Opinions on anti-inflammatories (esp. for athletes)

[StoneColdGold]

just curious where everybody stands. last football season i took enough anti-inflammatories to keep a herd of elephants pain free. was taking 3g/day of ibuprofen before finally being given a prescription for vioxx, which i took at 100mg/day. i did this for about 20 straight weeks. i knew then that it was not good on the liver. but since then, i've read a lot of studies on other evils of anti-inflammatories, such as the fact that they actually interfere with the healing process. i was determined to go into this season without the use of anti-inflammatories, but my will is fading fast!!! how bad are these drugs? and for other athletes (esp. proffessionals), do you consider the negatives worth the reduction in pain?

 

[TxRugby_8]

I only take them post match or a day or two after a match depending on injury. I did rely on them a lot a year ago when i had a back injury and was forced to play through it.

cheers

 

[Spectre]

Ibuprofen is hard on ya. You mention your will is fading fast, do you have an addiction problem bro, please be truthfull with yourself....

I personally prefer muscle relaxants such as soma. Pop one right after the game, eat big, vit C and stretch out. Have a few beers and sleep.

 

[thate]

just curious where everybody stands. last football season i took enough anti-inflammatories to keep a herd of elephants pain free. was taking 3g/day of ibuprofen before finally being given a prescription for vioxx, which i took at 100mg/day. i did this for about 20 straight weeks. i knew then that it was not good on the liver. but since then, i've read a lot of studies on other evils of anti-inflammatories, such as the fact that they actually interfere with the healing process. i was determined to go into this season without the use of anti-inflammatories, but my will is fading fast!!! how bad are these drugs? and for other athletes (esp. proffessionals), do you consider the negatives worth the reduction in pain?

Anti-inflammatories do more harm then good, they actually prevent the injury from healing. Use them sparingly.

 

[mikes20]

i hurt my shoulder a month or so a go and my dr prescribed naproxen. if i don't take it my shoulder throbs, especially in the gym, they may be bad for you but dammit they keep the pain away and let me lift heavier so even though it may just make my shoulder worse i'm not gonna go light and heal mid cycle so i'll just use them until it's over then recoup

 

[strengthfiend]

I have told this story 3 or 4 times now, but I was told after my kidney's failed that it wasn't the dbol I was taking, but the Advil I was using at 1 gram per day. BTW, the kidney specialist said he would bet his house on that statement. So they can be harsh to certain individuals.

Strengthfiend

 

[Zyglamail]

An occasional anti-inflamatory isnt gonna kill anyone, however, regardless of what your doctors say, inflamation (and the unfortunate pain associated with it) are crucial elements to healing damaged tendons/ligaments. muscle heals pretty fast due to its blood supply etc but those of you you have an injury and rely on anti-inflamatories to work around it are setting yourself up for a BIG fall. tendons/ligaments have a trunover rate of 300-500 days, thats over 1 year for the tissue to replace itself under normal circumstances. These areas are very high in nerve endings but very low in blood flow. Inflamation is a key element in not only increasing blood flow but all the other things that come with it and help heal an injury. Taking anti-unflamatories prevents all this from happening and you sacrifice healing for comfort and often times the injury never does fully heal which means you enter a cycle where you get injured, prevent healing for comfort, are leaft in a weakened state and thus easier to injure again and repeat it over and over. The main reason so many athletes have dibilitating problems as they get older is because they circumvent all their healing over the years and when joints are sloppy due to strained/sprained tendons/ligaments the body has no choice but to fill the gap with bone and then arthitis occures.

 

[fresh]

Personaly I think if you need anti-inflamatories there is an underlying problem so you should address the problem instead of masking it with anti-inflam. this will benefit you in the long run.

-fresh

 

[StoneColdGold]

Personaly I think if you need anti-inflamatories there is an underlying problem so you should address the problem instead of masking it with anti-inflam. this will benefit you in the long run.

-fresh

there is definitely and underlying problem.... i play pro football and my body gets pounded on a daily basis! to be more specific, its not really pain relief per say i'm concerned with. i've played through tons of pain. its decreased perfomance due to inflammation that concerns me.

as for whether or not i have an addiction... hard to say. i definitely felt like i "needed" the stuff when i was using it during the season, but the day the season ended i stopped taking it and haven't taken a single anti-inflammatory since. but camp starts for me in two weeks and the thought of not using anything has started to worry me. maybe i'll just use them during camp (yeah, now i sound like an addict!). or perhaps acetaminophen is the way to go?

 

[Zyglamail]

Acetometophine also has its problems with toxicity etc but can help with pain without decreasing inflamation and its associated healing.