For a long day at the parks: Motrin vs. Aleve

[katsmeow07]

I hear a lot of posts about taking Ibuprophin every 6 hours but no one has mentioned Aleve (every 12 hours sounds more reasonable to me). Is it because the Ibu works better??

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

I think it's based on what works best for the individual. Different people have different reactions to medicines. For some, Ibuprofen (Motrin) works better, for some Naproxen (Aleve) works better. Myself, I've found naproxen to be more effective, but my wife prefers ibuprofen.

 

[WedgieSock]

Question: why would take either for a long day the park

Genuine question - I take little to no medicine ever so just curious.

 

[hsmamato2]

Question: why would take either for a long day the park

Genuine question - I take little to no medicine ever so just curious.

yes.....

 

[Burnedout]

Eh, most people don't spend 14 hours a day in the sun, on their feet, eating salty trash foods, and in noisy crowds. I will oftentimes get a headache, or my ankles will swell a bit, etc. running in the gym is nothing like a long park day. And I have a quiet job. The noise bothers me by the end if the day.

I can't imagine why someone wouldn't think that some prevention of inflammation would be unusual?

Op, I like an ibuprofen and a Tylenol. This has been shown to be as effective as some narcotics in pain control. Aleve is nice for my arthritis, but doesn't help with headaches IMO.

 

[reiella]

Question: why would take either for a long day the park

Genuine question - I take little to no medicine ever so just curious.

Take them in case you need them.

Of course, as others mentioned, a big part of it depends on the person and type of pain.

Some folks have routine joint pain such that they know a long day on their feet in a different climate/weather area will aggravate them.

Some folks know that they'll be surrounded by little kids and will inevitably have a headache .

 

[WedgieSock]

Eh, most people don't spend 14 hours a day in the sun, on their feet, eating salty trash foods, and in noisy crowds. I will oftentimes get a headache, or my ankles will swell a bit, etc. running in the gym is nothing like a long park day. And I have a quiet job. The noise bothers me by the end if the day.

I can't imagine why someone wouldn't think that some prevention of inflammation would be unusual?

Op, I like an ibuprofen and a Tylenol. This has been shown to be as effective as some narcotics in pain control. Aleve is nice for my arthritis, but doesn't help with headaches IMO.

I do not think prevention is unusual I was just curious as to the link between long day/which meds as opposed to short day/which meds.

I asked because I usually spend 14hrs plus in a park also and was wondering if I was missing something. Yes, we have painkillers on us in case of a killer headache etc. But I do not use medicine as a preventive, I use water, fruit, herbs or good old-fashioned rest Sorry for asking

 

[DebbieB]

Aleve works better for me than motrin. My gyn prescribed it for cramps years ago and it was a godsend.

I do take it before leaving for the parks because my legs will start hurting from walking so much. I'm 52 and water, fruit, herbs and rest don't work.

 

[Burnedout]

Lol. No kidding.

I only drink water. We always eat fruit and veggies, that is kind of funny. I do have insomnia but nothing, even herbs has ever helped that. It is what it is. We are at the the y working out about 3 days a week, I've ridden 1000 miles this year, and ran the 5k yesterday in a reasonable amount of time.

None of these things cure a long day in the parks with noisy kids, standing for hours (I move much better than stand stillish) and being in the activity all day.

Op, an exception migraine works after the fact too. The caffeine helps. When I was pregnant I had an injury and the best option to help the pain per my gyn was increased caffeine.

 

[katsmeow07]

Jeez, some people can be harsh!! I didn't think I had to go on and explain my situation, I thought for sure there were many people who are older and have arthritis, or face knee surgery as I do, who would understand walking and standing for a long time will cause pain and swelling. I love kids, so headache is not the problem.

Thanks to the poster who said to take Tylenol and Ibuprofin, I remember having to do that after having a root canal years ago, and it did work.

 

[atp]

Jeez, some people can be harsh!! I didn't think I had to go on and explain my situation, I thought for sure there were many people who are older and have arthritis, or face knee surgery as I do, who would understand walking and standing for a long time will cause pain and swelling. I love kids, so headache is not the problem.

Thanks to the poster who said to take Tylenol and Ibuprofin, I remember having to do that after having a root canal years ago, and it did work.

I was curious too, but not in a mean way. I don't know if most were being harsh, seemed like they were just curious as well.

Mostly, I was curious because my legs and feet hurt badly from all the walking, and I was wondering if there was something I was missing out on to avoid that. I was wondering if maybe that's something everyone does to tour the parks pain free or if there was a special reason for the meds, since it was not specified in the question.

Of course you don't have to explain your situation if you don't want to, but since there was no explanation people will come to different conclusions.

I hope you aren't too upset as I really don't think people were trying to be mean, I'm certainly not trying to.

 

[WedgieSock]

Lol. No kidding.

