Ibuprofen: How Often Do You Think About Your Advil?

Ibuprofen: How Often Do You Think About Your Advil?

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It's pretty common for most families to have some form of painkillers in their medicine cabinet. Chances of those painkillers being popular brands such as Advil are pretty high, but how often have you taken a moment to really think about how Advil might be working in your body and what exactly is in it? To answer that question, let's first talk about what Advil is. Besides Advil, there are many other pain medications that you may be familiar  with; Motrin1, Brufen2, or even Nurofen2. The main active ingredient in all of these is ibuprofen and these brands are all just many different names that ibuprofen is available under. Ibuprofen is a compound that is an NSAID3. An NSAID is an nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. NSAIDs decrease inflammation, pain, and fever3. They are called "non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs" because they do not have any connection with steroids which also decrease inflammation3.
So when you take an Advil, what is really happening is that the main ingredients in your Advil (ibuprofen), is blocking enzymes called cyclooxygenases from doing their work3. Cyclooxygenases are enzymes that make prostaglandins, and prosaglandins are chemicals that are responsible for the cause of pain, inflammation, and fever in your body3. The fact that ibuprofen blocks the cyclooxygenase enzymes means that there is a decrease in the production of prostaglandins3. The decrease in prostaglandins means that there is also a decrease in the pain, inflammation, and fever within your body3.
So next time you see someone taking an Advil, you can probably take a moment to remind yourself how that Advil may be working in that person's body.

1. U.S Food and Drug Administration. 2006. MOTRIN®  (ibuprofen) Suspension 100 mg/5    
              mL.https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2007/019842s020lbl.pdf
2. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
             PubChem Compound Database. N/A. Ibuprofen.
             https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/ibuprofen#section=Top

     3. Gbemudu, A. 2016. NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs) Drug Information.  
   https://www.rxlist.com/nsaids_nonsteroidal_antiinflammatory_drugs/drugs-condition.htm