[pct-l] Ibuprofen or Vitamin I

[Brian Lewis]

FWIW, I just came back from seeing my doctor about a foot pain that I
had the last few hundred miles of the trail last year and still hasn't
gone away --- turns out I have some calcification on a tendon at the
upper arch of my foot.   Before he even knew what it was, and also
after he knew what it was, he recommended "Aleve" (brand name) as an
over-the-counter anti-inflammatory.   It's convenient as you just take
one (or two) once every twelve hours.

I have to say that I have really mixed feelings about the whole "drug
it if it hurts" discussion.  I'd guess that most of us like to err on
the side of not adding various chemicals to our bodies.   Once on the
trail and a part of the thru-hiker community, there is (or at least
was for me) a sense of "keep going if you possibly can".   Folks were
walking with various problems, dealing with the pain via drugs or
simply --- dealing with it.       I felt pretty fortunate to only
rarely feel inclined to medicate myself.

But (a) my doctor has just told me to do this for two weeks to see if
it makes walking/running acceptable (in hopes of avoiding surgery),
and (b) one fellow I hiked with took 4 ibuprofin at once each morning
just as part of his normal regimen, and claimed to never have any
problems as a result.

Confusing data inputs.  Hopefully I'll be drug free again in the near
future, but ... who knows !


Brian Lewis / Gadget '08
http://postholer.com/brianle