There are hundreds of medications who promises to help relieve the symptoms that comes with gout. While some of which are effective in relieving the condition, there are some who are really worthless. There are some that gives long-lasting relief, while there are also some who just give short yet quality relief for the condition. Therefore, people commonly seek the comparisons online. Unluckily, there are just few comparisons and reviews that are available out there. Not just that, most of them are very biased. Two of the most argued medications for gout are ibuprofen and diclofenac. This article aims to review which of the two medications are better in treating gout, ibuprofen or diclofenac.
Ibuprofen vs. Diclofenac: The Difference
Diclofenac is actually a medication that is prescribed to those who are suffering from gout. This particular treatment for gout doesn’t lower the uric acid. However, it may help in masking the inflammation and pain for the time it is used or consumed. Moreover, it is a Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs or NSAID. Thus, it works by inhibiting the cyclooxygenase enzyme. This cyclooxygenase enzyme plays a very important role in kindling and relieving the inflammation and pain caused by the condition. The diclofenac is actually beneficial in getting rid of the inflammation and pain thru the removal of your capacity to feeling them. This isn’t just the prowess of diclofenac; it is not just for gout, it can be used in some other illnesses that are related to inflammation and pain.
On the other hand, ibuprofen is a derivation of Aspirin. It, in fact, belongs to the NSAID group of drugs or Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs, the same as the Diclofenac. It also works as an anti-inflammatory and has various pain-killing effects to the body. Moreover, it is available in a number of dosage forms, just like topical gel, capsules, tablets, suppository, and suspension
There are some who say that there is no difference between the two, except for a fact that diclofenac must be prescribed and the ibuprofen can be bought even over the counter.
NSAIDs Mechanisms
As what is stated earlier, both ibuprofen and diclofenac fall under the Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs or NSAID classification. But do you know that these drugs, and the others that are under NSAIDs have the same mechanism? Well, to try to understand it, we must first understand the way the body feels the pain.
Pain is actually one of the alarm systems of the body. Allover the body, there are nociceptors that have pain threshold in it. When the degree of pain may breach the threshold, then you will begin to feel the pain. The greater the threshold, the more the pain that will kick in.
Moreover, there are two different ways in reaching the pain threshold. One is making the degree of pain high enough and the other is to lower the pain threshold so that the quality of the pain signals may breach it easily. The body has mechanisms, which help the latter way, this mechanism is what ibuprofen and diclofenac mess with.
The pain that you feel is actually part of your own self defense mechanism. The greater the pain, the more that you will desire to remove whatever it is that causes it. Therefore, when the body is under attack, the body takes down the pain threshold. Thus signaling that the body is fighting off something on that particular area and gives you the desire that you have to remove it even if you cannot do anything about it at all.
Ibuprofen and Diclofenac: How do they remove the inflammation and pain?
The NSAIDs bond with the cyclooxygenase enzymes so that it can’t convert the arachidonic acid into some signals. Therefore, the pain threshold cant be reduces and the inflammation is minimized.
The main difference between ibuprofen and diclofenac is that the diclofenac prefers the blocking of cox2. However, ibuprofen is not that selective. This is since the cox1 is the one that maintains the gastrointestinal lining, the diclofenac may impose lesser gastrointestinal damage.
Ibuprofen and diclofenac may also differ when it comes to potency. Diclofenac being much more effective. Unluckily, it also means that the degree of the side effects of the diclofenac is much higher. For example, diclofenac may cause cardiovascular illnesses but it is more effective than the other one.
Conclusion
Diclofenac is more effective than the ibuprofen, however, it may cause more severe side effects. Moreover, ibuprofen needs a larger dose to affect the inflammation. Unluckily, both of which are not capable of addressing the root cause of the problem. They are just both masks that can temporarily relieve the pain and the inflammation. So if you want a more lasting solution top gout, go and search for the best, because at the end of the day, your decision is still what matter s the most.
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