I only drink water. We always eat fruit and veggies, that is kind of funny. I do have insomnia but nothing, even herbs has ever helped that. It is what it is. We are at the the y working out about 3 days a week, I've ridden 1000 miles this year, and ran the 5k yesterday in a reasonable amount of time.

None of these things cure a long day in the parks with noisy kids, standing for hours (I move much better than stand stillish) and being in the activity all day.

Op, an exception migraine works after the fact too. The caffeine helps. When I was pregnant I had an injury and the best option to help the pain per my gyn was increased caffeine.

With have a range of natural remedies in the UK called "Bach's Remedies" - I haven't been able to find them since living in the US (although, I haven't looked that hard) but when I went through insomnia I found that their "Aspen" remedy worked really well

 

[WedgieSock]

Jeez, some people can be harsh!! I didn't think I had to go on and explain my situation, I thought for sure there were many people who are older and have arthritis, or face knee surgery as I do, who would understand walking and standing for a long time will cause pain and swelling. I love kids, so headache is not the problem.

Thanks to the poster who said to take Tylenol and Ibuprofin, I remember having to do that after having a root canal years ago, and it did work.

I hope you didn't think that of me! As I explained above, I was just curious. In your original post you didn't state if it was something specific so hence my curiosity.

 

[wiigirl]

My personal preference....Aleve...

 

[minnie mum]

Jeez, some people can be harsh!! I didn't think I had to go on and explain my situation, I thought for sure there were many people who are older and have arthritis, or face knee surgery as I do, who would understand walking and standing for a long time will cause pain and swelling. I love kids, so headache is not the problem.

Thanks to the poster who said to take Tylenol and Ibuprofin, I remember having to do that after having a root canal years ago, and it did work.

I hope you didn't think that of me! As I explained above, I was just curious. In your original post you didn't state if it was something specific so hence my curiosity.

It's natural to be curious about this, and there's really no reason that you should have known about it unless:
1. You had seen the recent multipage thread that talked about leg and foot pain after days in the parks OR
2. You have a medical history that requires the routine use of OTC anti inflammatory medications.

Many of us with arthritis (and a few other chronic medical conditions) have taken either ibuprofen or naproxen (Motrin or Aleve) on a regular basis to reduce inflammation and pain. As opposed to taking it occasionally as an acute pain reliever. So for us, taking one or the other of these medications as a preventive measure when at WDW is a no-brainer. I think that most people blessed with good health only think of these meds as a treatment for acute pain- so this is a new approach for them.

As to which med is preferable- it really varies from one person to another. You would have to try them and see which works best for you. I rely on Motrin, since Naproxen upsets my stomach. DH is the reverse. And yes, using one of these meds in combination with Tylenol can be very helpful (both of our doctors, and our chiropractor have recommended this), but only for short periods.

 

[Burnedout]

Good info about the inflammation dosage/use. I have ra and am on naproxen sodium some of the time for chronic pain. It does take more than a singular dose for that issue.

 

[niffer5150]

I find the best combo for me is alternating tylonal and ibuprofen. 4 hours of one, 4 hours of the other. my doc recommended it after I couldn't get relief with just one med of any kind after an injury.

 

[mom2rtk]

Jeez, some people can be harsh!! I didn't think I had to go on and explain my situation, I thought for sure there were many people who are older and have arthritis, or face knee surgery as I do, who would understand walking and standing for a long time will cause pain and swelling. I love kids, so headache is not the problem.

Thanks to the poster who said to take Tylenol and Ibuprofin, I remember having to do that after having a root canal years ago, and it did work.

I used to rep for Tylenol. I had a surgeon tell me that they liked to give post op patients a script for narcotic meds, but asked them to first dose ibuprofen and Tylenol in turns. They are both pain relievers, but work in different ways and are safe to dose concurrently. Ibuprofen works on the site of pain, reducing inflammation, while Tylenol works on the central nervous system interfering with the body's interpretation of pain. Together they are a great 1-2 punch. They said most of their patients never ended up filling their narcotics script.

As I sit her in pain from a pulled neck muscle, I thank you for reminding me of this. Off to add some Tylenol to my prior dose of ibuprofen.

And BTW....... I prefer ibuprofen because it just works better for me. The dosing for Aleve would lend itself better to using Disney, as you don't have to redose as often. But it just doesn't get the job done for me.

I use the ibuprofen for sore feet. It generally is more effective if you take it proactively instead of waiting until your feet are throbbing in agony.

 

[Anonny]

I will take ibuprofen for achey legs at the end of a long day. It never occurred to me to take it before starting out. I'll give it a try!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

This is not related to Disney at all, but I had a pretty bad backache a few years ago and tried Aleve, based the assumption that it was stronger than Advil since you only had to take it once every 12 hours.

It did nothing for me. It did not help my pain in the slightest.