Ibuprofen

Ibuprofen Pills2

Have you ever considered what you put into your body every time you get a headache or a migraine? Probably not. Many of us just pop a painkiller whether that is Aspirin, Tylenol, Aleve, Advil^{3, 7} and the list could go on.  Most commonly we just use plain and simple Advil because that’s what we all tend to keep stocked in our medicine cabinets and don’t think about it until we get those nasty headaches, migraines, aches and pains.

The majority of the painkillers we use, other than Tylenol fall within a class of drugs called Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)⁵, simply meaning drugs that reduce fevers, pain, and inflammation^{3, 6}. Ibuprofen, also known as Advil and Motrin is a drug within this class and is one of the most commonly used over the counter NSAIDs³.

Now that you know what Ibuprofen is, have you ever wondered how it magically rids you of all those nasty aches and pains? Once again, probably not. We already said Ibuprofen is a drug that reduces fevers, pain and inflammation, but how? Ibuprofen works by stopping the activity of an enzyme known as COX-2, a body helper, that makes prostaglandins, which cause pain, fever, inflammation and swelling^{3, 6}. However, Ibuprofen can stop the activity of COX-2’s familial enzyme COX-1 and it is thought that this process is what causes all those unwanted side effects of Ibuprofen^{3, 6}.

Most of us do not get much of any side effects from taking what we thought was such a simple, magical pain cure. However others do get side effects such as nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and feeling extra tired or sleepy^{1, 4}. You should be careful when taking this drug, as well as any other, Ibuprofen when used too much or too often can cause heart attacks, seizures, kidney failure and coma^{1, 4}. Don’t worry though! Those last side effects are all very rare!

References:

¹Aronson, J.K. Meyer’s Side Effects of Drugs; Elsevier, 2006; pp1710-1712

²Equate Ibupofen Pills and Meijer Acetaminopen Caplets. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Equate_Ibuprofen_Pills_and_Meijer_Aceteminophen_Caplets.JPG  (accessed November 6, 2016)

³Ibuprofen. DrugBank. http://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB01050 (accessed October 20, 2016)

 ⁴Ibuprofen. Encyclopedia of Toxicology [Online]; Biomedical Sciences, September 2014. http://library.mtroyal.ca:2070/science/article/pii/B9780123864543007399 (accessed October 20, 2016)

⁵Ibuprofen. TOXNET. https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search2/f?./temp/~NHpJj6:3 (accessed October 20, 2016) 

⁶Lagowski, J. J. Chemistry: foundations and applications; Macmillan Reference USA: New York, 2004; Vol. 2; pp 213-214

⁷Medical Guide for Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs). http://www.fda.gov/downloads/drugs/drugsafety/ucm089162.pdf (accessed October 25, 2016)