Dear Dr. Roach: My husband, age 70, had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in his neck, for which he would take Aleve to relieve his discomfort when needed. Just before the Christmas holiday last year, his back began hurting so much that he went to his doctor, who said to get up and move more.
So, this morning, he switched back to Aleve and ibuprofen. It is what helped before and is helping again now. In addition, he is using a drug-free Aleve Direct Therapy pad that uses waveform technology. He also uses an Icy Hot pain relief cream and a heating pad. These reduce his pain, but his back continues to hurt since before the holidays.
In terms of medicine, anti-inflammatory medicines, like Aleve or ibuprofen , can be very helpful for some people. However, taking both doesn’t improve pain relief; it does increase the risk of toxicity, so he should never take two anti-inflammatory medicines — choose just one. Tylenol helps some people, but in my experience, most people do better with anti-inflammatories instead of Tylenol. Tylenol does have a smaller risk of side-effects.