I took 2 extra strength tylenol (500mg each, acetominephan) earlier today at about 7.30. now my throat hurts again, so can i take 2 ibuprofin (200 mg each)?

i'd be inclined to say no, but it's been four hours, which is the time in which you're supposed to reload, right?

its been 4 hours, but i dont want to take too many of one kind too early, cause i know by dinner my throat is gonna hurt again and i'll already be past the daily limit.

i think i'll just take one tylenol now, take one at around 3, and then 2 at around 7

http://www.intelihealth.com/pcn/general/00279838.htm

Mixing Fever-Reducing Drugs Is Bad For Children

May 2, 2000

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Trying to reduce a child's fever with more than one over-the-counter drug is unnecessary and could even do more harm than good, a new report suggests.

In a study looking at how 161 pediatricians treat children's fevers, researchers found that half tell parents to give both ibuprofen and acetaminophen in alternating doses. According to Dr. Clara E. Mayoral and her colleagues at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York, this strategy could put children at greater risk from the drugs' rare side effects, which include liver damage. Their report is published in the May issue of Pediatrics.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Mayoral said that when children are treated with both drugs, they may end up exceeding the recommended daily dose of one or both. Acetaminophen is the active ingredient in Tylenol and is found in many cold medications, and ibuprofen is the active ingredient in Advil. Both drug types act in similar ways, and can cause stomach upset if taken in high amounts. In the past, accidental overdoses of acetaminophen given to children under age 2 have resulted in liver failure and death.

Some pediatricians in this study, Mayoral noted, told parents to alternate between acetaminophen and ibuprofen every 2 hours; still others advised giving acetaminophen every 4 hours and ibuprofen every 6 hours, leading to a rather complicated dosing schedule.

``The point is,'' Mayoral said, `` there's the potential for confusing parents.''

In addition, she said, while both drugs are considered equally effective against fever, there's no evidence that together they are more powerful. Instead, according to Mayoral, physicians' use of the two-prong attack may mean they are giving in to parents' ``fever phobia.'' The survey showed that younger, less-experienced doctors were more likely to advise alternating the drugs.

``Parents need to understand that fever is not necessarily a bad thing,'' Mayoral said. ``It's the body's response to infection. Treating the fever does not treat the underlying cause.''

However, she added, if a child's fever lasts more than 2 days, it's time to call a pediatrician.

SOURCE: Pediatrics 2000;105:1009-1012.

Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

http://www.hon.ch/News/HSN/511778.html

Study Warns of Mixing Ibuprofen with Aspirin
Painkiller combo may spell trouble for heart patients
By Randy Dotinga
HealthScoutNews Reporter

THURSDAY, Feb. 13 (HealthScoutNews) -- New research suggests that ibuprofen, a common over-the-counter painkiller, could kill heart patients who combine it with aspirin.

A study of 7,107 patients in the United Kingdom found that those who took aspirin and ibuprofen had much higher death rates than those who took another aspirin-painkiller combination or just aspirin itself.

Frequent treatment with ibuprofen "might chronically prevent the good effects of aspirin," said study co-author Dr. Thomas M. MacDonald, a professor of clinical pharmacology at Ninewells Hospital and Medical School in Dundee, Scotland. Ibuprofen is sold as Advil, Motrin-IB, Ibuprin, and Nuprin in the United States.

The good news is that other painkillers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), seem not to create health problems when taken with aspirin, MacDonald said. "There is a lot to chose from, but this should be done on the advice of a physician," he added.

The study doesn't knock the use of aspirin, which makes blood less "sticky" and less likely to form obstructions in arteries. For these reasons, aspirin appears to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, MacDonald said. Doctors frequently advise heart patients and healthy people to take small doses of aspirin each day.

While aspirin reduces pain from inflammation in addition to helping the heart, it isn't effective against other types of pain and soreness. Some people turn to ibuprofen, which works to combat back pain, arthritis and general muscular aches and pains, MacDonald said.

But a small American study in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2001 suggested that ibuprofen may zap the blood-thinning properties of aspirin. Even when patients took ibuprofen throughout the day and aspirin only in the morning, the ibuprofen appeared to make aspirin less beneficial.

