Interesting News Item On Radio 4 Today Programme.

[HansUrbancka]

It appears that there is a health risk to older folk who take Ibuprofen :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37504354

Hans.

[anneasquith]

Interesting........that's squad out of a job !!!!

[Mamyalynne]

It's common sense to take care with painkillers especially if you have other complaints on top, my GP won't give me Diclofenac any more and is very cautious when it comes to Ibuprofen - Naproxen doesn't suit me so I use what does (Cocodamol) but only sparingly.

[frugalfred]

Every drug has side effects. It's a matter of weighing benefit against risk, I think.

[Sqad]

Mamy's post sums it up beautifully.
If you are in good health and need a painkiller for perhaps a muscle strain, backache or headache, then Nsaids are the answer.

If you need long term painkillers then you need to weigh up the alleged dangers of Nsaids with the benefit of pain relief.

[wolf63]

We are all going to die regardless of what we do. I would rather die a little earlier having taken painkillers for my sore bits than live longer in pain.

Considering some of the other drugs that I take (one of which I have no choice but to take) painkillers seem pretty benign.
:-)

[Peter Pedant]

News for a change made it clear that this effect did not affect under 65s. a sort of first for the tree-huggers at the Beeb - to give a reasoned opinion in medicine

Ibuprofen and earlier versions ( butazolidin will chime with sqad ) have been associated with sodium retention and lots of that means heart failure.
I dont remember being told ibuprofen didnt cause sodium retention
I recollect being told it caused less - so less side affects

wasnt their sample ten million ? if you need ten million to find something then the effect ( difference ) is gonna be pretty small ( the least difference it will detect is .002% )

I turned down chemotherapy because difference was between 2-5% survival in five years - having been given 50% chance of surviving 5 years and said the difference is piffle

There was a time before my hip replacement when I couldnt get out of bed in the morning without 2g paracetamol and 200 ibuprofen .....