Ping the bone breakers

On Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:01:41 +0100, Wicked Uncle Nigel

http://tinyurl.com/nkk3y2 (ws)

Hurrah for the brain!

I've just done ten minutes and I am *bushed*.

 

Quite true.

How so? If you're convinced enough, then there's a possibility that
you'll persuade yourself that you feel better with the branded
variety, but the drug itself will NOT affect you any differently.

 

I'm reasonably sure the active component was identical to the original,
as (I assume) the patent had run out and it was open season for a copy
or licence, but the rest of it (binders, coating, etc) might have been
different enough for the effect on me to be noticeable.

Whatever, I definitely felt a difference. Not in the pain-killingness of
it, that worked well enough, but it had an effect in other ways that the
real McCoy never did or hasn't since - slight spacieness, etc.

 

When suffering multiple brusing /breakages etc, I've certainly noticed
that BigPain over-rides little pain. Seems I (and I don't think I'm
unique) can only pay attention to one real pain at a time.
So, I propose a new regime of distracting pain... to be administered by
an auto-hammer on the big toe, whenever the back pain, shoulder pain,
etc is too much.

 

Yeah, the patent on ibuprofen ran out many years ago, at least as
early as 1990, and probably before that. Google tells me that the
patent was granted in 1961, so would have expired in 1981 (although in
some exceptional circumstances a five-year extension may be granted).

Interestingly enough, the 'original' non-generic version was marketed
by Boots as 'Rufen', not 'Brufen'. So all you're actually doing is
copmparing one of the more well-known brands of generic ibuprofen with
one of the lesser-known ones. Other known brands include Nurofen and
Advil, but they're just as much generic versions as are the ones you
can buy in packs of 1000 in most US supermarkets.

No. Brufen just comes with a pretty standard outer coating, the same
as is found on most other versions. If specific coatings, which may
affect the way it's either metabilised or absorbed, were developed
then they themselves would be subject to a new patent, and have to go
through the same formal approval processes as those that my users work
on every day. _Lots_ of work, very expensive and very public, and only
done when a clear advantage would be gained, both in marketing and
medical terms.

Examples of this include the enteric coating now found on some
versions of Zantac(TM). The patent on the drug itself expired a decade
or more ago, and generics in abundance have been made, but Glaxo then
tried (with some success, IIRC) to corner a specific market segment by
introducing ths new, patent-protected coating that increases its
uptake rate by stopping it getting killed off by the very stomach acid
it's trying to counter. Or something like that.

That was just you, then. No way could it have been the drug itself.
Especially given that your conclusion is based on the fallacious
assumption that Brufen is 'the real McCoy'. As I mention above, it's
no more or less 'real' than any other brand.

 

You are indeed correct. Little signals get lost in a jumble of bigger
signals. It's one of the suggested means of action for paracetamol and
the like, which seek to fool the Central Nervous System into thinking
it's got lots of big signals, so dulling its sensitivity to the
smaller ones.

Yeah, that'd work.

 

I thought everyone who'd crashed a bike knew that.

You pick yourself up and rub the bit that hurts. A little while
later, you find that various other bits hurt too.

 

Good luck on that. (really). If there's been a break and no bone growth in
the first 6 weeks, they'll have you wait a little longer, but *much* longer
without bone growth and it becomes obvious to those who know, that there
probably never will be any new growth and the plates holding the parts
together (if there are any) are guaranteed to fail, so a graft is the final
step. But it's the best one.

Good luck in you attempt to avoid surgery though.

--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

The first graft the missus had taken from her hip was so well done that she
didn't even know her hip had been operated on until 3 or 4 days later. Mind
ewe, she was doped up to the eyeballs and the first operation scar is only
about an inch long. The second one though, well that's a fucking cracker of
a job. A good 3 inches of cutting and it *really* looks like she's been
kicked by a rather large horse. An angry, rather large horse too.

We asked her consultant why she was so badly bruised and he said he wanted
as bloody a piece of bone as he could get, but unfortunately that means the
area where the donor graft was taken from will bleed for some time after the
operation. By **** was he right. She's currently turning bright yellow from
some wonderful blues and reds, but she's not hurting too badly.




--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

Well, yes. But not because of any perception or expectation of the
placebo effect as it might affect efficacy or otherwise of a generic. I
have long since been used to generics and didn't expect the effects I
had.
You are not me and you were not in my head or body at the time, I'm
reasonably sure. I can assure you the effects were quite unpleasant,
especially if I was driving, so much so that I discarded the medicine
and got some branded stuff.

 

****, you're a ray of sunshine :-0

Paul.

 

Heh, I rode over to A+E to get myself checked out after the 1st bandit
crash. Hadn't realised I had a broken shoulder. Adrenalin helps.

Paul.

 

I'm not suggesting otherwise, but to maintain with such absolute
certainty that a single episode of unpleasant effects was a result of
using generic ibuprofen is ridiculous.

http://xkcd.com/552/

 

Yep, I should've said "Stick a plaster on it and it'll heal overnight". Much
more ukrm.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19








Paul.

 

tease

 

took a blunt brush and painted...

On a sort of related note I noticed early on in my days of taking co-codamol
that the ones without the smooth coating started working a lot quicker but
did not last anywhere as long.

The smooth coated ones obviously resisted the stomach acid longer, they took
longer to kick in but lasted quite a bit longer. Wether that was due to
dissolving slower and being absorbed over a longer time, or more of the
active drug made it into my blood stream I don't know.

I told my local chemist this and for years after they made sure they stocked
the ones I like rather than the other (quicker acting / shorter lasting)
ones.

I like my chemist

 

Both are possible. Better rates of absorbtion can be acheived (for
some drugs) if they pass through the stomach into the intestine.
Jude's gone to bed so I can't check with her on whether this is
particularly true for long chain molecules like paracetamol, or for
the opiode types.

There's a lot of stuff on the web about it - this one seems to explain
the subject in lay terms quite well.
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec02/ch011/ch011c.html

 

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the

Indeed. It becomes even more obvious with long-term pain. A little
relief from chronic aches is actually a relief on the days when it's
playing up, by an accidental injury to some other part.

Ditto. After being knocked off while filtering I rode home to dump my
kit then rode to A&E. I didn't get to ride any further that day, not
with a busted collarbone. Thought the grinding noise was indicative of
some attention needed. The most painful part was my right wrist.

 

99 change...


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

 

It's a lot less ridiculous than you, who is not chemically or medically
qualified, telling me it's impossible.