Long term use of painkillers

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi Austin and Jordan,

I take a combination of 1000mg acetaminophen and 800mg ibuprofen fairly frequently to treat pain from headaches. On average, I probably do this about once or twice a week, but there have been many occasions where I’ll need to take the drugs for 4-5 days in a row. Should I be concerned about any long term risks of this, either in terms of physiological damage or in terms of my response to pain? Is there likely to be any impact on my training adaptations from taking the drugs regularly?

Thanks!

2

I would mainly be concerned the risk of “Medication Overuse Headache” in this situation.

I would not expect any significant impact on your training adaptations, though.

3

That’s very interesting; I was not familiar with that condition. I’ll definitely look into that further. Thank you!