60 years old, my body has taken a beating, 1st back operation was at 23 following a army training accident, then years of sherriff and fire dept. Over the years I would occasionally take low dose of vicodin in the morning, 90 pills would last 4 to 6 months. No more, it has been determine that I am a idiot incapable of deciding for myself what I should but in my body. My doctor told me if he prescribes opiods for more than 90 days he could lose his insurance and trigger an investigation that could result in loss of his medical license and maby a criminal conviction. I cant do a lot of what i used to do. All that OTC stuff doesn't work that well and I am aware of kidney and liver damage.

I used to sneak Voltaren in from Japan but now it's OTC in America, finally. I mostly have knee and shoulder pain and it work somewhat. I take at most 1 ibuprofen a day. I can tell when to lay off if my ears start ringing.

Ibuprofen will kill your gut health and create a downward spiral of bad affects so I try to stay away from most pharmaceuticals and OTC as much as possible.

For pain I use Kratom which works better than opioids for me.

Sigfreund - Your first paragraph is almost exactly what I experience. Shooting extended sessions hurts, as does driving long distances, as do many daily activities. I’m in my early 60’s but I can’t take NSAIDS due to blood thinners. So no Advil, Motrin or Naproxen for me. Most of the time I just deal with the pain, but when it gets too much I take Tylenol. With the other meds I have to take I want to preserve my liver function as much as I can, so I only take the Tylenol when I really need it. For what it is worth, I don’t drink alcohol. Also, my doctor told me that sugar causes inflammation in the body, so I try to limit my consumption of foods and beverages containing refined sugar. I wish you well. You certainly are not alone.

I have Arthritis in the Radial Head of both wrists and the first two joints of both thumbs. As a result there are some motions that are extremely painful (pushups), some that are moderately painful (turning a doorknob of signing my paycheck) and some that don't cause me any pain at all (lifting something doesn't hurt at all if my wrists are straight). At some point I expect I'll need to get some joint replacements. BTW, they can replace nearly every joint in the body except in the spine or neck, the problem is whether your insurance carrier will approve the replacement.

I also have heart disease and that limits my choice of over the counter pain killers. The ONLY daily pain killer approved by my primary Dr. and Cardiologist is Aspirin. I'm permitted a total of 750 mg. per day. Currently I take one 375 mg tablet in the morning.

Another pain killer that is approved by my doctors doesn't come in a pill, it is vigorous exercise. When I got home from today's Skeet shooting I went out on a 4.2 mile run and then took the dog for a 2 mile walk at a 16 minute per mile pace (he's over 13 now so we don't walk as fast as he used to). On the days for scheduled exercise (I'm on an alternating plan) I'll get home from the run and my wrists won't bother me much at all. Some days when my wrists are really bothering me I'll go for a shorter unscheduled run just to get some relief. You gotta love Endorphins.

Does anyone use Aspercreme?
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quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Does anyone use Aspercreme?
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Yes any of the cremes that have 16% menthol help with my aches.

I use Biofreeze for muscle aches. It seems to work the best of any of the various menthol creams I've tried.

Vitamin M (Motrin) before bed for sound sleep with no niggling little aches & pains. Aleve before a match - it's my PED of choice.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

I belong to the Sons of Arthritis, Ibuprofen Chapter. My left knee is arthritic. I take it as needed, which is usually daily.

Occasional ibuprofen, but usually Perform (menthol) for shoulders and sciatic when it kicks up. 67 here.

2 Aleve, daily, for the arthritis in my fingers.

I went from taking Ibuprofen occasionally to frequently this year. I have bad knees and managed to sprain both back to back this year. That meant an increase to one or two 400 mg doses a day 4 hours or more apart, three or four days a week, occasionally more for about 6-7 months.

About 6 weeks ago I had a colonoscopy and they found erosions and inflammation in the ileum or distal end of the small bowel. Doc knew it was NSAIDs on sight. I was stunned as I had no symptoms, and believed I was being reasonably judicious. Apparently, it has become a widespread problem for patients with chronic pain taking NSAIDs, with increased acid resulting in ulcerations and GI bleeding for many. To neutralize the acid, some physicians are recommending the use of Proton Pump Inhibitors like Prilosec together with NSAIDs, but they’re not a panacea as PPIs potentially create their own issues by disrupting beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Advice is to keep doses to the minimum I can tolerate, and limit to three days per week. Damaged tissue cannot heal without breaks from the acidic environment created by NSAISs. I’ve taken exactly 4 Ibuprofen since, but my life is more painful now. Interestingly, Ibuprofen is supposed to be one of the safer NSAIDs. Another recommendation was to alternate with Tylenol, but it does little or nothing for me. A possibility to consider is use of locally applied NSAID gels like Voltaren. Apparently less of that makes its way into your GI system, but not sure how effective it is by comparison, or what kind of side effects regular use of that might have.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jigray3,

A few years back, I had lower back pain and sciatica. A friend loaned me his tens unit. I have to say, a few days using that really helped.

I also used to get wicked painful muscle spasms & cramps in my torso. I had a flair-up at work so bad my work lead took me to the ER as he and folks in the office thought I was having a heart attack. I knew it wasn’t a heart attack because I could see and feel the muscles in my side contract and tense up. When that happened at home, I could just lay on my side in bed for a couple minutes and it would go away like turning off a switch.

Then I started reading about potassium and magnesium deficiency. I have been taking regular potassium and magnesium supplements daily and, knock on wood, I haven’t had a single muscle spasm or cramp in a couple years.