Combining Paracetamol And Ibuprofen.. Dosage?

[DENZIL88]

A pharmacist told me painkillers work best by combining Paracetamol and Ibuprofen for back pain. So can I take 6 Ibuprofen in 24 hours AND 6 Paracetamol in the same 24 hour period? Thanks.

[jno]

depending on the size of the the pills. Take a couple every four hours.

[anneasquith]

read the packaging.

[anneasquith]

what's the size of the pills got to do with it ?

[RATTER15]

Read the packets and the dosage, generally mixing Paracetamol with Ibuprofen is not a problem in itself.

[RATTER15]

I think jno is referring to the dosage rather than the size lol

[Peter Pedant]

Yes he is right - Both and....
and not instead of ....

Paracetamol I am prettys sure for a normal 70kg man you can take 6 g
that would be twelve of 500mg. Take regularly and not when you are in pain.

Ibuprofen six 200 mg tabs
see: http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/Headache/~/media/SATFiles/MedsForPain-March2012/IbuprofenFactsheetMarch2012.ashx

and I hope you get better - results are better if you take regularly

[237SJ]

You shouldn`t take more than 4 x 500mg paracetamol in 24 hours (unless instructed by a medical professional). It`s OK to mix with Ibuprofen as they are different drugs.

[anneasquith]

12 of 500mg in 24 hours ?

[237SJ]

Sorry meant 2 x 500mg 4 times a day - in other words, no more than 8 tablets a day.

[Peter Pedant]

Yes Anne - that is 6 g innit ?

It is a little known fact that the loading dose of paracetamol is 30 mg/kg which is 2.1 g for a 70 kg man ( 4 x 500mg )
see: http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/232689/paeds_in_adult_ed.pdf -
and the dosage suggested by the pharmacist doesnt come anywhere near that.

[Peter Pedant]

Oh come on scriven he's done that
and very naturally want a free second opinion....

[DENZIL88]

Thanks for your replies. Ibuprofen is wearing off after 1.5 hours of taking.. so am going to try 1 Ibuprofen then 1 hour later 1 Paracetamol...to try and layer the effect of painkillers the Packets say max 6 Ibuprofen and 8 500g Paracetamol in 24 hours. Just wanted to check. Thanks

[anneasquith]

'' a free second opinion '' pharmacist advice is free as is the packaging, hope your pain subsides soon. DENZIL.

[RATTER15]

Scrivens, the dosing you describe is a very normal dose. Mixing paracetamol with ibuprofen is not a problem as they both work in totally different ways.

[237SJ]

The normal dose of paracetamol is 1000mg. My Mum was given paracetamol by the pain control nurse and she was told (also by the doctors) that you have to get your dosage of paracetamol up because it takes a while to build up in the system. After that, you are just "topping up" so I would think 2 tablets (of 500mg) would be better than 1.

[DENZIL88]

OK Thank you.

[pixie373]

You can take 8 paracetamol and 6 ibuprofen in 24 hours. They work best by taking paracetamol, then ibuprofen a couple of hours later. There is no problem taking them at the same time, it's just more effective if you spread them out.

[DENZIL88]

Thanks