Ibuprofen or paracetamol

Aleve (naproxin sodium) is the only OTC painkiller that reliably works for me. So first I take one, and if that doesn’t work after an hour or so, I take another and a nap.

this is the only thing i found that knocks out a persistent migraine. 1 asprin 1 tylenol 1 aleve and a cup of coffee. about a half hour later the pain and nausea finally stop.

Whichever is closest.

Acetaminophen kills your liver. Ibuprofen melts the glue holding your guts together.

What matters right now is your headache.

95% of the time, a headache for me means I’m dehydrated. So I drink water + electrolyte drops.

It depends on the cause, and your own biology.

Aspirin reduces pain signals but also reduces blood clotting, If your headache is from vasculature issues in and around your brain it’s extra insurance.

Acetaminophen just reduces pain signals in the nervous system. It doesn’t have any secondary advantageous effects but it is easier on your stomach.

Ibuprofen reduces pain signals and also as an anti-inflammatory. So if your headache is caused from minor swelling in the head it’s the obvious choice.

I feel like at least in the US most people tend to overtake ibuprofen when they’d probably be better suited with Tylenol or aspirin.

I’ll go plain old paracetamol which works for me most of the time. If that fails then ibuprofen would be my next choice.

Excedrin = Aspirin + Tylenol + Caffeine

Ibuprofen if I’m at work, but at home I usually take a short nap and have some coffee after, which works better for me.

Not OTC: water and exercise. But hey, keep searching for the “easy” way out.

I just deal with it unless it’s a migraine.

Aspirin because I used to run ultras where they sometimes ban NSAIDs because it can cause acute kidney injury in those kinds of scenarios (rhabdomyolysis) but ibuprofin is the worst of the two.

And I don’t fuck around with tylenol ever because the effective dose is pretty damn close to a toxic dose and if you drink alcohol forget about it altogether.

But NSAIDs also inhibit bone remodeling so I tend to just avoid them altogether, running and all. Some cells in/on your bones (osteoblasts) rely on inflammation as a cue to shit out new bone, so reducing inflammation kinda messes with that

I’m in too much chronic spinal pain to register a headache. I don’t know why, but the question made me realize I haven’t had a headache in a decade since my broken neck and back. I get to a point where I can’t focus on anything. The anti inflammatory Tylenol Arthritis formula is the most effective by a considerable margin. I don’t have arthritis and am 40. I’ve been on most available pain meds over the last decade, and honestly this one beats most others for me. I used to have headaches, my issues are different but my family basically switched to the same thing too after trying it.