'Cuprofen' from any UK pharmacy contains ibruprofen (200mg) and codeine (12.8mg). These are the strongest OTC pain meds available as co-codamol contains only 8mg codeine. It's also very cheap. Note that Ibruprofen (Advil) is an anti-inflammatory, but generally better tolerated than prescript
ion ones. You didn't say which gave you the bad stomach, if it was diclofenac, ask your physician about
arcoxia - I found it very effective, and hadn't heard of it until my rheumatologist prescribed it.
Another good option is 'Paramol', which contains 500mg Paracetamol and about
7.8mg of dihydrocodeine. Quite a few people find that dihydrocodeine is more effective than codeine (they can metabolise it a little quicker I think) but it is otherwise very similar and a good option. Remember not to take more than 1g of Paracetamol (2 tabs) in any 4 hours.
If drowsiness is an issue then you're limited to aspirin, paracetamol, ibroprofen and diclofenac gel. Of course there's also the standard 8/500 co-codamols. Ibruprofen, codeine and paracetamol can be taken together providing the max dose for each isn't exceeded.
The pharmacist will be happy to offer advice about
these medications, I'm not a physician so don't take the above as gospel :)
take care
Edit:
I thought I'd better add that in the literature it's advised that NSAIDs (Ibruprofen, Diclofenac) should be avoided when using methotrexate (MTX). My rheumatologists (several) have never bothered with this, which I think is pretty standard practice.
And on a slightly unrelated note, may I ask what your doctor told you about
alcohol consumption and MTX? I only ask because there's been a bit of a debate on here about
it as the risk to the liver seems to depend on your geographical
location!
Post Edited (JayBespoke) : 7/25/2011 6:13:12 PM (GMT-6)