Ibuprofen

As a drug, marijuana has certain effects and, depending on why you're taking it, some side effects. And not everyone wants the whole package. New research finds that for patients who consider weed's buzz an unwanted side effect, the answer might be as simple as taking an ibuprofen with their tetrahydrocannibinol (or THC). A study published Thursday in the journal Cell both demonstrates and explains why common anti-inflammatory drugs, including ibuprofen and the prescription analgesics indomethacin and celecoxib (marketed as Celebrex)

As a drug, marijuana has certain effects and, depending on why you're taking it, some side effects. And not everyone wants the whole package. New research finds that for patients who consider weed's buzz an unwanted side effect, the answer might be as simple as taking an ibuprofen with their tetrahydrocannibinol (or THC). A study published Thursday in the journal Cell both demonstrates and explains why common anti-inflammatory drugs, including ibuprofen and the prescription analgesics indomethacin and celecoxib (marketed as Celebrex)

Taking ibuprofen regularly may lower the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by about a third, perhaps by reducing the inflammation that is thought to contribute to the onset of the disease, Harvard University researchers reported this week. Surprisingly, however, other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that also reduce inflammation have no effect on the disease, they reported online in the journal Neurology. Dr. Alberto Ascherio and Dr. Xiang Gao of Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and their colleagues studied 98,892 women in the Nurses' Health Study and 37,305 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, two well-established, ongoing programs.

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - California's delegates to the RNC began trickling into their balmy beachfront resort here Friday, finding gift bags full of swag upon their arrival. Among the contents: rice, walnuts and olive oil from California producers, a campaign Barbie, a flag pin in the shape of Mickey Mouse and a red T-shirt sporting a large sequined elephant. And some practical aids to get them through the next six days that will include not only official Republican Party business but many, many parties - packets of Ibuprofen and vials of 5-hour Energy.

Taking mild painkilllers such as aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen during pregnancy, especially during the second trimester, can cause a sharp increase in reproductive problems in male offspring, researchers from Denmark, Finland and France reported Monday. The team found that women who used two of the drugs simultaneously during the second trimester were as much as 16 times as likely to bear a son with undescended testicles, a condition known as cryptorchidism. Cryptorchidism is known to be a risk factor for poor semen quality and testicular germ cell cancer in later life.

Children with broken arms do better on a simple over-the-counter painkiller than on a more powerful prescription combination that includes a narcotic, a study found. It tested ibuprofen, sold as Advil, Motrin and other brands, against acetaminophen plus codeine -- a combo called Tylenol No. 3 that is also sold in generic form. The children on ibuprofen did better, said the study leader, Dr. Amy Drendel of the Medical College of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee. "They were more likely to play, they ate better and they had fewer adverse effects," she said.

On a recent ski trip, my best friend handed me a flask of cinnamon schnapps. He called it "courage in 100-proof form," and I needed it. I was perched at the edge of a cliff, looking at a 20-foot drop into thigh-deep powder. Nearly a decade ago, when I was laid up in an emergency room with two bulging disks in my lower lumbar spine, there's no way I could have imagined myself attempting such foolish feats of middle-aged manliness. I'm hardly alone in my lower lumbar woes. A 2009 study in Archives of Internal Medicine found that the prevalence of chronic, impairing low-back pain rose from 3.9% of adults in 1992 to 10.2% in 2006.

People usually have good reasons for swallowing over-the-counter painkillers: They're hurting. But though the drugs often help, new research suggests that they sometimes do the opposite of what their users intended. That's especially true for serious athletes, for whom pain ? and painkillers ? are regular companions. In recent years, scientists have been studying runners competing in the Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile race through California's Sierra Nevada mountains that involves more than 18,000 total feet of uphill climbing, more than 21,000 feet of downhill running and an average of 26 hours to complete.

Kenny Easley, former Seattle Seahawks safety, has sued the National Football League team, claiming that he was allowed to play through the 1987 season without being told he had an irreversible kidney ailment that eventually ended his career. Easley's suit alleges that his kidneys were ruined by large doses of ibuprofen, a pain reliever. The 30-year-old former All-Pro undergoes dialysis three times a week. Easley's seven-year career ended last year after the kidney ailment was diagnosed.

I've heard that ibuprofen will negate the positive effects of aspirin if the two are taken together. I read a report that says ibuprofen blocks aspirin's effect for only two hours and that it's safe to take ibuprofen two hours after aspirin to circumvent this effect. Any truth to this? Several years ago, a report in the New England Journal of Medicine (Dec. 20, 2001) suggested that ibuprofen could counteract the anti-clotting benefits of aspirin.

