long-ish term pain relief

Former Member

hello.

those of you not on my LJ list will have missed the ongoing wisdom tooth saga. but i won't bore you with it. suffice to say it hurts like a bitch and the waiting list is 18 months to 2 years. so i'm stuck with a painful tooth for a long time, unless i can pull £1000 out of my ass. :chin:

annnnnnyway, i know when you take paracetamol everyday for longer than about 3 days, you get a rebound headache, and feel even shitter. but is the same true for normal dose ibuprofen? could i quite happily take it everyday for, say, a week with no ill effects?

i'm off on holiday next week, and don't want it to be ruined by my chuffing tooth.

thanking you drug experts.

Former Member

You are advised that you can take ibuprofen for ten days safely without consulting a GP. This recommendation is of course so that any underlying pain can be treated more effectively, but since you know what is causing your pain this may not apply to you.

Give NHS Direct a call if you're really unsure. 0845 46 47.

Former Member

Paracetamol are crap tbh. Try some Co-Codamol. Their about the strogest pain killer you can get from over the counter. After that it's liquid Morphine.

Former Member

Originally posted by Felix Da Housecat
Paracetamol are crap tbh. Try some Co-Codamol. Their about the strogest pain killer you can get from over the counter. After that it's liquid Morphine.

Thats what I'm on at the moment for my back it seems nice..

or if you could get hold of the pain killer they give pregnent women.. Pent***** I cant remember the full name of spelling.. but it seem to work fucking well:)

Seriously Co codamol has worked wonders but I don't know if you can get it over the counter.

anyway have fun

Former Member

i don't need it to be any stronger, i just need something that's safe to take for a week. don't want my stomach to explode or anything

i very rarely take painkillers, so usually a paracetamol does the trick. if it's really bad i take two. i'm quite small, so anything too strong just knocks me out.

Former Member

You can safely take 8 paracetamol a day for the rest of your life according to one of the GPs I work for, as long as you're using it to treat pain, rather than just taking them for no reason at all.

Former Member

im on 200mg of ibuprofen 3 times a day for 10 days

i think its ibuprofen they advise some people to take everyday as it thins the blood or something i dunno. dont quote me on that

but you should be fine on your holiday taking it everyday

Former Member

Originally posted by BumbleBee
You can safely take 8 paracetamol a day for the rest of your life according to one of the GPs I work for, as long as you're using it to treat pain, rather than just taking them for no reason at all.

yeah but if you keep taking a drug doesn't the effect stop working and the you need higher doeses to keep it effective?

I'm not sure..

Former Member

Originally posted by Hellfire

or if you could get hold of the pain killer they give pregnent women.. Pent***** I cant remember the full name of spelling..

Do you mean pethadene?

and co-codamol! Its my saviour lol, u can buy it over the counter.

Former Member

Originally posted by *TiNK*
Do you mean pethadene?

Ooo yeah:) I loved that stuff..

Former Member

I know someone who has really bad back trouble and now there's nothing else they can do for him and so he takes up to 9 Ibuprofen a day.. he still seems to be ok.

Former Member

Kaff, you can buy something called Difflam Oral Rinse over the counter for pain in the mouth. It's slightly expensive but you only need a little so it lasts quite a while. You can use it in conjunction with oral analgesics. It was the only thing that kept me sane when I had to wait ten days for an appointment to have my painful, cracked wisdom tooth extracted. Before I found out about this stuff I was on the phone crying and begging them to fit me in; afterwards I sat the ten days out relatively easily.

Former Member

Can you get it in a spray? I'm pretty sure i was prescribed this a few years ago when my wisdom teeth were coming through but was in a spray form.I found that it did help quite loads and made it less inflamed. Hope you get it sorted Kaffrin.

Former Member

Originally posted by 1andonly
Can you get it in a spray? I'm pretty sure i was prescribed this a few years ago when my wisdom teeth were coming through but was in a spray form.I found that it did help quite loads and made it less inflamed. Hope you get it sorted Kaffrin.

I think you can get it in a spray, designed for sore throats. I'm sure either way would work, I just had the rinse cause I found it easier to get some in my mouth and hold it on the affected area. It doesn't say anything on the bottle about teeth, and the chemist I got it from tried to tell me you couldn't use it for that, but OH YES! You can. I couldn't have got through those 10 days without it.

Its green and aniseed flavour btw.

Former Member

thanks for your help guys! i'll probably have to wait til monday now to get to a chemist, but i'll see if i can find that stuff!

Former Member

Hi Kaffrin,

I hope this isn't too late, but I thought that seeing as I do pharmacology at university I might be able to help...


First off, the pain from a wisdom tooth is likely to be due to inflammation, and so an anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen would help. Ibuprofen can be taken in combination with paracetamol (although if you're asthmatic you shouldn't take ibuprofen, aspirin, or any other drugs in the NSAID class (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories).

If you see your doctor, he should be able to prescribe stronger, more effective tablets. Morphine is unlikely as it will make you drowsy, but high strength co-codamol is good.

However, perhaps your best bet would be co-proxamol. This is a mixture of paracetamol and a morpine-like drug called dextropropoxyphene, which is (apparently ) very effective.

However, different things work best for different people, and you should always consult with your doctor if you're taking anything other than the usual paracetamol or ibuprofen.

I hope this helps, and I hope you recover soon!

Former Member

Originally posted by 1andonly
Can you get it in a spray?

Yeah the doc gave me it in a spray years ago.

Former Member

A spray with benzocaine in it would be very effective, they are sold for the throat when you have infections but they will work just as well on your gums.