pharmacy to have in stock, considering all dosages and formats.
Unless you live in the jungle and only go to the city once every two years, this doesn’t seem reasonable
200mg is pretty low, though
You can only absorb 400mg in one dose, so 200 is a great idea (you get to choose taking one or two). Any excess you take will not have an effect on your pain.
Wtf are you talking about? Ibuprofen is often prescribed in 600-1000mg. Maybe keep the medical advice to yourself.
That’s daily. But lol, americans are sensitive about the topic of their ibuprofen. If you are interested, you can read up on it. 400mg every 8 hours provides the maximum effect, any excess won’t reduce the pain further.
No dipshit, it’s every 6 to 8 hours
Go ahead and take it, no one is stopping you.
Thanks doc
Well, sorry, but that is complete bullshit. You can go up to 1g/4h with effect, and if you take more you can overdose and fuck up your liver pretty badly.
For real? I had a doctor recommend taking four for really bad headaches.
No they have no idea what they’re talking about
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Must not be many motherfuckers with arthritis over there if they’ve never seen bulk NSAIDs.
Shit, that’s barely a month’s supply for a good month for me.
The absolute maximum amount anyone should be taking in a single day would be 16 of these, and that’s spread throughout an entire 24 hours, and not on a consistent basis.
Finishing this bottle in a month would require taking 33 of these pills a day, everyday. How are you alive?
I may be miscounting.
Let’s see, three at a time most days, with 4 on bad days.
That’s every five hours, unless I have shit to do.
So that’s 3×4 minimum a day. On average it’s higher, what with bad days and having a teenager which means having to do shit I can’t just avoid. So 12 a day times 30 days is 360 minimum.
February, I got a new bottle on the second or third, and I have about 200 left, unless I miscounted. February was bad though.
But that does mean I was wrong in my guesstimate. I just end up buying a bottle every month, which isn’t really the same thing as taking the entire bottle.
As to the consequences of the over use, it takes a lot of pepcid and other options to keep things under control. But the doc refuses to prescribe other NSAIDs because of the supposed heart risk, and aleve fucks me up even worse. Seriously, the amount of blood coming out of places it shouldn’t on aleve was ridiculous.
But what else can I do? Fucking hands don’t work without something to reduce the inflammation. You can’t stay on steroids long term at all, and it isn’t the pain that’s what keeps them from working, it’s the stiffness, so opiates are useless.
3 at a time is just enough to function most days. And there’s days where it’s every 4 hours instead of 5, but I do keep an eye on things. So far, no ulcers, no bleeding, just a lot of heartburn and some cramping. I think it helps that I always take them with food of some kind. Kidneys are doing fine as of October. No liver issues either, though that’s not a high risk.
Plus, I do take breaks from it when I know I won’t need the movement range as much. Every few months, even if I have to tell people to bugger off lol.
Damn though, there was a time when I had decided that I’d rather die from the medications than live with what they treat. The arthritis is mostly in my hands, but I have other musculoskeletal issues, and was essentially unable to walk without extra support for a year or two back in 08. So I was throwing down two Tylenol, 4 ibuprofen, and whatever herbal shit I could find at every dose, every four hours. If that didn’t kill me, I reckon I’m going to survive as it is for a while longer.
Not to alarm you, but ibuprofen, like any other nsaid, increases the risk of stroke and heart related issues from as soon as the first week of taking it.
Cannabinoids are known to be anti inflammatory, have you tried that?
Nah, that’s why the doc won’t prescribe anything similar to it.
And yeah, I finally tried some CBD oil. It helps, but the price is such that it can’t be an every day thing.
I was hesitant because I have bad reactions to proper marijuana, be it edibles or smoked. But CBD does work (and not just for the pain/stiffness) without side effects I can detect.
I’ve thought about trying delta 8, but that same concern over dealing with hours of unpleasantness places it at the back of the list along with its price tag.
I
Perhaps a combination of THC and CBD could help alleviate some of the side effects. But yeah, it is very pricey and it really shouldn’t be, we’re in a bit of a CBD gold rush.
Nah, that’s why the doc won’t prescribe anything similar to it.
You know you can look this up yourself right? This isn’t an opinion of mine.
I don’t need to look it up, my doctor refuses to prescribe them to me because of it. Did I fuck up somehow in my response? I am dyslexic, so I do sometimes.
No it’s not that, but I took away from your reply that your doctor is implying that ibuprofen is ok, did I read that correctly?
Holy shit dude, how’s your stomach?
Pretty fucking rough some days. But it’s the only real option.
The other two typically useful drugs for arthritis, naproxen and meloxicam are a no-go because of other issues.
What the fuck. Your stomachs dead
Pretty much :)
This drugs can be prescribed in bulk, they just can’t be bought without prescription in bulk over the counter.
This is part of laws to prevent suicide. Paracetamol is easier to suicide with and limited; Ibuprofen is not easy to take a fatal dose on but can cause serious side effect, and people are often ignorant about how deadly a drug is.
So to stop people taking ibuprofen instead of paracetamol, they’re all limited to a certain amount per transaction.
And for someone with an arthritis they’d probably be getting the meds on prescription and for free rather than expected to go to a pharmacy and buy 1000 off the shelf.
Ah, gotcha! That males sense.
Alas, it’s hard to find a doctor that will prescribe the higher amounts long term here, because of the cardiac risks for my age group.
My stepdad has arthritis, he gets prescribed packs of 600mg ibu, with like 5x20 blister packs in a pack or something around that number. It’s mainly that at least in germany pill bottles don’t exist, and probably some other EU countries too. Might be illegal for safety reasons or something, all I ever see in bottles are supplements and such. Medication is always in blister packs. I kind of dislike how wasteful that seems.
I have also never seen 200mg ibu though, only 400 and 600.
Yeah, blister packs seem like such a bad idea compared to a bottle, environmentally. I can see the safety issue for sure though.
Except with Europe pricing it’d be like $6 for that whole thing
Costco pricing
How much is it in murica
$6
$30, but only $45 for two: cvs.com/…/cvs-health-ibuprofen-pain-reliever-feve…
There are some really stupid “America bad” takes in this thread.
Fine, have your orange president in peace, then.
Yeah a bottle of 1000 ibuprofen is somehow related to trump
America bad
Now do Costco Q-tip packages.
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