On a recent ski trip, my best friend handed me a flask of cinnamon schnapps. He called it "courage in 100-proof form," and I needed it. I was perched at the edge of a cliff, looking at a 20-foot drop into thigh-deep powder. Nearly a decade ago, when I was laid up in an emergency room with two bulging disks in my lower lumbar spine, there's no way I could have imagined myself attempting such foolish feats of middle-aged manliness. I'm hardly alone in my lower lumbar woes. A 2009 study in Archives of Internal Medicine found that the prevalence of chronic, impairing low-back pain rose from 3.9% of adults in 1992 to 10.2% in 2006.

Taking ibuprofen regularly may lower the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by about a third, perhaps by reducing the inflammation that is thought to contribute to the onset of the disease, Harvard University researchers reported this week. Surprisingly, however, other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that also reduce inflammation have no effect on the disease, they reported online in the journal Neurology. Dr. Alberto Ascherio and Dr. Xiang Gao of Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and their colleagues studied 98,892 women in the Nurses' Health Study and 37,305 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, two well-established, ongoing programs.

People usually have good reasons for swallowing over-the-counter painkillers: They're hurting. But though the drugs often help, new research suggests that they sometimes do the opposite of what their users intended. That's especially true for serious athletes, for whom pain ? and painkillers ? are regular companions. In recent years, scientists have been studying runners competing in the Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile race through California's Sierra Nevada mountains that involves more than 18,000 total feet of uphill climbing, more than 21,000 feet of downhill running and an average of 26 hours to complete.

Taking mild painkilllers such as aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen during pregnancy, especially during the second trimester, can cause a sharp increase in reproductive problems in male offspring, researchers from Denmark, Finland and France reported Monday. The team found that women who used two of the drugs simultaneously during the second trimester were as much as 16 times as likely to bear a son with undescended testicles, a condition known as cryptorchidism. Cryptorchidism is known to be a risk factor for poor semen quality and testicular germ cell cancer in later life.

Children with broken arms do better on a simple over-the-counter painkiller than on a more powerful prescription combination that includes a narcotic, a study found. It tested ibuprofen, sold as Advil, Motrin and other brands, against acetaminophen plus codeine -- a combo called Tylenol No. 3 that is also sold in generic form. The children on ibuprofen did better, said the study leader, Dr. Amy Drendel of the Medical College of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee. "They were more likely to play, they ate better and they had fewer adverse effects," she said.

The Supreme Court gave a skeptical hearing Tuesday to lawyers for a girl who was strip-searched in school when she was 13 on suspicion that she had extra-strength ibuprofen in her underwear. Instead, most of the justices voiced concern about drugs, such as heroin and crack cocaine, and said they were wary of limiting officials' authority to search students for any drugs. "How is a school administrator supposed to know?" Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked.

Seattle health officials have warned doctors not to prescribe ibuprofen and similar drugs to children with chickenpox because of a possible link to group A streptococcus, often mistakenly called flesh-eating bacteria. Officials with the Seattle-King County Health Department said late Thursday that they plan to investigate the possible link after looking into records of 12 children with chickenpox who developed the disease during the past year.

Time may heal all wounds, but the scars that remain can be unsightly, itchy, stiff and painful. Pharmacy aisles beckon with "clinically proven, doctor-recommended" scar products, and the Internet teems with anecdotes of different creams and elixirs that supposedly erase old scars or prevent new ones from forming. But not all of those claims stick. "There are a thousand wives' tales and a whole bunch of things you can buy, but none have scientific validity to speak of," says Dr. Terence Davidson, a professor of surgery at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Schools may not strip-search students for drugs based on an unverified tip, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Overturning two other rulings, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said an assistant principal at an Arizona middle school violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old by ordering her to be strip-searched. He thought the honor student had prescription-strength ibuprofen; she did not.

You know things have changed in Venice when a guy in a Porsche blows past your picket line and gives you the finger. A woman in a Mercedes followed him a few minutes later by rolling down her window and screaming, "My husband is out of work because of you . . . !" It was raining. The traffic at a crawl on Abbot Kinney. We didn't have umbrellas. We were marching in front of the new Smart Car dealership in a slow, monotonous circle, trying to get passing cars to honk. My first location picket.