Ibuprofen and water retention/weight gain

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  • srfahy90
    srfahy90 Posts: 1 Member
    I am so relieved to read these posts. I had dental surgery about a week ago, and I've been popping ibuprofen like crazy because I've been in pain. About 800 milligrams 3 time a day, maybe more. I have been running everyday, even though I wasn't supposed to exercise for a couple of weeks. I've gained about 3 pounds in a week though, which totally sucks. Today I worked out for about 2 hours trying to get myself back to normal and to no avail.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    cktb4him wrote: »
    I have to take ibuprofen every once in awhile for aches and pains from fibromyalgia and IC and endo. When I do it seems my weight immediately goes up about three to five pounds. I have monitored what I am eating and I never have anything out of the ordinary and am right at my calorie level for MFP (set at 1200 right now). After I stop taking it my weight goes down after about a day or two. What gives??? Has anyone else seen this happen with their weight and ibuprofen? Just wondering if I'm a weird anomaly or if this happens to alot of people. :huh:

    I take it 3X week for training purposes to deal with chronic pain as well as I train at high level for competition.

    1. It probably has more to do with stress than ibuprofen. When you don't feel the need to take it, your body is lessed stressed of pain. When you do feel the need to take it, more stress. Stress caused the body to activate the immune system more which causes temporary weight gain.
    2. If your weight goes down, than you see the trend and no reason to concern with weight fluctuations. Only trends over long term.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,943 Member
    Oh gosh, this is a really old ghost thread!

    But anyway. I kind of tend to agree with the post right above mine. If you feel sick you might move a bit less. At a desk job that might mean less getting up to get something to drink, fidgeting less, moving the legs less. This could result in a) a bit more waterweight in the legs if you happen to have that problem. Or less bowel movement. The same is true after surgery.

    Things like fibro or rheuma flareups lend themselves to a bit more water weight as the body is trying to heal itself. Nothing unusual there. The same after surgery.

    Sure it's possible that ibuprofen can lead to more waterweight (I've not looked it up), but I would first of all look at the underlying reason of why you take that tablet. Btw, ibuprofen is rather bad for the stomach and should only be taken for a very short time.