Pharmacist explains how paracetamol and ibuprofen work
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Continuous use of painkillers has an increasing risk of side effects.
Medical prescriptions of the drug often have a higher dosage than over-the-counter versions and care should be taken to follow the instructions of your doctor.
Certain side effects can appear that mean you should stop taking the medication and seek medical help.
Healthcare company Johnson and Johnson warns that patients should be aware of anaphylactoid reactions.
This includes difficulty breathing, which may be characterised by a wheezing or rattling noise.
Other anaphylactoid reactions include swelling of the face or throat.
These types of respiratory side effects are very rare, occurring less than 0.01 percent of the time.
It can also cause gastrointestinal side effects such as diarrhea and pooping blood.
There are other side effects you may experience that mean you should immediately stop taking ibuprofen and seek medical help.
Examples include vomiting blood and your skin turning yellow.
This may not necessarily be caused by the medication, but may be the result of the medication interacting with other health complications.
Skin and eyes turning yellow is a distinctive symptom of liver failure.
In early 2020 it was speculated that ibuprofen could worsen Covid symptoms.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that this is unsupported by the research.
Research has examined the effect of multiple similar drugs, including ibuprofen and aspirin on both adults and children.
In a scientific briefing the WHO said: “At present there is no evidence of severe adverse events, acute health care utilization, long-term survival, or quality of life in patients with COVID-19, as a result of the use of NSAIDs.”
A 2009 review of ibuprofen research in the journal inflammopharmacology concluded that ibuprofen has little risk of producing any of the severe side effects when taken at over the counter doses.
The drug remains in the bloodstream for a short time before being expelled.
This limits the ability for it to impact internal organs.
The category of drugs that ibuprofen belongs to is called NSAIDs.
This stands for Non-Steroid Anti-Inflammatory Drugs.
It works by inhibiting the action of two common enzymes in the inflammatory response.
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