Is it possible to suddenly develop an allergy to ibuprofen?

I don’t think ibuprofen would cause the swelling, but may be responsible for the rash. But I’m not a doctor.

Shi?

yes, you can have a reaction to it after taking it for many times, same with other meds. I was able to take an antibiotic for years and then all of a sudden I was allergic to it.

thanks for your responses! very weird…

You might find this site informative

Be carefull. If your tongue swelled it can be more dangerous and possibly life threatening in the future. If your throat closes from the swelling, you may not be able to breathe.

It seems that once a person has an allergic reaction to a drug or other substance, each episode gets a little worse, so maybe you should avoid it altogether, but talk to your doctor first.

Woah man, you need to slow your roll.

You should never take acetaminophen (ibuprofen) in combination with drinking. You’ll die before you get to be a professional alcoholic at this rate. Several frat boy deaths a year are because of liver failure (cased by the combination of alcohol and acetaminophen)

You may also be allergic to ibuprophen but man seriously, no more mixing.

@bodyhead Great post!!

I had to do some thing in college about people dying because of drinking.

The drinking related deaths where usually where people would wake up early in the morning after drinking and take a pain reliever (Tylenol usually but anything with acetaminophen as the active ingredient will work) then they’d be dead an hour later because their livers shut down.

Moral: It wasn’t even while they were drinking. It was the morning after.

If you google ‘drinking’ and ‘acetaminophen’ you’ll get tons of links to choose from.

@bodyhead ibuprofen and acetaminophen are 2 different drugs.

I don’t know what Americans problem is with a acetaminophen but taken according to the manufacturers guidelines it is perfectly safe. Much safer than ibuprofen.

hah! You’re right ibuprofen and acetaminophen are two different drugs. I still say tough out the hangover. You earned it.

Thanks for the correction Lightlyseared. I don’t usually take ibuprofen and assumed (wrongly) that acetaminophen was the active ingredient in it.

I guess we drink too much over here. We don’t consume three or less alcoholic beverages a day.

@Lightlyseared A friend of my daughter’s had fibromyalgia, and took acetaminophen for the pain caused by it. She recently died from kidney and liver failure from taking it long term.
Here is her myspace where her sister in law tells the story.

I think a good rule of thumb here is to remember that just because something can be bought over the counter, it doesn’t mean it is completely safe. Directions and warnings should be taken seriously.

This is all very scary! I take tons of ibuprofen for various sports related ailments and the occasional hangover. When I turned 21 my nightly ritual after a night of drinking was to drink a huge water bottle and take 3 ibuprofen. Worked like a charm. or so I thought….. so which one is more dangerous—acetaminophen or ibuprofen?

Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is the one that can cause liver related side effects when combined with alcohol—it can stay in your system for as long as five days, so it should not be taken by people that drink regularly.

Ibuprofen (Advil) is a different class of drug (NSAID) so it works on the body differently. It does not have the same risk of liver damage/failure when combined with alcohol, but does have its own risks.

Ibuprofen can cause gastric ulcers and possibly perforate your stomach. You should always take it with food and should not take it for more than a couple of days unless instructed otherwise by your doctor. If they prescribe it long term they will also prescribe something to protect your stomach.

If you have alcoholic liver disease and your liver is so screwed you are waiting for a transplant Tylenol is still safe to take while ibuprofen is not.

The danger with Tylenol is their is only a small margin between safe and dangerous and many medictions contain it making it possible to overdose by accident. For example vicodin contains acetaminophen as do many cold and flu remedies and migraine tablets.

It’s half life is 1–4 hours so it should not stay in your body for 5 days.

@Lightlyseared did you read my post above????

@scamp. Lightlyseared is right. Your daughter’s friend likely first developed liver failure, which then led to kidney failure. Tylenol on its own is not a known cause of kidney failure. As far as bodyhead’s assertions regarding alcohol and tylenol, I agree, in principle. However, it is hyperbole to suggest that someone who drank would die within one hour of taking tylenol. Death from acetominophen induced liver failure takes days to weeks, not 1 hour.

@shi I understand that, but when he says If you have alcoholic liver disease and your liver is so screwed you are waiting for a transplant Tylenol is still safe I want to make sure no one misunderstands his post and thinks it’s perfectly safe and disregards the warnings.

I would rather err on the side of caution where someone’s live may be on the line, know what I mean??

That girl’s story is heartbreaking, and I’d hate for it to happen to anyone else.

True. But, lightly is absolutely correct. I worked on the liver transplant service at a major hospital, and they prefer tylenol to morphine (and other opioids) because the stronger pain meds are broken down by the liver, and with malfunctioning livers, can last for a long time. Then, you see patients come in confused and sleepy, and you think they are about to die, but in fact, they just took some morphine. Two grams of tylenol per day (4 extra strength tablets) is considered safe, even for people with liver disease.

I’m sorry, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on this one. I don’t think poor Mandi’s family would ever think of Tylenol as being safe. She died, and she had no prior hepatic or renal prolems.

@scamp. I’m sorry about Mandi, but, not knowing the circumstances, it is hard to know what happened. Maybe she took more than 8 tablets in one day owing to severe pain? Maybe she had a rare condition that prevented metabolism of even small amounts of tylenol? Maybe she was taking other medicines in combination? Or, maybe she had an undiagnosed liver problem that was unmasked by taking the tylenol? Hard to say.

The point I and lightly are trying to make is that, in general, tylenol is completely safe, and probably more safe than ibuprofen. That is all.

True, but what I am trying to say is that people should be carefull with any medication, and not take the fact that is is OTC lightly, so they heed the warnings. The details of Mandi’s death are posted on her myspace in the link above.

I would hate to think that some naive person after reading this thread would think.. hmm, a doctor said it’s “completely safe”, so I can take as much as I want and be ok. That’s all.

I truly respect you and your opinion shi, but we never know who will read this, so I feel that I have to argue this point. I found a study that you will probably understand more than I on this very subject. Of course, your opinion will hold much more weight than mine because you have the medical degree. I Just want people to use caution when taking any medication, OTC or not. Ok rant over.