Ibuprofen reduces my fatigue significantly

[Hip]

What we need here is @mariovitali's data mining software, which may help uncover the biochemical pathway(s) behind this PEM-reducing effect of ibuprofen.


This kind of situation comes up time and time again on this forum: someone notices that a drug or supplement improves one or more of their symptoms, and they want to know why; they want to know the biochemical pathway(s) by which the medication is having its effect.

If you can make a good guess at the pathway, you can then try other drugs or supplements that act on the same pathway, which might provide further benefits.


It would be great if we had a pharmacodynamics search engine where we could type in a medication (like ibuprofen), and type in an ME/CFS symptom or condition (like PEM) that was improved by that medication, and then search engine would return several suggested biochemical pathways by which that medication might be exerting its effect.


I don't understand it fully, but apparently mariovitali's software does something along the lines of identifying these biochemical connections.

 

[heapsreal]

The best nsaid i have used is naproxen . There is some evidence that it may be the only nsaid that doesnt increase cardiac risk factors.

it doesnt need to be dosed as often as ibuprofen and twice a day for naproxen .

For me I haven't got much at all out of ibuprofen
But shows we are all different and probably requires trial and error to find the most effective nsaid.

 

[Grigor]

Hmm interesting. I don't have pain. Unless I'm in PEM. Then there is muscle pain for lactic acid but not always.
Anyways when I have PEM without pain and I take paracetamol. My PEM reduces somewhat.
I remember Alan Light talking about the link between fatigue and pain. Still very interesting.
Paracetamol also dilates the veins I think.

 

[maz]

Don't know if anyone will see this but I too can get significant relief from fatigue with ibuprofen. I've been using 2-3 X 400mg a day for the past 5 weeks since I had a virus which caused me to crash. I already take tramadol which helps my energy levels when I'm not at rock bottom but with the post- viral fatigue, ibuprofen has been the only way I can function (I work 4 days per week). However, I am now getting stomach pain so have stopped taking it. I'm hoping someone may have found out why iibuprofen works for fatigue, regardless of whether I have much pain going on, so that an alternative that doesn't cause stomach ulcers could be found. Here's hoping!

 

[edawg81]

I know this is an old thread, I just wanted to add, the days I take Ibuprofen, the next day I don't crash (like a 15% improvement in functioning), which is unusal because I seem to crash pretty hard everyday in the evening. Looking into alternatives to take daily because I only take 400mg of Ibuprofen for migraines right now 3-6 times a month. It doesn't seem to help my migraines, just stops them from getting worse. Maybe Curcumin or Celebrex would be something more appropriate to try daily? I'm not sure. Maybe I should get my PGE2 tested?

 

[denmarker]

I'll mention this briefly as there doesn't seem to be a post on this already.
400mg of ibuprofen significantly reduces my fatigue, I can act almost normally (i.e. go walking)
for a couple of hours with minimal payback and reduced PEM.

I've tried this many times now and always notice an effect. I don't take it every day for fear that it will lose its effect.

Since it's cheap, it might be worth trying. I assume it works by modulating my immune system.

surprised to hear that. i was trying to avoid ibuprofen for my kids but now that u mention this, maybe i ought to try this for myself.

 

[maz]

Ibuprofen gives me energy, a significant amount. The problem is that I have to take a lot, 800mg an sometimes it doesn't help until the second dose. I am older (62) and I am concerned about my kidney function and of course, my stomach, so I try not to use it daily. It is the only thing I have found that really helps thoughs, so it's very tempting to keep taking it when I am feeling 5% energy levels, which is daily at the moment.

 

[stephano75]

It has helped me too. I assume it's to do with reducing neuroinflamation associated with an ongoing/dysregulated immune response

 

[Dysfunkion]

I could go this a go but only have low dose aspirin on me I picked up a while back that I had on the back burner, they appear to have almost identical effects. A bit worried about a tinnitus spike though as I don't need more of that, is ibuprofen less likely to do that?

In everything I have tried before with myself I noticed there is definitely a out of control immune feedback loop going on creating all sorts of problems in all body systems. My responses to various things I noticed will change depending on my current state, nothing is entirely stable and immune modulators/antivirals/antibiotics cause the most profound changes to that loop.

 

[Judee]

I saw Celebrex mentioned twice in this thread so wondered if anyone would be interested in the following articles on how Dr Pridgen is treating ME/CFS:

https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2017/12/18/26-years-chronic-fatigue-fibromyalgia-recovery-story/

https://www.healthrising.org/forums...-fatigue-syndrome-me-cfs-resource-center.464/

Ibuprofen doesn't do anything for my ME. It did help with some dental pain last fall but sometimes it doesn't even help with pain. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[heapsreal]

I think it's possible any painkiller could help. I think the brain fog we get is a low level of chronic pain.

On many occasions I have noticed the brain fog slowly cranking up within day. It starts as brain fog than into headache and then into a migraine with nausea and vomiting.