MacDonald said he and colleagues wanted to expand on the results of the earlier study by examining death rates. They looked at 7,107 heart disease patients who were discharged from hospitals and took home prescriptions for low doses of aspirin.

They report their findings in the Feb. 15 issue of The Lancet .

The 187 patients who were prescribed both aspirin and ibuprofen were about twice as likely to die of any cause as patients who just took aspirin. They also suffered a 75 percent boost in their risk of dying from heart disease.

Taken together, the two drugs "are much worse than either individually," MacDonald said. "There is more risk of bleeding with the combination. It's a double whammy -- not so much benefit and more risk of side effects."

Patients who took aspirin and the painkiller dicloflenec, known as Cataflam or Voltaren, didn't suffer higher death rates. Neither did people who took aspirin and other types of medications known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS).

The co-author of a previous study into the aspirin-ibuprofen combo said heart patients should ask their doctor if they need to take aspirin and an NSAID. Ibuprofen is in that class of drugs, along with a variety of other less well-known painkillers.

"Broadly, it appears a choice other than ibuprofen would seem desirable," said the co-author, Dr. Garrett FitzGerald, chairman of the pharmacology department at the University of Pennsylvania.

But patients who take ibuprofen in addition to aspirin on an occasional basis shouldn't be at risk, he said.

More information

Learn about the variety of painkillers you can take and why some are better than others for specific conditions in this Mayo Clinic round-up . For an explanation of how NSAIDs and analgesics work, try Pharmacology Central .

SOURCES: Thomas M. MacDonald, M.D., medicines monitoring unit, department of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee, Scotland; Garrett FitzGerald, M.D., chairman, pharmacology department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Feb. 15, 2003, The Lancet

Copyright © 2003 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

well i;m neither a child nor am i a heart patient, so i took the following from those articles....

that was the only stuff i could find, and i didn't feel like reading it all but i felt something in there had to be relevant to you.

go for it...you'll be fine.

i know because i take a lot of meds...and tylenol can be mixed with just about anything.

once you take the ibuprophen, stay away from the aspirin and aleve.

maybe i should just go to the nurse here at college....not that she could write me a prescription, cause i know that i have strep throat, but i'm tired of waiting it out.

yea, i'm an aleve guy. that's the only thing i'll take

i don't know, try it out and let me know how it goes.

i love aleve, but i only use it sparingly, like when i have a toothache or something. i probably should have taken aleve and only aleve for the past few days, but i dont have any

is there a reason you take it so sparingly?

Yes. It's not going to hurt you.

ive mixed nyquil with theraflu


its one of the reason i never ever have to try lsd or acid

thanks, doc

it says on the bottle not to take it for more than 10 days in a row, and only to take it every 8 hours or so. i prefer to take tylenol because i have to take it more often, maybe a kind of placebo effect, it may not be working better, but i know that i am taking somehting. i think of aleve as a heavy duty backup to tylenol.

If you are otherwise healthy (no chronic health issues) then as a short term therapy it is totally fine. You can take up to 1000 mg tylenol with up to 600 mg ibuprofen concurrently.

Do not exceed 4000 mg of tylenol or 3000 mg ibuprofen in 24 hrs, however.

Disclaimer: even though I'm a nurse, I'm not really supposed to dispense medical advice, so don't trust me. ask your doctor.

A while ago I took some ibuprofin at about 8:00, at night, then before I went to bed around 10:00 I took some Nyquil, which has acetametfin (however you spell it) in it. I had a cold.

I felt like dog shit the next morning. Really, like, the worst headache i've ever had. but maybe that's just because I got sicker over the course of the night, who knows.

I know . it isn't because you mixed ibuprofen and acetaminophen.

it's probably because nyquil SUCKS. I don't even take it anymore. If I have the misfortune of waking up in the night time I feel like I'm floating and my body is all numb, and not in a cool way, but in a "Im scared to go back to sleep because I might die" way.

but, more likely, you had the headache because you were sick and dehydrated.

As long as you crush up the ibuprofen and snort it you'll be fine.