J.Higgins 

Do you guys carry any aspirins or Advils or the like while on tour? Seems to me that some days are better than others, but also some days are tough. When I hiked, I usually had a little bottle of Bayer aspirin. 1-2 tablets usually helped me with minor discomfort after a long haul. I'm getting old. I think of sh-stuff like this.

What do you guys do?

Machka 

I carry a small pharmacy with me.

robow

A pair of ibuprofen along with a pair of acetaminophen is generally a very effective analgesic.

boomhauer

beer or wine is just fine.

Flintshooter

I'm on a blood thinner that eliminates most of the variations of vitamin I, but my knees demand something on occasion so Tylenol is a must.

DropBarFan

Never used OTC analgesics for cycling, they seem to have limited effectiveness, exercise endorphins & stretching seem better at minimizing minor aches. & if something is hurting bad the cause has to be fixed.

prathmann

I've had some bouts with high pain levels and carry some morphine on tours. Fortunately I've never had to use it while touring.

SparkyGA

I carry whatever painkillers I can find in a pharmacy. Rarely to do with touring muscle pain but more to do with random aliments that might strike. However I do carry a full course of antibiotics and upset stomach OTC drugs for food poisoning related illnesses as I tend be weak to the E Coli bacteria and other gut wrenching bugs.

dabac

Any day gets better with some Diclofenac!
And if I'm really hurting, I top it off with some Paracetamol.

skimaxpower

Yes, I carry advil.

More importantly, carry benadryl. Sleep aid, eases hayfever, and can save the life of someone having an allergic reaction.

jefnvk

I generally toss the remainder of whatever generic bottle of painkillers I've got lying around into my first aid kit on any sort of outdoor trip. Figure if something is going wrong enough that I use that up, they're either easy enough to come by that I can obtain more when needed, or the problem is severe enough that I probably need medical attention.

Careful if you ever tour outside of the US, carrying that!

rumrunn6

had a water bottle w a little pill compartment on it. thought that was smart. grab your chest, fall to the ground, reach for the asprin & chew, find cell phone & dial 911, etc etc. never happened of course. don't use that bottle anymore. but I carry something, forget what actually. this winter I had some outer knee discomfort & thought it might have been some old IT Band issue rearing it's ugly head. started some ibuprofen dosing & using a knee warmer. last cpl rides it seems to have subsided. I also took a cpl weeks off last month due to scheduling issues & that may have helped

andrewclaus

This for me too. The cause might simply be too much cycling. Possible organ damage from OTC med use is not worth the risk for me.

I understand many have debilitating painful conditions and need painkillers to function, and the reward of improved lifestyle is worth the risk. But heavy doses of Vitamin I for a sore knee that will get better if you lower the saddle, lighten the load, or slow down a bit may not be worth it.

At the beginning of my long distance cycling "career," I had joint and tendon pain regularly. I read about bike fit and saddle position and pedal float and fixed many of those problems. I gradually started carrying less stuff and that fixed the rest.

indyfabz

I am on blood thinners and still carry Vitamin I in the event wine is ineffective.

veganbikes

I carry a little slogan called HTFU and promptly toss it out and reach for some ibuprofen if absolutely needed. I try to avoid it when possible but being in pain to the point you can't get back on and ride is no good.

Generally making sure your bike is fit/sized properly and everything is adjusted for proper comfort and having appropriate gear is handy. Pushing yourself overly hard isn't helpful either. Also good stretching can help sometimes as well.

jefnvk

Ha!

But seriously, I crashed the night before my first tour. Impaled my leg on a glass bottle and pulled my groin, the first two days I pretty much only got on and off the bike in the morning, at lunch, and at the end of the day. It was nice to have some painkillers for that, they're not only for general aches and pains, and to not have to toss the bikes on a train and skip the tour.

mstateglfr 

A bit dramatic. That possible damage is so incredibly remote its not worth seriously mentioning. Anyone with the ability to tour has the skills to read an OTC label and follow it.

gorshkov

NSAIDs (Ibubrofen, etc.) don't just mask symptoms. They're anti-inflammatories too, so they are really helpful for minor stress injuries. Topical anti-inflammatories are useful too. Once on tour, I aggravated an old stress injury to my Achilles tendon, and Arnica Gel turned out to help a lot with that.

DXchulo

Not a big drug guy, even though others' dependence on them pays a large portion of my bills.

Pain is trying to tell you something. Sometimes it's little nagging stuff that you can push through, like a little pain in the ass. Other times it's more serious, like when I got some knee pain that was actually solved by stretching. If I ate pain meds instead of stretching, I may have made the situation worse in the long term.

A little pain here and there is part of the fun. It's not supposed to be easy.

J.Higgins 

I take Advil maybe twice a month. My true pain relief would be bourbon, but that has side-effects all unto its own, which we've already discussed. Nothing like a hot bath to shed the aches and pains, and that's what I do. On tour it'll be different. A hot shower will have to do when I can get one.

Cyclist0108

Heroin. I cook it with this first, so that it will be properly aero:

winston63 

I pack a small medical kit and that includes ibuprofen, Benadryl, a few things for stomach and digestive issues etc. I don't take ibuprofen for normal muscle soreness, but it’s good to have on hand as it’s a very effective anti-inflammatory and that can be very helpful with certain minor injuries.

Cyclist0108

FYI: FDA strengthens warning that NSAIDs increase heart attack and stroke risk

DropBarFan

LULZ, bikers need "Belgian pot": a vague mix of opiates to dull pain & speed to motorvate.

Seriously though, I wonder if anti-inflammatory drugs are even healthy for bikers...inflammation is the body's way of cleansing/healing stressed tissues. BTW I've read that old practice of icing injured spots has been discredited: previous idea was to minimize swelling but they found it doesn't help healing time. A light healthy diet will work better to prevent aches & inflammation better than pills.

Cyclist0108

The link I posted about increase incidence of stroke and heart attack is a bit sobering. I also read somewhere else a more recent study linked taking them during exercise, rather than after, further increases the risk.