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Best Pain Relief Medicines Over-the-counter (OTC)

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There's quite some choice when looking for pain relief medicines.

You'll find here best pain relief drugs which is also derived from pain reliever reviews. Images below may lead to webpages for more information, or to Amazon where you can read through the reviews which is quite informative.

About expiration date.
According to research by the FDA, most medicines are still affective years after their expiration date. So I shouldn't worry too much about it.

Further down this page you also might want to read about FDA's latest warning for Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs).
FDA's warning doesn't apply to aspirin.

We're talking here about OTC (Over-The-Counter) pain medicines Acetaminophen (Tylenol, Equate) - Acetaminophen is also known as paracetamol -
about OTC NSAIDs such as Naproxen, Aspirin (Bayer, Aleve), Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, Kirkland, Equate) and about a few organic pain relievers.

Something notable about Ibuprofen.
Besides relieving pain and helping against fever and infections, research experiments on worms showed that these worms lived 10% longer when treated with Ibuprofen. Further research on mice is needed to find out if it might be of influence on human lives as well.

The product information below may give you an idea about differences between a brand or type vs another.

If you have no clue whatsoever which product to choose, then consider one of these medicines:
Bayer Aspirin        Kirkland Naproxen        Aleve Naproxen        Kirkland Acetaminophen        Tylenol Acetaminophen        Kirkland Ibuprofen        Advil Ibuprofen        Forces of Nature        Equate        Motrin

FDA Warning on Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)

On July 9, 2015 the U.S. Federal Food & Drugs Administration (FDA) strenghtened its warning of heart attack and stroke risk for Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs.
Prescription NSAIDs as well as OTC NSAIDs.

Aspirin

The FDA further states that "Although aspirin is also an NSAID, this revised warning doesn't apply to aspirin."

Prescription NSAIDs and OTC NSAIDs

For conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout and other rheumatological and painful conditions, doctors often prescribe an NSAID medicine.

For temporarily reducing fever and treating minor aches and pains such as headaches, toothaches, backaches, muscular aches, tendonitis, strains, sprains and menstrual cramps, people buy OTC NSAIDs. Examples of Over-The-Counter NSAIDs are Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), Naproxen (Aleve) and some combination medicines that relieve various symptoms, such as multi-symptom cold products.

The FDA emphasizes in their warning to take just one NSAID medicine at a time.
In case you take several medicines at a time, then check the drug facts label for active ingredients.

Increased Risk of heart attack and stroke risks

The FDA will also require manufacturers of NSAIDs drugs to update their labels with more specific information about heart attack and stroke risks.

Especially people having cardiovascular disease, and in particular those who recently had a heart attack or cardiac bypass surgery, are at the greatest risk for cardiovascular adverse events associated with NSAIDs. But also people without heart and/or blood vessel problems, may be at risk, says the FDA.

The FDA advises to stop taking NSAID medicines and talk to your doctor if you experience chest pain, trouble breathing, sudden weakness in one part or side of the body, or sudden slurred speech.

Smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes are risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
Here you can read FDA's official warning.

May be you worry about the expiration date of a medicine, well, read here about expiration dates.


Drug Fact Image: FDA