Are you reading the labels – do you know what you are taking?!

I was suffering from some bad head aches a few weeks ago and I was told to buy Excedrin. The first thing that came to my mind was “why am I recommended to by a label/brand and not an ingredient?”

The answer I gave myself was: Marketing – a powerful tool when used right.

I went to the store and I found a bunch of different kinds of Excedrin – Extra Strength, Back & Body, PM, Migraine, and Tension Headache…. Now all I needed to do was to label my own head ache. Was it going to increase to a Migraine, was it a tension thing, or just regular female monthly pain, that can occur wherever on the body?!

After standing in the isle for a few minutes trying to figure out what to pick I started to compare the active ingredients and this is what I found:

Excedrin Extra Strength
Acetaminophen 250 mg
Aspirin 250 mg
Caffeine 65 mg

Excedrin Back & Body
Acetaminophen 250 mg
Aspirin 250 mg
Calcium Carbonate (amount not specified)

Excedrin PM
Acetaminophen 500 mg
Diphenhydramine Citrate 38 mg

Excedrin Migraine
Acetaminophen 250 mg
Aspirin 250 mg
Caffeine 65 mg

Excedrin Tension Headache
Acetaminophen 500 mg
Caffeine 65 mg

Are you seeing what I saw right away?!
The Migraine and Extra Strength is exactly the same!
Why? More sales?

So why are some of them a mix of Acetaminophen and Aspirin and some of them just Acetaminophen? Well I would guess that it is because Aspirin has more and worse side effects – they need something for everyone, right?!
Acetaminophen is a pain reliever and a fever reducer. Aspirin is a pain reliever and an anti-inflammatory but is not to be used for fever as it can cause dramatic side effects, especially in children and younger adults. But why add Aspirin in a drug that is to relieve head aches? I can understand the Back & Body since some of that pain can be due to inflammation, but that is rarely the case for a head aches or migraines.

What about the caffeine?
It is said to boost the effect of the two pain relievers. If we feel a difference between taking with or without caffeine is, I think, to each and everyone to decide for them selves.

What about the other active ingredients?
Back & Body’s extra boost with unspecified amounts of Calcium Carbonate… Why Calcium Carbonate as it is used as a part of a regimen for preventing and treating osteoporosis in individuals with low levels of calcium in their diets (MedicineNet.com)? Who said anything about osteoporosis??? I don’t have osteoporosis, why should I take something I don’t need?

And then we have the Diphenhydramine Citrate in the PM version of Excedrin. Diphenhydramine Citrate is used to treat sneezing, runny nose, itching, watery eyes, hives, rashes, and other symptoms of allergies and the common cold as well as suppress coughs, to treat motion sickness, to induce sleep, and to treat mild forms of Parkinson's disease. (TalkMedical.com) All that for me to be able to sleep; it sounds like I would dry out my eyes, mouth and nose too!

So as a summary I feel that most of the Excedrin listed above would reduce your pain, no matter what kind of pain it is. Just pick what box looks most appealing to you. They are all Excedrin and they all say “what pain?” in their ads (just be careful if you are sensitive to Aspirin).

Lots of water, some vitamins, food, a break from whatever you are doing, and a large cup of coffee might also do the trick…

Good Luck and please read and learn about what you are taking so you only take what you really need!