I have been having some dental pain. I need to get a wisdom tooth removed, but unfortunately it is 2 weeks until I can get into the oral surgeon to get it done. Anyway, I have been having quite a bit of pain for the past 2 days. I have begun to take OTC Ibuprofen and it is working well for my pain. My question is this...when I look on the OTC Ibuprofen bottle, it says not to take more than 1,200mg in a 24 hr. period. When I look up Ibuprofen in my drug book (2005 Suanders) it states that the maximum dose of Ibuprofen is 3,200mg in a 24 hour period, then underneath that it states that for OTC use, max. is 1,600mg in 24 hours. My question is this...isn't OTC and prescription Ibuprofen the same thing?? There's not a difference that I've ever learned about..? So...I am thinking that it is safe for me to take up to 3,200mg Ibuprofen/24hours, even though it is the OTC formulation and not Rx. For the past 2 days, I have been taking 800mg at a time every 6 hours 3-4 times a day. So...does anyone know why this would not be safe, and if there are any differences in the OTC vs. Rx med? Thanks for your help!
Recently I did some work with dialysis and amazing how many HD patients are there because of their overuse of Ibuprofen...so its good to remember the warnings on the label are there for a reason.
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
I use benedryl with varying success for my migraines.Sometimes it's just the trick. But dayum it makes me sooooooooooooooooo sleepy.