dVH/RALH: Ibuprofen substitute?

I keep reading about everyone using Ibuprofen for pain control after surgery. I am allergic to it and Tylenol doesn't help much. Any ideas of what alternatives might work? Is Aleve the same as Advil? Can you keep using the Oxy or other prescribed pain killers instead? Are there any bad side effects except constipation. I have everything ready and waiting except for that. Don't want to have to go seaching for an open drug store at midnight to find something.

Please speak to your doctor about pain control. He or she is the best source of what will control your pain. As well, ask him or her what is best for constipation as most of us have that issue after surgery. By the way, Aleve is not the same as Advil. I don't know the scientific names for them but I do know that Aleve works for me and Advil does not.

Aleve is naproxen. It is from the same family of drugs. Aspirin is another. Voltaren suppositories were a godsend for me but again, they are in the NSAIDS family. If you can take paracetamol (tylenol), do. You take it AS WELL as narcotics and it makes them more effective - so you don't need as much and therefore the side effects aren't as bad. (That's why it's in vicodin and percocet.)

Advil is ibuprofen and as Blyss said, Aleve is naproxen. Neither is allowed before surgery.

Good luck with your surgery!
I think this is an important question for your doc. I react to many of the narcotics, which is a different situation than you are in, but both in the doctor's office and before the surgery the gyn/anesthesiologist asked me about allergies to meds and helped me plan accordingly for my oophorectomy (removal of one ovary). I'm thankful to them for helping me navigate which meds worked and which did not.

On a side note, there are other things you can do for pain - acupuncture, guided imagery, cold, pressure, etc. I don't know how open you are to acupuncture (or how open your doctor is), but this could be a route for you.

Good luck talking to your doc! I imagine everything will be prescribed for you, possibly before your surgery, so you don't have to run out in the middle of the night for a pain killer.