“When will I feel better?” That’s probably the first question you’re asking after you take a dose of ibuprofen, arguably one of the most popular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) around. And you’ll like the answer: According to Healthline, you could say goodbye to your aches, pain, or high temperature in as little as 30 minutes after taking a pill or tablet or swallowing a liquid suspension.
That’s great news, especially if you’re struggling to tame a full-blown migraine or trying to deal with the uncomfortable symptoms associated with a cold or virus. But you might still be wondering how long your dose of ibuprofen will stick around in your body. For instance, will ibuprofen keep working for a while? Or will it leave your system rapidly, causing your symptoms to return again between doses?
If you’re not thrilled about potentially losing the effectiveness of ibuprofen before you can safely take another dose (Who would be?), you can rest easy. Ibuprofen keeps working for around 10 hours. To get a clearer idea of why it takes 10 hours to fully metabolize ibuprofen, you first need to understand the concept of drug half-life.
Ibuprofen has a shorter half-life than you might think
A half-life is the time it takes for half of a drug dose to be used up. In other words, if you’re taking 200 milligrams of ibuprofen, its half-life will occur when 100 milligrams of your dose have been exhausted.
Knowing a drug’s half-life can be valuable for you as a consumer and also for providers. As explained in StatPearls, providers can use a drug’s half-life to calculate how to provide their patients with a steady concentration of the drug in question. However, once the first half-life is used (50% of the drug), the next half-life (25% of the original drug concentration) may be used up at a different rate. These are critical distinctions to consider to avoid complications related to overdosing.
According to a 2010 overview from Oman Medical Journal, ibuprofen’s half-life is between 1.8 and 2.0 hours. In other words, within a couple of hours, you should be feeling its effects but still relying on it to work for several more hours. That’s because it takes around eight hours for the remaining 50% of ibuprofen to pass out of your body by way of your liver (per SingleCare).
Stay safe by following recommended dosing guidelines
If you’re only planning to take a single ibuprofen dose, you probably won’t be too concerned that the drug will stay in your body for about 10 hours. But what if you intend to take multiple doses over the course of a day or days? In that situation, remain within the recommended dosage parameters.
Unless you’re instructed otherwise by a medical provider, adults can take 200 to 400 milligrams of ibuprofen every four to six hours (per Mayo Clinic). (Talk to your pediatrician if you need dosing advice for a child.) Just remember that each dose will take 10 hours to be excreted, so you’re going to have a natural overlap as one dose wanes and the other dose ramps up.
What would happen if you took more ibuprofen than suggested or exceeded the accepted maximum daily dose of 1,200 milligrams as outlined by MedicalNewsToday? You might put your short-term or long-term health at risk. For example, a common milder symptom related to taking too much ibuprofen is gastrointestinal distress, which will just create more problems if you’re already in pain.
Having an upset stomach is only the beginning of what could happen if you’re not conscientious about parceling out your doses with the 10-hour window in mind. Although rare, an ibuprofen overdose may cause some people to lose consciousness or go into kidney failure. Therefore, it’s best to track your dose and not overdo it.