When you suffer from arthritis, that means you have inflammation in your joints, when
you have menstrual pain every month in women, when you have a fever, you almost take an
anti-inflammatory drug called ibuprofen.
Ibuprofen obviously relieves pain but when you take it continuously it can lead to complications.
Today in this video I am going to explain to you how ibuprofen works in your body and
also, we will talk about the potential side effects of this drug.
Please stay until the end of this video to understand how this drug works because it
is a very popular drug known as Advil and Motrin here in the United States.
What is ibuprofen?
Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that is what we call this medicine.
It is a drug that is used to be able to reduce pain; therefore, it is an anti inflammatory.
It is an antipyretic because it helps lower fever.
It is an analgesic because it reduces or even suppresses pain, which is why many people
take it and find satisfaction.
What happens when you take an ibuprofen tablet and put it in your mouth?
When you put it in your mouth and drink water or take a juice then you will swallow this
tablet which will pass through your pharynx and it will pass through your esophagus which
is just behind the larynx which communicates with the respiratory tract.
Once in the esophagus, the tablet will end up in the stomach and once in your stomach
the enzymes which are secreted there will allow the absorption of this tablet but the
great part will go to the level of your small intestine because at the level of your small
intestine, there is a very large vascularization and it is precisely at this level that your
tablet will be absorbed and which will now go to the level of blood circulation and be
distributed throughout your body and also having a relieving effect.
So, it may take about 30 to 60 minutes for your medicine to be absorbed in your small
intestine immediately hangs out of the contents of your stomach.
So, this is kind of how the process is going to be done.
The question we must now ask ourselves is: how does ibuprofen work?
Ibuprofen works by inhibiting the synthesis of the enzymes we call cyclooxygenase 1 and
cyclooxygenase 2 and you going to tell me what does it means?
Cyclo-oxygenase 1 called cox 1 and cyclooxygenase 2 called cox 2 are involved in the synthesis
of prostaglandins.
Prostaglandins which play a very important role in the process of inflammation, in the
process of pain.
Prostaglandin also acts at the level of your hypothalamus and you know that it is at the
level of your hypothalamus that the regulation of the temperature of your body.
Prostaglandin also plays a role in the contraction of smooth muscles and this is precisely why
during periods in women, you have precisely the pains because of this hormone.
What you must understand is that this prostaglandin is very important in the secretion of your
mucus in the stomach.
So, this mucus will allow the control of the synthesis of gastric acidity for the good
functioning of your stomach.
You should know that in the stomach, there is a protective layer called mucus which precisely
helps protect your stomach against stomach acidity.
Prostaglandin plays a very important role in your renal cortex.
In the kidney, we have tiny cells that are just visible under a microscope called nephrons
and it is in this area that there is exchanged between the cardiovascular system and the
urinary system.
So, you can see that this hormone plays an extremely important role in your body.
Prostaglandins work in the stomach by helping it to manufacture mucus which is this layer
that protects the gastric mucosa and also acts in the regulation of the secretion of
gastric acidity.
So, imagine that if you take a drug like ibuprofen which inhibits the synthesis of cox 1 and
cox 2 then this will inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandin then there will be a decrease
in secretion.
Decreased secretion is good because you'll reduce inflammation, reduce pain, reduce fever,
and get relief.
You are going to be happy because you are going to feel good.
But the problem arises when you take ibuprofen every day.
If you take it once in a while when you have pain, if you take it once in a while when
you have a painful period, then it's safe.
The danger arises when you take them repeatedly and chronically and especially when you gradually
increase the doses.
Because the more you increase the doses of ibuprofen, the more it will further decrease
the secretion of prostaglandin and this will have a negative impact in your body and that
is what we are going to talk about now.
What are the side effects caused by the use of ibuprofen?
We will talk about two main complications; the first at the level of the stomach and
we will see the second at the level of your kidneys.
I don't prefer to talk about the effect on your liver, we have very few cases where there
really impacts liver because the liver is a pretty formidable organ that will manage
to defend itself against the toxicity of ibuprofen.
