• daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    My poor european mind cannot understand the industrial bottle of 1000 ibuprofen tablets for a household.

    Here they sell you packs of 20 tablets or something like that.

    • Akasazh@feddit.nl
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      2 months ago

      Well but you do get health care with that, so instead of treating symptoms with ever larger doses of increasingly potent painkillers you have hopes of a more structural solution.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        2 months ago

        Well I can buy a pack of 16 in Tesco for £0.39

        So we’re actually paying pretty close to the same amount per pill, just in smaller packs.

          • TheDannysaur@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Technically… But there’s also a lot of waste from the 500 pack that people throw out half of. It likely evens out.

            • saigot@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              I don’t think there are many people just chucking pills out. 1000 isn’t much if it’s your go-to pain relief.

              Ibuprofen solid tablets take about 5 years to expire (they are also pretty safe to eat expired as well, just might be less effective). So you have to have about 4 a week on average, which is well wihin safe limits even for a single person (and these are more for families).

              As an example usecase If you have 3 menstrators in your household that take 4 a day 3 days a month (daily safe max is meant to be 6x200mg tablets) then that’s ~450 a year and you’ll be using them up more than quick enough to not throw any out, and that’s just dealing with cramps alone. Throw in someone with back pain, the occasional headache and sprained ankle, etc, and you can see how quickly a big family could go through them.

              Personally I don’t quite go through them that quick (I use roughly 100 a year) but if my household was 1 bigger it would make sense for me too.

              • ulterno@lemmy.kde.social
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                2 months ago

                Reading this thread, I kinda feel weird.

                When I was a child, I use to take tablets for headache (no idea which ones. I was a child.) and almost every time, the headache came back more intense than before, when the effect wore off.

                Later, I started understanding that headaches (and other pains) happen for a reason and it is better to find out the reason and fix it, than just turn off the alarm.

                So now, even if I get hurt due to something, I say no to pain relievers. This has even saved me from re-injuring a previous injury a few times.

                • Sprained ankle / back pain : exercise and yoga.
                • Cramps from exercise: next time do proper stretching after exercise.
                • menstruation: I have no idea. never had that. sorry. But I can say for sure, people around me don’t tend to resort to taking pills all the time. Even those that have it hard.
                • broke a ligament: definitely don’t take a pill, or you won’t realise if you are about to break it again.

                Over here, pain management pills seems more like a last resort and not to be used for something that happens regularly. So, reading about it being treated like cereal, feels pretty weird.

                • Jakeroxs
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                  2 months ago

                  I have a bit of an alternative, I used to get headaches a lot as a child, the meds absolutely helped as usually I’d take them so I could sleep it off, which almost always did clear it up.

                  I’m not sure why I was so frequently having headaches, but it definitely dropped off a lot once I moved out and started my own life, now it’s only maybe once or twice a month.

          • FozzyOsbourne@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            I believe individually packaged tablets actually do help reduce overdoses because you can’t just chug the whole bottle in one go. Yes it’s more wasteful but it does save lives.

      • TheBrideWoreCrimson@sopuli.xyz
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        2 months ago

        They go bad, though? At least my nice white aspirin pills start crumbling and visibly yellowing after a few months. There’s no way me or even an entire family could swallow 500 until then.

      • rhombus
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        2 months ago

        Ibuprofen probably isn’t stable for a decade. Then again, apparently no one knows for sure! Studies pick an arbitrary amount of time to test and then call that the shelf life if it remains usable. So far it doesn’t seem anyone has had the patience to test the absolute shelf life of ibuprofen

        • Jakeroxs
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          2 months ago

          My laymen understanding is they slowly break down and become less effective but not dangerous or negative.

    • Herding Llamas@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Advil is the main brand name for this. I always buy a bottle and other pills when I’m in the US. It is way more than I need but what I like is all the US pills look different. I always have a little mixed bottle of Advil, Pepto Bismol (fixes everything stomach related), anti-histamine pills… with me for when I need them. You can mix them all together and still tell the difference between them. That’s what I don’t like about the European blister packs of unidentifable white pills. That and I hate blister packs. It is also cheaper to buy a bottle. But to be clear, I get like a bottle of 50 or 100. Advil is also enteric coated so it is better for your stomach and tastes better (it’s slightly sweet).

      • itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        That sounds horrible, haha

        If it works for you, great, but I’d be super sceptical of the Skittles jar of mixed pills. At least with blister packs you get the drug and dosage printed on the back

        • Herding Llamas@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          The typical dosage is 2 for all of them (excluding the rand german pill - the one that you have no idea what it is). It’s also ibuprofen, but you would never know it. Does that help at all with you being skeptical?

        • Technofrood@feddit.uk
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          2 months ago

          For live TV, perhaps they should change its name to subscription because that’s basically what it is at the end of the day.

  • Sabre363
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    2 months ago

    Burger: No wrong way to swallow, feels more legit on the 'ol tongue, twice the quantity of “value size”

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    ITT everyone talking about liver damage? It’s tylenol that is harder on the liver. Ibuprofen is harder on the kidneys. Yeah, you can mess with your liver if you take too much ibuprofen, too.

    • LotzaSpaghetti
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      2 months ago

      Agreed, though the weird alchemy of it makes me less sweaty (but why?)

      • Lowpast@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        A known side effect of Ibuprofen (and most NSAIDs) is sweating, so the faster release tabs that aren’t in your system as long and thus clear out faster, dont have that aide effect… maybe

    • Draconic NEO@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I agree, I like the liquid ones better, but I also have the dual ones (ibuprofen and acetaminophen) which I use instead when the pain is too much for ibuprofen alone. I haven’t found gel versions of the dual ones but if I did I would get those instead of the white ones.

  • HootinNHollerin@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Be careful taking ibuprofen often it’ll cause issues with your intestines like diverticulitis which landed me in the hospital and has greatly restricted my diet and ability to drink alcohol

    • Jyrdano@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Also damage your stomach and your kidneys if you abuse them daily long enough time.

      People pop those like M&Ms and not realize that prescription free drugs are still drugs with all their side effect.

      • GluWu@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        So ibuprofen and acetaminophen are weak ass pain killers that do all the damage of alcohol with none of the fun.

        As far as my ancestors were concerned I’m supposed to be drunk, chewing willow and maybe having a bit of opium for nap time.

        • Rubanski@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          Acetaminophen is quite easier on the kidneys and liver compared to ibuprofen

  • Machinist@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I like mine jello shot style. (2-4 every night, chronic pain management and healthcare sucks in America.)

      • Machinist@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Yup, but the alternative is drinking myself to death or getting hooked on fentanyl/heroin.

        I try to work hard enough every day that 2-4 ibuprofen put me to sleep for 6 hours.

      • Machinist@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        My insurance is so shitty right now I’m not paying for a sleep study. I know why I sleep shitty. It’s cause I have a big old herina that fucking hurts and kinks my body up due to compensation. Wish I could take Aleve, but it gives me heartburn for days.

        Also, can’t take most long acting meds since I don’t have a colon.

  • KingJalopy @lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Hot dog goes down easier. I find it easier to swallow a weenie shape than a ball shape.

  • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Man you have some massive painkiller bottles. Biggest I’ve seen in a drug store had like 30 tablets

  • General_Effort@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Americans may be seeing serious savings in that picture.

    I am seeing serious evolutionary pressure on liver genetics.

    • 🐍🩶🐢@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It works amazing if your throat or sinuses are infected. I have taken 800mg of pills and barely take the edge off. 100-200mg of children’s liquid ibuprofen is complete relief and it tastes good. Once in a while I will get a bad sinus infection that ends up in the back of my throat and the pain is so bad I can’t swallow water. I got the trifecta once that included my ears and I had to get some drops from the doctor.

  • Belgdore@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    For people looking for a reason for large bottles other than less frequent purchases. Large bottles with many pills produces less waste than the same number of pills in multiple containers.