How much Advil is too much?

Grundlestiltskin

So...I may have taken a bit too much Advil. My girlfriend is very concerned.

I had a bad migraine. I usually take 4 Advil when this happens. For whatever reason, I decided 6 would be ok. In hindsight, yeah probably not the best decision I've ever made.

They were 200 mg tablets, so 1200mg of Advil in one go. I weigh about 240, and had just eaten. I took them about 2 hours ago and feel fine. Should I be worried?

Edit: I fail at math.

Sarcastro

Nope, not at 240. (INAD)

I just went through a round of cluster migraines, and they recommended anywhere from 1500 to 2500 to prevent onset. (I take the 500mg tablets myself)

Course, there are serious side effects from doing this sort of thing long term, and you should wait the full 4 hours before even taking another 1000, but one hit like that won't hurt a thing provided you're in good health.

EggyToast

Advil is ibuprofen, and as such is a remarkably safe drug. For comparison, I had a finger sprain/inflammation, and I was prescribed ibuprofen. My doc said I could just take the OTC stuff, but the big caplets aren't any more expensive and they're less hassle than dealing with the little pills.

Each pill was 600mg, and I was to take 4 a day or so, give or take. Ibuprofen is great because you can take it according to your pain level -- just a minor headache, pop 1, a mega migraine, take 4-6 and drink a cup of coffee.

The LD50 of ibuprofen is 636mg/kg, which means at your weight you can assume you would have to take 68688mg of ibuprofen to die (about 340 pills). There are side effects with taking a significant amount that would be unpleasant, which are listed on the wikipedia page, but generally it's only a problem if you're taking large doses chronically.

Just don't try anything silly with tylenol/acetaminophen.

Improvolone

According to a friend who had bouts of depression and a few suicide attempts, I've heard that even if you take a whole bottle you should be fine, as there is not nearly enouch acid in your stomahc to dissolve it all. Think of it like cotton balls in a glass with a small amount of water, only those on the bottom are affected.

But I could be horribly wrong.

Sarcastro

Oh! Excellent tip inspried by Eggy.

Instead of taking a whackload of Advil, try doubling up Advil and Tylenol. You can totally combine these and not have OD issues as they do different things. I do two and two for persistant migraines (which last 14 hours or so) throughout the day if I cant cut them off at the pass.

EggyToast

Whoa whoa, my tip for tylenol is that it can kick your ass if you take too much of it. Mostly your liver.

I also don't know about you or the OP, but acetaminophen is the only one of the common 3 otc drugs (acetaminophen, aspirin, ibuprofen in my book/cabinet) that actually makes me feel "off." The rest just make me feel "normal" when I take it.

Although incidentally acetaminophen has no effect on my wife. She could take 3 pills and it wouldn't do anything, according to her.

ceres

Advil can cause some pretty hefty liver damage if you take too much of it long-term, but really as long as you haven't had anything alcoholic to drink you'll probably live.

In other words, it's probably okay this once, but you should talk to your doctor and/or think about finding a different medication.

AresProphet

Not to hijack this, but I have a similar question. For about 3 months i've been taking ibuprofen once or twice a day for headaches. I have a small subcutaneous cyst on the back of my head (totally benign, but I can't afford to have it removed until insurance kicks in in August) that hurts now and then and ibuprofen helps a lot.

I usually take 3 200mg tablets as a single dose, only once or twice a day. Is it safe to keep up that dosage for about three more months?

ihmmy

make sure you do eat though, especially if you're taking more than a couple advil/ibuprofen (I know the OP said he did, good for him)... ibuprofen with no food to surround it can also cause some liver damage. It's my wonder drug though

Sarcastro

AresProphet wrote: »

Not to hijack this, but I have a similar question. For about 3 months i've been taking ibuprofen once or twice a day for headaches. I have a small subcutaneous cyst on the back of my head (totally benign, but I can't afford to have it removed until insurance kicks in in August) that hurts now and then and ibuprofen helps a lot.

I usually take 3 200mg tablets as a single dose, only once or twice a day. Is it safe to keep up that dosage for about three more months?

No idea. Though taking any med for more than three months sounds pretty ill-advised without a doc's okay.

And to ignore my own advice, if you switch up to aspirin (ASA) which is in the same family I think, I know you can do that one long term no problem. It's often recommended for heart attack patients and folks at risk for stroke.

VThornheart

In small doses though, right? That's what I heard. You can do it in long-term if it's small doses. I think Bayer, for example (which is touted for long-term use) is something like only 15mg of the stuff.

ceres

81 mg, once a day, which is still a terribly small amount.

VThornheart

Ah, that's the one

Kenninator

My doctor told me to take 3 200mg twice a day for a week recently for some chest and upper body pains he said might have been caused by an infection.

I was nervous that that would be too much, but yeah, ibuprofen isn't really dangerous at all. Stomach issues are the only thing, and I always try to eat a piece of bread or drink a glass of milk to settle my stomach. Usually works.

Szechuanosaurus

Kenninator wrote: »

My doctor told me to take 3 200mg twice a day for a week recently for some chest and upper body pains he said might have been caused by an infection.

I was nervous that that would be too much, but yeah, ibuprofen isn't really dangerous at all. Stomach issues are the only thing, and I always try to eat a piece of bread or drink a glass of milk to settle my stomach. Usually works.

You should be taking Ibuprofen after eating, even if it's only small doses. Stomach ulcers aren't the only problem either, most painkillers put a strain on your liver so long term use at high doses could be problematic. I have no idea where the line is though as IANAD. But think of it like alcohol - a tiny amount daily isn't going to destroy your liver but larger doses regularly will not give your liver time to recover and a massive one-off dose could have serious consequences.

All I could advise is if you are thinking of taking more than the stated daily dose or are planning on self-medicating with painkillers for more than three days, you should definitely consult with a doctor. However, as far as the OP is concerned, I don't think he has anything to worry about, although he should probably avoid taking any more for at least 24 hours.

OremLK

Yeah, I personally always eat before or at the same time as I pop any painkiller.

Good info in this thread, thanks to those who posted it.

Grundlestiltskin

Thanks for the help all, I feel fine now. This thread appears to have produced a lot of useful information