Buy the premium (read "extra strength") version of your painkillers

I work with pain treatment in the public healthcare (I work with patients who have been in severe chronic pain for years, everybody I work for is in pain so severe it interferes with their daily life) and people don't believe me when I tell them that ibuprofen (or acetaminophen, or paracetamol) 400mg helps more with their pain than ibuprofen 200mg. I guess the most likely explanation for this is people thinking that over-the-the counter drugs such as ibuprofen and paracetamol doesn't have any real effect on their pain, so they often start with the lowest dose and see if it helps.<br><br>These drugs are called over-the-counter drugs because they are so safe that you can just buy them at your local pharmacy (or even supermarket) so I can see why one would think that they don't really have any real effect - after all, if they did, wouldn't they be prescription-only drugs? No. The reason ibuprofen and paracetamol are over-the-counter drugs is for historical reasons, mostly. This also doesn't help with people's opinions. They work just fine (and people seem to forget that everybody's pain sensitivity are different) so there's no need in people buying the 665mg variant.<br><br>So before you buy any painkillers, be sure to check that it doesn't say "light" or "Migraine" on the package. Two ibuprofen 200mg is not as strong as one ibuprofen 400mg and most painkillers in the 665mg variants are just such scams to make you buy two tablets. Don't fall for that. You most likely have real pain and deserve real pain killers.<br><br>I have no idea if it's mostly a Swedish problem or a global issue but I thought it'd be good to put the word out, so here are my two cents.<br><br>EDIT: I just want to make it clear that I work with patients who have tried a lot of different drugs before coming to our ward. If you are in pain, please contact your own doctor.