To ask what's the best OTC painkiller?

[evilharpy]

I have tendonitis in my wrist and it's excruciating. I'm doubling up on paracetamol and ibuprofen but it's barely taking the edge off and I can't get a GP appointment till well into next week although I'm not sure what they'd do anyway. It's bad enough that I can't really drive.

Is there anything else I could buy in the pharmacy that would make it a bit less miserable over the weekend? I don't get on very well with cocodamol.

Cocodamol. Combination of codeine and paracetamol. I think you can buy 8/500 over the counter. Be careful though as you can’t take paracetamol with this as well and can sometimes cause severe constipation!

Asda Pharmacy sell 400mg Ibuprofen over the counter, as opposed to the 200mg that you can buy off the shelf. May be worth a try?

Whatelsecouldibecalled As I said, I don't get on with cocodamol.

Lotts stupid question but is that any different to just doubling up on 200mg tablets?

Could you go to walk in centre? Pain that is so bad paracetamol plus ibuprofen won’t help is bad pain! I think you need medical advice to make sure nothing else like infection.

Ibuprofen lysine is better absorbed and faster acting than standard ibuprofen.

Voltarol gel used to be otc - ibuprofen gel is definitely otc.

I’d speak to the pharmacist for advice

Luna the walk in centre involves driving unfortunately! I live in the sticks.

Ibuprofen lysine is really good - you don't need a prescription. Would deep heat or similar help too?

Can you phone NHS for advice? Could someone take you? If you are in that much pain and unable to drive because of it you should get checked out - May be sprain but not worth risk ( I am a GP but not in uk]

I never thought of deep heat.

I did go to MIU last week Luna as it was so bad I thought it might be broken. They seemed fairly confident it wasn’t bone related.

I went through all of the OTC medications recently, before GP prescribed something stronger.

I would say the Nurofen Plus or Boots Ibuprofen and Codeine 200mg, they both have the highest amount of codeine out of the OTCs. Stagger with paracetamol, which is really underrated as a painkiller imo, and is used in palliative care.

Take the maximum dose of Ibuprofen - 400mg three times day, take it after food.

If you have stomach problems, asthma or take any other medication, speak to a pharmacist first.

Immobilise it

Feminax ultra contains naproxen and is the only thing that shifts my period pain - any use?

Paramol. Which is paracetamol and dihydrocodeine is the strongest otc painkiller available as far as I know. I use it and don't get the constipation I used to get with co codamol.

And you are ok to take ibuprofen at the same time.

I thought they stopped selling naproxen otc. Feminax could be a good shout.

It is immobilised in a splint.

No codeine, it causes me all sorts of problems besides constipation.

Paracetamol and ibuprofen can be taken together - with my tendonitis I took 2 paracetamol then 2 hours later ibuprofen, 2 hours later paracetamol. You should only take ibuprofen for 2 weeks though.

What I swear by better than any painkiller is hot and cold. A microwaveable wheat bag on it. I used to ice at night (those ice packs that are supposed to fasten around a bottle of wine are useful). I believe current understanding is that ice isn't really helpful, and heat is. Play around with what works for you.

Aspirin?

Feminax ultra looks to have naproxen.

CBD oil.

Oops sorry didn’t read he post properly clearly!

First of all, sympathies - pain that can't be managed is so, so horrible. Agree with the hot and cold advice. Also, be careful if you are applying Voltarol gel - you need to reduce your dose of ibuprofen to allow for it.

You might do better with soluble co-codamol than with tablets - faster absorption. Solpadeine Max is AFAIK the strongest OTC one - it has 12mg codeine per tablet.

Other things you could consider, but if you live in the sticks it could be tricky: a TENS machine (you might know someone who has one from a pregnancy), capsaicin cream (needs a prescription, don't use it with heat pads), and you can get sort of big gel plasters which are impregnated with local anaesthetic - can't remember what they're called. I got them and the cream from a pain management clinic, but my GP has subsequently prescribed them, so they are definitely available.

Voltarol gel, it has diclofenac in which is a really strong anti inflammatory. I've got nerve damage in my leg and slathering voltarol gel on it works better than my 30/500 cocodamol sometimes.

So I think that, and then get the feminax ultra for the naproxen. Does your GP not have a drop in surgery for emergencies?

I find Anadin is the only thing that will shift my bad headaches so might be worth a go. It’s paracetamol and aspirin together, unfortunately nobody seems to do a generic version of it but it’s excellent for me.

If you can't take codeine based painkillers then you're going to be limited in the UK to ibuprofen, paracetamol or aspirin. Can you really not get an out of hours GP appointment?

Paramol iirc contains a laxative agent along with the paracetamol and dihydrocodeine so shouldn't cause problems with constipation. As always though it shouldn't be used for more than 3 days without doctor supervision.