Saturday, January 26, 2008

Pain Medication Consultation

I had a consult with Dr. Daniel Sewell here in Auburn yesterday. One of the things we talked about my use of ibuprofen and Tylenol PM for pain control.

Tylenol PM is acetaminophen and diphenhydramine together in one easy to swallow pill. It is like taking straight Tylenol for the pain and Benadryl as a sleep aid. I like the fact that I get a full nights sleep after taking one Tylenol PM two hours before bed but don't care for the grogginess the following morning. Dr. Sewell suggested simply taking Tylenol at night and skipping the sleeping pill part, see how that works for me. He also suggested trying Alleve (Naproxin, another NSAID like ibuprofen) as a Tylenol replacement evenings.

Reminded me to always eat something when taking ibuprofen. The frequency and dosage I am using is nothing to worry about, it is very low (3 or 4 200 mg pills per week).

The reason to use a couple of different pain relief medications is to give the body a break/rest buy using different mechanism (not over doing one metabolic process).

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