Image description: A bottle of Ibuprofen containing 1000 tablets.
(Originally published earlier today on mastodon.social)
Do Americans need these giant packs to deal with daily life in America?
That and to deal with the symptoms of their illnesses that have gone untreated because a) too expensive and/or b) doctors here gaslight you that it’s just anxiety.
My wife just paid $150 to go to a walk-in to check what is clearly a swollen blocked gland or something under her ear. It’s killing her. She was there for an hour. The doctor was in and out in under 2 minutes. He told her to take Tylenol and come back when it gets worse.
So yeah, it’s cheaper and you waste less time buying OTC pain killers in bulk I guess.
This is way cheaper than health insurance.
No. This was purchased because someone thought it was a “great deal”. They will use about a quarter of the bottle before it expires and then just throw the rest out.
Everyone I know who buys these will definitely use them before they expire. Most common reasons seem to be back pain and headaches.
Feel bad for the sucker who sees this and only buys one.
alt-text: screenshot of bottle of 1000 CVS ibuprofen, “Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off; $29.79; 3.0¢/ea.”
Can confirm, I’m European and my mind cannot comprehend this.
1000 pills? I’ve never seen so many pills all at once. Do you use them to flavor your dishes or something?
Pill are cheaper than surgery.
Signed: an American.
You guys pay for surgeries??
Signed: a European
Hearing Europeans mock how much we pay for health care never gets old. I mean, the stupid high bills just don’t get the point across.I would be ecstatic with a single payer system supported by taxes. A system that doesn’t rely on an insurance company whose sole purpose is to deny me the coverage I am due. My favorite part is the fake astronomical prices they put on stuff just to charge insurance companies a “negotiated” price.I get that we, as a nation, truly suck. At best we are a corporatocracy. At worst, a straight oligarchy. We’ve got a feeble minded , racist, oompa loompa running for a second term as president. And he has a legit chance of winning! There is almost no part of our society that does not suck in some way. And the vast majority of us know it but the government is so bought and paid for that no real change is possible without bullets.But please, my European brothers and sisters, can you please stop rubbing it on our faces. I assure you we hurt enough already.(edit: a word)
Agreed. Like any cheap shot, it must be used strategically to remain classy.
Signed: A Canadian.
Edit: Of course, using all your shots at once in a busy place would be more American! BAHA! See what I did there???
So how many do you take a day, for this to make sense? A dead liver is also a big medical bill, I assume, but maybe that’s a future you problem.
For when you really refuse to deal with the underlying issues causing pain, i guess.
Someone obviously doesn’t have rheumatoid arthritis, or any other one of a plethora of painful diseases. Even with my biologics, flare ups happen, and ibuprofen takes the edge off.
On the other hand, maybe Europe has cured RA, and just hasn’t shared it with the rest of the world?
Sure, NSAIDS are great, but 99.9% of RA patients still shouldn’t need 1000 tablets of half strength Ibuprofen if they are actually seeing their rheumatologist. We usually use coxibs for prolonged therapy supplementing with paracetamole or paracetamole codeine as needed. Most of the time pain control is achieved quickly via steroids and we generally recommend patients to try and avoid NSAIDS once they are started on steroids.
You can’t buy more than 10 at a time here unless you have a prescription… On the plus side, you can almost get them for free if you do have a prescription
Why?
I hope nobody over there has regular headaches, or works construction.
You can get them if you have a prescription so if the doctor seems a good reason, there is no problem. Note that its free to visit the doctor and free to get a prescription. Also prescribed medication is cheaper than over the counter medication even if it is the same medication. The state helps cover the cost of prescribed medications.
That said, it’s better to fight the cause of the pain instead of the pain, You can also get physiotherapy prescribed or other treatment that will help against whatever is hurting.
Also construction work is often very safe and protected both by education and insurance due to unions. Although its hard work it is often strongly regulated and controlled to follow rules that will protect workers from getting hurt or worn out
You sound like you are from some kind of ultra based future society
My liver hurts from just looking at that bottle
Well actually… Ibuprofen hurts your stomach. Acetaminophen hurts your liver.
(Oh what a rush, hope I’m right. Do I go check the facts or keep rolling in my smugness a little longer?)
Your options.
You’re thinking of tylenol
I’m not sure what part I shouldn’t be able to comprehend
The part where you need 1000 tablets, that’s more than a lifetime supply. If you need that many you’re better off visiting the doctor and fix whatever the issue is.
Tell me you don’t have chronic headaches without telling me you don’t have chronic headaches
Go to the doctor? What do you think I am? Made of money?
Some have frequent need for them. It’s not a specifically American thing to have chronic pain…
Am American. This many pills would expire long before the bottle was even close to being empty. I maybe take ibuprofen maybe once or twice a year.
Damn look at no-pain McGee over here. I rarely go a week without a headache necessitating a few ibuprofen
I’m gonna need to see some citation on the addictiveness of ibuprofen.
This bottle has more active component than I would expect any pharmacy to have in stock, considering all dosages and formats.
Unless you live in the jungle and only go to the city once every two years, this doesn’t seem reasonable
200mg is pretty low, though
You can only absorb 400mg in one dose, so 200 is a great idea (you get to choose taking one or two). Any excess you take will not have an effect on your pain.
Wtf are you talking about? Ibuprofen is often prescribed in 600-1000mg. Maybe keep the medical advice to yourself.
Must not be many motherfuckers with arthritis over there if they’ve never seen bulk NSAIDs.
Shit, that’s barely a month’s supply for a good month for me.
The absolute maximum amount anyone should be taking in a single day would be 16 of these, and that’s spread throughout an entire 24 hours, and not on a consistent basis.
Finishing this bottle in a month would require taking 33 of these pills a day, everyday. How are you alive?
This drugs can be prescribed in bulk, they just can’t be bought without prescription in bulk over the counter.
This is part of laws to prevent suicide. Paracetamol is easier to suicide with and limited; Ibuprofen is not easy to take a fatal dose on but can cause serious side effect, and people are often ignorant about how deadly a drug is.
So to stop people taking ibuprofen instead of paracetamol, they’re all limited to a certain amount per transaction.
And for someone with an arthritis they’d probably be getting the meds on prescription and for free rather than expected to go to a pharmacy and buy 1000 off the shelf.
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