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What is the best OTC for the liver?

I remember when I had hepatitis c, I was told I think Tylenol is rough on the liver & try avoiding it as much as possible. Is it better to take ibuprofen or aspirin? Sometimes when I take some OTC pain meds my liver will start acting up with inflammation & I know it's best to avoid all OTC pain meds, sometimes they are necessary so I'm curious which is best on the liver to take in those situations where it's necessary?

  1. Hey Tash,

    Thanks for asking your question! I do hope others in the community chime in with different OTCs that may have been beneficial to them and their liver. I can imagine others having similar questions to this one! 😀 While I cannot offer treatment advice via the internet (for your safety) I encourage you to talk to your Dr. (if you haven't already done so) about the best OTC for your liver. Let us know if you get any answers. Thanks for asking this question and for being here. Best, Lauren (HepatitisC.net Team)

    1. HI Tash, sorry for the late response. I have been out of town since last Thursday. Lauren gave you good advice about speaking to your doctor. The answer is never as simple as it seems. For example, if a person has cirrhosis like I did, the worst thing for them is plain old aspirin. It lowers platelets and can cause bleeding. Cirrhotic patients already have low platelets. Tylenol worked best for me and again, because I had cirrhosis, I was directed to only take up to 1000 mg in a 24 hour period. Infact when interferon was first used with interferon, Schering Plough, the manufacturer, packed tylenol with the interferon. So please ask the doc and I hope you only feel the need for an OTC once in a blue moon. Feel good. ~ Sue, Community Moderator

      1. Thank you both for your answers!! That was actually interesting information Susan about interferon & Tylenol & also just the fact it depends on the situation & how far the hepatitis c had progressed. I guess I really didn't realize how many variations come into play with what might be better than the other. I do remember back in 2014 & 2015 I was told to try staying away from Tylenol & that ibuprofen was advised even though ibuprofen had never helped me in any way. I was never really gave any advice though after I was officially declared cured other than if I ever wanted to get tested again in the future that I can just contact them & they would run a test for me. That's about all though. I think mostly my doctors were all so new to the new cures too since I was the first in my entire area of the state to ever get one of the DAAs, so I think they were going through a lot of learning along with me. I did switch to Advil over Excedrin since Excedrin has both Tylenol & aspirin, cause I unfortunately was dealing with severe cramps during that time of the month which I've always suffered severe cramps during that time since I was 10 lol but my liver was getting so inflamed it was only causing more added pain so when I tried just using Advil instead it seemed to help calm my liver issues down more. I do agree though that the best is to just only use otc when absolutely necessary otherwise best is to avoid them. Thank you again guys!

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