Yan 

I've taken ibuprofen during tours, but not for a one day ride. But if I was riding a double century like you, then hell yeah I would.

WaveyGravey

As for over-the-counter medicines I take an occasional Aleve with good results. Also, a prescription medicine called Meloxicam that works wonders but is not good to take over a prolonged period.

Carbonfiberboy 

Randonneurs say no NSAIDS during the ride. Too often they mask problems which should be show-stoppers, leading to real injury. Injuries are the bane of the athletic life. Plus inflammation is a part of healing, that's why we have inflammation. If it weren't necessary, it wouldn't happen. DNA is almost always right. I ride with people who take NSAIDs before every ride. IMO for sure that's a bad idea.

I hadn't thought about inflammation having a role in heart disease however. Makes sense. Maybe that's the reason that those of us who hit it the hardest are also those at risk for heart disease, counterintuitively. Would the recommendation then be to take it after a hard ride? More positives than negatives? For sure, heart damage is a bad thing.

Carbonfiberboy 

For instance: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8294842/ and many similar links.

Bob Ross

I've never taken any pain relievers pre-emptively -- i.e., before the ride -- only after, and only if necessary.

However, I was recently gifted a tube of Voltaren pain relief gel, and started wondering if applying that to my chronically-crunchy, one-epic-ride-away-from-requiring-a-TKR knees before starting a ride might work prophylactically. Anyone ever use this stuff? and if so, did you apply it before going for a ride?

10 Wheels

Did most of my many miles with as Collapsed Herniated Disc at L4/L5, using Genaric Aleve.
First Year at the 9,000 mile mark.
Ended the First Year with 11,200 miles.

66 years old

WaveyGravey

I have used this stuff as recommended by a doctor. Quite honestly, I did not feel or notice any difference. Also, another product recommended by doctors is BLUE-EMU cream. Again, did not notice a difference. All applied to an aching joint.

Kabuki12

The thing to remember is that some of these anti inflamatories can cause blood thinning and that could be a problem if you are in an accident or get cut or road rash.

Carbonfiberboy 

I'm working on developing more on this issue with my cyclist and recovered Afibber PCP. If we get anywhere, I'll expand it to my cardiology community. If that comes to anything, I'll post somewhere on BF, probably Fifty Plus. So far, it's obvious that there's a causative connection between inflammation and CVD. The electrical side is iffier because cause has been little studied..

howsteepisit

"Shut up legs" is all the meds I need.

Carbonfiberboy 

Inflammation seems to power both electrical and CVD heart issues. I've been googling all over the place, following threads, wondering if there was a way to reduce coronary inflammation and stop this stuff from progressing. The general opinion seems to be that NSAIDs are a bad thing if you have CVD or electrical problems. There's a nice study of a new drug which reduces coronary inflammation, but costs a fortune. I'm taking Repatha to reduce cholesterol because I can't tolerate statins, and it turns out that Repatha also knocks down inflammatory cytokines and IL factors. Seems like that's the best I can do toward preserving my heart. My understanding is that moderate aerobic exercise reduces inflammation while hard aerobics increases it. Which kind of explains why those of us who've been competitive as we've aged have more problems than most. Repatha is also expensive but my insurance cuts it down to ~$100/month which is totally worth it for me.

Any ideas?

diphthong

never...now if we are talking beer...that's an entirely different story...