Thursday, January 10, 2008

Dilemma

If the maximum recommended dose of Advil is two tablets every four hours, and you're not supposed to exceed six tablets in 24 hours, that means a coverage time of twelve hours. What's a poor girl supposed to do for the other twelve hours?

I tried going without Advil last night while sleeping, with pretty grim results when I got up this morning. I actually turned around and went right back to bed, making me (very) late for work. Anything stronger than Advil messes with my stomach. Any advice?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Advil is the same thing as your garden-variety generic ibuprofen. If you're taking a 200 mg tab, you can take 1 or 2 of them every 4 to 6 hours for ten days or so. Forget about the whole 12 hours on, 12 hours off thing. Naturally, go with the least dose that works and don't keep taking them for the next two weeks round the clock, but you will do more damage to your body by leaving yourself suffer than you will by medicating yourself appropriately. If you're really hurting you can even take more than that, but that level of pain would suggest to me that you need real medical intervention rather than OTC drugs and that's what I would recommend if the 1-2 per 4-6 hours doesn't do it.

So why is it that the Advil bottle doesn't tell you all this and the generic "same thing but cheaper" bottle does? Lawsuits from people who crazily overmedicate themselves, I reckon. The deal is that the longer you take ibuprofen and the more concentrated a dose you take, the more you line yourself up for stomach bleeding or masking serious symptoms for which you need to see a real physician. But in your case, you know what's wrong and you know that you respond well to modest pain management. So go forth and self-medicate and get some sleep.

rockygrace said...

Thanks, bridgett!

listie said...

what Bridgett said

I hope you get some relief soon

Poetry Echoes said...

Do what I do and take 4 Advil at once.

rockygrace said...

4 Advil at once?! Really?!

Anonymous said...

Yes, a high-end dose for Advil for a 150-lb woman is 800 mg (or 4). When I had huge back spasms and didn't want to take Darvocet (puking probs), the doc greenlighted a 24-hour cycle of 4 at a time, but he warned me that if I got stomach upset, vomited blood, or had black stools, I was to get back in to a doctor because that meant that my stomach was bleeding. That was sufficiently sobering a warning that I doped up for the night and then cold turkeyed the following day. No ill effects, liver still in my body and whatall.