But the most common complications are in the kidneys and in the stomach and that's what
I'm going to talk about in this video.
What is going on in your stomach?
what you need to know is that the stomach secretes mucus; the mucus which is this barrier
which allows you to be able to protect your gastric mucosa otherwise imagine if there
was not this mucus, then your stomach would be self-consumed because of this acidity because
many people are surprised by know how the stomach is so acidic but not upset on its
own? it is because the mucus which covers the wall of your stomach and which prevents
this acidity from being able to destroy the walls of your stomach very important role
in the secretion of mucus, that is to say this barrier which allows to protect your
stomach and especially also in the regulation of the secretion of gastric acidity and you
will end up precisely with a wall which will be thinned and if the walls are thinner then
you will break this barrier and, in this case, the acid content in your stomach will attack
your gastric mucosa and this is what will give a gastric ulcer.
we are talking about an ulcer because we are talking about a wound so this mucous membrane
will be altered, it will give a wound and that is precisely what will give rise to hemorrhages,
and if nothing is done then you could have a perforation stomach that will give you peritonitis
because all the contents of your stomach will end up in your intestines and it will create
irritation.
So, you understand how very important it is to be careful about the misuse of the 'ibuprofen
because if you don't understand that then you are going to continue to abuse it and
run the risk of your stomach destroying itself, of having the disease called gastric ulcer.
The second complications that I would like to tell you about here is in the kidneys.
We have seen that in the kidneys, there are precisely these tiny cells called nephrons
where the exchanges between the vascular and urinary systems take place and where there
is really a very large vascularization.
We know that prostaglandin acts on your kidneys to cause vasodilation.
So imagine that you are using chronic anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen which will act on
cox 1 and cox 2 and which will inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandins then there will
no longer be this vasodilation and this will cause a vasoconstriction; so these vessels
will contract and this will prevent the kidney from being able to truly perform its role
of filtering everything that we swallow because we know that the kidney is a powerful filter
it is through the kidney that a good part of what we swallow will be able to be excreted
or when you decrease the synthesis of prostaglandins then this will cause vasoconstriction which
is a contraction of the vessels and the kidney will not really be able to do its evacuation
work normally and this will predispose you and have kidney failure.
So, these are the two complications that I wanted to be able to talk about with regard
to the abuse of ibuprofen.
It is therefore very important to be able to check certain conditions before being able
to prescribe ibuprofen to a patient.
As a doctor what we do is we are going to ask the patient the question, we are going
to find out if this patient has renal failure or has had renal failure in the past or if
this patient has already had kidney failure, had a problem with their stomach i.e., gastritis
which is inflammation of the stomach, because if you have ever had an inflammation of the
stomach which is gastritis, then ibuprofen is not advised for you.
If you have ever had kidney failure then ibuprofen is not recommended for you or kidney disease
which may be worsened then ibuprofen is not recommended for you.
You have to be very careful before you can prescribe ibuprofen to a patient, please check
that this patient does not already have a problem with his stomach or a disease that
is already attacking his stomach or if this patient does not already have kidney disease
so as not to make this condition worse.
There are many other pain medications you could use that are going to give you satisfactory
results.
So, if you have found this video useful then I have taken you to share this with your loved
ones so that you can save their lives and to be able to build them.
I would like to know in the comments: How often are you taking ibuprofen?
Have you ever experienced these complications from ibuprofen i.e., gastric ulcer or digestive
bleeding or kidney failure caused by the excessive use of anti-inflammatory drugs?
Remember this: you can use ibuprofen under certain conditions and for the short term.
But long-term use of ibuprofen is not recommended.
Ibuprofen is contraindicated in people who already have problems with inflammation of
their stomachs and kidney failure.
Ibuprofen is also not recommended for people who already have high blood pressure because
like I said, you will increase the contraction in your arteries which will further increase
your blood pressure.
So, it is very important to be able to pay attention.
This is the reason why self-medication should be avoided.
Avoid self-medication because by doing so you are destroying yourself without knowing
it.
Hope this video help you to learn something new!
See you next week for a new health topic.