Can I take ibuprofen and paracetamol every evening?

[twiglet123]

I carry a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders and clench my jaw all day. This results in bad neck/shoulder pain every evening. I’ve had physio and it was great during the course of sessions but as soon as I stop the pain comes back. I’ve been taking 2 ibuprofen/2 paracetamol with my evening meal and it really helps. But is it OK to keep doing this?

Advice is always to 'consult your doctor if symptoms persist'.
They are there for temporary pain relief, surely it is better to deal with what is causing the pain in the first place than try to permanently mask it ?

I would talk to your dr if you can. There may well be something better. I don't think it will do you any harm if you are otherwise healthy but there is probably something better for you - AND it may stop working,

it's not ideal.
I guess you have already tried heat/cold/streches?

Yep - tried heat and do lots of stretches after my HIIT workouts. Heat is good it’s just I can’t get comfortable with a wheat pack round my neck!

theres no issues taking both short term at the same time
look into more physio as the pain isnt obviously gone and try and figure out what the triggers are

Probably won't do you any harm in the short term but long term you need to sort the stress out because it's probably doing your general health no good.

Nah don’t do it. Long term ibuprofen can cause issues and won’t fix your jaw issues. You need to look into other forms of relief, mouth guards, stress relief etc. Personally I have botox

It won't kill you nit you need to find the reason. I had horrendous neck pain daily until I forked out £70 for a decent pillow. Life changing.

Have you tried a night guard? It doesn't only have to be worn in the evening by the way.

I'd lay off the Hiit training for a while.

Regular use of ibuprofen gives you stomach ulcers. Fact.

Nurse here - we advise against long term ibuprofen use. And when I say long term I mean more that 1-2weeks consistently.
It wrecks havoc with stomach lining and you can
run into problems with gastric ulcers etc.
Paracetamol is no problem, as long as you are not taking over the recommended dose.
Have you tried alternative methods like heat patches? They can be quite effective for pain.

Seek advice from a doctor if it is an ongoing problem though

Do you take them all at once? My understanding has always been that you can take them alternately with a 2 hour gap. So if you needed longer-term pain relief, say for toothache, you could take each drug alternately every 2 hours, thus topping up the pain relief, but also keeping the recommended 4hrs between each dose of paracetamol or ibuprofen. Maybe you don't have to have the gap, if you're only having one dose a night, but I would check with a pharmacy.

@HunkyPunk

Do you take them all at once? My understanding has always been that you can take them alternately with a 2 hour gap. So if you needed longer-term pain relief, say for toothache, you could take each drug alternately every 2 hours, thus topping up the pain relief, but also keeping the recommended 4hrs between each dose of paracetamol or ibuprofen. Maybe you don't have to have the gap, if you're only having one dose a night, but I would check with a pharmacy.

you cna take them at the same time as long as each dose is 4hrs apart but for some pain its better that its seperated and 2 hours each typeof pain killer

Yes, do listen to the above posters re the side effects!

I took ibuprofen (for TMD also) for 14 days straight and that was enough time for me to get awful reflux. Luckily I didn’t get a stomach ulcer.

I think if you need ibuprofen, buy the gel instead and apply it directly to the areas. But you do still get the same side effects with the gel so long term, see your dentist/gp and look into other options.