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Essay / Everything You Need to Know About Ibuprofen I didn't even know about this article. I know what it was! What if I told you Advil, the drug that kills headaches, aches, and mild pain was actually ibuprofen. Everyone has taken Advil at least once in their life to treat a headache or get rid of pain. Ibuprofen is a drug widely used at all ages, but the consumer knows absolutely nothing about it, for example: how it works, how it is manufactured, its side effects and even if it is worth taking. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an Original EssayThe purpose of this article is to educate consumers about the world-famous pain reliever, ibuprofen; who created the drug, how ibuprofen works, its uses, how it is made, what it is made of, the main manufacturers of the drug and the disadvantages of using this product. Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (a medication that reduces swelling and relieves pain) (“Ibuprofen | Encyclopedia.com,” nd). In the scientific community, ibuprofen is known as methylpropylphenylpropanoic acid. Its active ingredient (the ingredient that is “biologically” active) is the chemical ibuprofen (“Ibuprofen,” 2018). Chemicals are made up of a fixed proportion of atoms arranged in a certain way. The chemical formula is like the list of ingredients on a packet of biscuits, it tells you all the ingredients and the quantity of each ingredient (“Chemical formula”, nd). The chemical formula for ibuprofen is C13H18O2, this tells us that ibuprofen is made up of thirteen carbon atoms, eighteen hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms ("Chemical Formula", nd). We use chemical formulas to help describe certain elements and molecules; they give us a basic understanding of a chemical before we know what it is (“Chemical Formula,” n.d.). In conclusion, chemical formulas tell us about the proportions of elements in a chemical, making them easier to understand. When ibuprofen was created, it was revolutionary because it was one of the first over-the-counter (OTC) medications in over a generation, and even more effective. than aspirin to relieve pain. Over-the-counter medications are medications that you can buy without a prescription (“Ibuprofen | Encyclopedia.com,” nd). With ibuprofen, it paved the way for future over-the-counter medications, without which more than 60 million Americans would not seek treatment for their illness ("Statistics on OTC Use," n.d.). Ibuprofen was the first over-the-counter pain reliever to hit drugstores in more than a generation. The main non-subscription pain reliever was aspirin, which was introduced in 1899, but it is much less effective than ibuprofen ("Ibuprofen | Encyclopedia. com", n.d.). . Ibuprofen was developed by Boots Laboratories (a British drug manufacturer and retailer). They identified the soothing analgesic agent in aspirin, called carboxylic acid (“Ibuprofen | Encyclopedia. com”, nd ). Boots Laboratories studied carboxylic acids in more detail and found one that was twice as powerful as that of aspirin. They synthesized and tested more than 600 compounds created from these acids, the most active of them being propanoic acid, which was chosen for a clinical trial. however, this was not successful (“Ibuprofen | Encyclopedia. com”, nd). Eventually, they turned to other compounds they had synthesized from phenylalkanoic acids, which appeared to offer broader anti-inflammatory properties (“Ibuprofen | Encyclopedia.com,” n.d.). Eventually they came across ibuprofen (methylpropylphenylpropanoic acid) which they began selling in 1964 in the UK, under the prescription drug name Brufen, and then in the US in 1974, and which was approved for selling over the counter in smaller doses ("Ibuprofen | Encyclopedia.com," nd). Ibuprofen was a hugely influential drug when it was discovered and still is today. Ibuprofen is a widely mass-produced drug, manufactured and manufactured by thousands of companies, one of the largest of them, Pfizer, which is the parent company of Advil ("Pfizer", 2018). Pfizer is a pharmaceutical company based in New York and was founded over 169 years ago (“Pfizer,” 2018). Pfizer also makes more drugs than ibuprofen. When Pfizer makes Advil, they make sure their formula remains top secret, but there are some basic ideas about how it's made. First, the raw materials are shipped to the factory where they are processed in bulk (Advil Tablet Manufacturing Process, 2012). They are then granulated and then coated with a layer of sugar (this aims to increase product satisfaction so that the consumer uses it again); then the tablets are polished and stapled with the Advil logo (Advil Tablet Manufacturing Process, 2012). Advil and other ibuprofen products are recommended for mild pain such as headaches, muscle pain, back pain, menstrual pain, minor arthritis and other joint pain, aches and pains. due to colds, toothaches, migraines, joint pain and surprisingly high doses. may help slow lung disease (“Cystic fibrosis: Ibuprofen linked to slower decline in lung function in children, study suggests,” 2018). Although ibuprofen has many benefits, people constantly overdose from using it too often. If you constantly take ibuprofen, your body's pain threshold will be much lower than that of the average person. Ibuprofen may seem like magic to most people, but there's a lot of science going on when you take it. When cells are damaged, they release a chemical called arachidonic acid (How Ibuprofen Works, 2012). Two enzymes called COX-1 and COX-2 break down arachidonic acid and form prostaglandin H2 (How Ibuprofen Works, 2012). This is then converted to TXA2, PGD2, PGE2 and PGF2, these chemicals increase body temperature, cause inflammation and lower your body's pain threshold (How Ibuprofen Works, 2012). When nociceptors receive pain above this threshold, they send signals to the brain which then stimulate pain (How Ibuprofen Works, 2012). The second you take an ibuprofen medication, your stomach breaks it down and is then absorbed into your bloodstream where it then attaches to the two enzymes COX-1 and COX-2 block arachidonic acid from entering into blood circulation, thus preventing the pain signal from progressing further. It has been proven that if you take it too often, it has a dramatic effect on your hearing, bones, and kidneys (How Ibuprofen Works, 2012). Not to mention that NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), if taken too often, increase the risk of heart attacks and heart problems by 33% (“The Risks of Ibuprofen..
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