Do you use painkillers/alternative methods of relief?

[spacesong]

I was just wondering if there's a specific pain-reliever that works better than the rest? Acetaminophen vs. ibuprofen or whatever.

Neither acetaminophen or ibuprofen really help me for anything, I think I have a really high tolerance for those medications because I used to use them a LOT for pretty much nothing.... I live in Canada and my best friend gets bad migraines so she got an American client from her old job to get her some Excedrin migraine (which has acetaminophen, codeine and caffeine)... we can't get that stuff here, but I bought Excedrin "tension headache" which has 500 mg acetaminophen and 65 mg caffeine (that's a lot of acetaminophen!!! twice the normal dose, right? wow), and I was actually thinking about how it doesn't really work for me but then I took some earlier and I just noticed that my teeth actually do hurt a lot less. The pressure has gone down from like very painful to just a dull ache that I mostly only feel if I press on my teeth.

So, it made me wonder if you guys have any preferences on non-prescription pain relievers and if something works better for you, and also if any of you have alternative methods of relieving pain.

[holly0841]

I have found the most releif with Aleve. You can take two initally for the first dose of the day if it is really bad. I can usually take one every 12 hours and it really works but it depends on each individuals tolerance. Hope this helps!

[diande]

i was really impressed by Aleve too. i didnt even take 2 tablets, just 1 and it worked great when i needed a painkiller

[micachica]

I always take 3, 500mg acetaminophens to help with any pain I have, whether for my teeth, headache, muscle ache, whathaveyou. I am a very small person so it doesn't make sense to take that much but it doesn't work if I just take one or two. But I'd say tylenol or advil would work fine with the usual braces pain, although lately I've been taking tylenol cause my teeth are SUPER painful!

[Lisa65]

I usually take 400 mg of ibuprofen, although the day I had my miniscrews done I took both ibuprofen and paracetamol (acetaminophen). My ortho said it was OK to take both as they work differently to relive pain.

I have some diclofenac left from when I had a trapped nerve in my elbow, which are about 6x as strong as ibuprofen, but I've never taken them for braces pain because they upset my stomach.

[esmeraydances]

Be careful with Tylenol, though. You shouldn't take more than 4000 milligrams in a 24 hour period. It's *very* hard on the liver.

[browneyedgrl]

I'll usually use ibuprofen. The day I got my braces I took an 800mg motrin (perscription strenght) 1 hour before. I've also needed it as well right after an adjustment. If the pain isn't so severe, I usually take 1000mg of tylenol or 400mg of ibuprofen.

B

[shaolin]

I was given some tablets called "Keral" which seems to be a brand name for something called "Dexketprofen". They are very effective, the blurb with them says they are particularly suitable for tooth pain.

[Spanner]

I take Anadin Extra which is 300mg of Aspirin 200mg of Paracetamol and 45 mg of caffeine.

I don't take painkillers often because I have a high tolerance to pain. I've taken painkillers once since I was braced 2 months ago.

[SnowSara]

When it came to tooth discomfort, I found that 1 Aleve went a long way. 2 tablets of extra strength tylenol would do nothing for me and ibuprofen (my choice for muscle pain and headaches) helped, but aleve worked best and lasted longest.

[lilblackdress]

I find that ibuprofen works better for me than acetaminophen.
I take more than the recommended dose, however.

Maybe I'll try Aleve the next time I have pain caused by braces as that seems to work well for others on the board.

[dubnobass]

I take naproxen (Aleve). It's not licensed in the UK for over-the-counter use, but I'd bought some on a previous trip to the States (where it is OTC), and found quite at random that it works very well for me for braces pain.

After my jaw surgery, they sent me away with diclofenac (Voltarol) which was fantastically good at relieving pain - I had broken my wrist and sprained all my fingers a few weeks before the operation, but while I was taking diclofenac after the op I had no pain at all from my wrist or fingers. It was brilliant stuff, though probably a bit much for a bit of braces pain.