Ibuprofen's anti inflammatory properties

[ausguerila]

Does ibuprofen's anti inflammatory properties only start working after digestion or do they work beforehand: as is, as a tablet?

[CharonY]

How do you propose it to work in tablet form? Also, it does not get digested per se, more dissolved within the body.

[ausguerila]

So does it work in tablet form or does it only work after digestion?

[CharonY]

I have no clue what you are asking. The active substance is pressed into a tablet form for delivery. In order to work it has to get into your bloodstream and from there to the site(s) of inflammation. Tablets are designed to dissolve in a predictable way. Typically for ibuprofen it is designed to dissolve fast. There is no active digestion component. 

[ausguerila]

So the ibuprofen does not chemically change in your body to produce its anti inflammatory properties?

[Itoero]

On ‎31‎-‎7‎-‎2017 at 7:53 AM, ausguerila said:

So the ibuprofen does not chemically change in your body to produce its anti inflammatory properties?

It's a Synthetic drug, if it chemically changes, it can't do its job anymore. You might like this video:

 

 

[DrP]

On ‎31‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 4:54 AM, ausguerila said:

Does ibuprofen's anti inflammatory properties only start working after digestion or do they work beforehand: as is, as a tablet?

How could it work before it has been digested? I would assume that the placebo element of it could work before it dissolves/digests, but for the drug to work as it is designed it needs to get into the blood stream.

[CharonY]

42 minutes ago, DrP said:

How could it work before it has been digested? I would assume that the placebo element of it could work before it dissolves/digests, but for the drug to work as it is designed it needs to get into the blood stream.

I think it depends on how you define digestion. Normally it would refer to an active process involving e.g. enzymatic actions. I guess, in a pinch you could also describe the release of compounds from a tablet as digestion, but personally I would find it slightly unusual. That being said, ibuprofen is usually delivered in a racematic formulation and after absorption by the body there is a conversion from the R- to the S-entatniomer, IIRC,

[DrP]

1 minute ago, CharonY said:

I think it depends on how you define digestion. Normally it would refer to an active process involving e.g. enzymatic actions. I guess, in a pinch you could also describe the release of compounds from a tablet as digestion, but personally I would find it slightly unusual. That being said, ibuprofen is usually delivered in a racematic formulation and after absorption by the body there is a conversion from the R- to the S-entatniomer, IIRC,

Thanks - I do not know too much about it's mechanism. I was just intrigued as to how someone could think it might work BEFORE digestion...  it doesn't make sense to me.  I know that the placebo effect can play a big part in pain killing...  that is the only mechanism I can think of that would cause it to have any effect before digestion occurs.

 

[hikinmike]

Taken orally, medications undergo the process of metabolism prior to being utilized.  Medications injected, applied topically, or taken sub-lingually do not undergo the digestive process.  Having been afflicted with rheumatoid arthritis for > 30 years, I am familiar with oral anti-inflammatory meds and their  effects on the GI system.  For pain mitigation, an injection of Demerol works much quicker than a 10 mg Oxycodone.  Not a pharmacologist, but it seems absorption after 'digestive' modification is slower.

[John Cuthber]

It seems there's some confusion about digestion and metabolism.

For example, aspirin isn't a useful drug. However it is metabolised in the body to form salicylic acid which is a painkiller.

Digestion refers to the processes that happen in the gut and it usually refers to food degradation. Most metabolism takes place in the liver (though it can happen anywhere in the body).

Drugs don't (often) work before they are digested because, at that point they are still in the gut lumen somewhere.

 

[Phi for All]

On 8/2/2017 at 8:10 AM, CharonY said:

I guess, in a pinch you could also describe the release of compounds from a tablet as digestion, but personally I would find it slightly unusual.

Unusual enough that it's obviously caused the OP's confusion. It seems to me that medicine delivered in this way doesn't fit the definition of "food" required by the best definition of "digestion".

[Function]

I think he's thinking of it as directly toxic etc., just as would antacidics directly neutralise stomach acid?

Can't think of another example than antacidics, actually. Or certain laxatives.

[IanH]

You could hold the tablet under your tongue until it has dissolved. Some of it will enter the blood stream directly without passing through your gut (absorption not digestion as has been pointed out). However it will have NO effect until dissolved and absorbed into the blood stream. As for the placebo effect that depends on the person and the type of pain. Ibuprophen reduces inflammatory pain which is "nociceptive" pain but has little or no effect on other forms of pain such as neuropathic pain in particular allodynia which is very susceptible to placebo effect if not too strong a pain. In fibromyalgia much of the pain is allodynia and ibuprophen has no effect.