Does Too Much Advil Cause Nightmares?

I was up for most of the night last night because every time I would doze off for a bit, I would have these horrible nightmares. I'm not used to having dreams like this so I knew something was wrong and I'm blaming it on all of the Advil I've been taking due to a toothache that I've been suffering from for the last couple of days. I'm scheduled to go in for dental check-up on that tooth tomorrow, but I'm wondering if anybody else has experienced nightmares by taking the standard dose of Advil a few times a day over a 2 day period.
I'm not on any other medication nor have I had any wine with my evening meal due to the sensitivity of that tooth. But apparently I'm to find out that Advil is a very potent drug but I'm not sure if its the thing that's causing those nightmares. Anyone know?

[edit on 10-8-2007 by Palasheea]

Ibuprofen can be bad for any number of reasons, however, I have never experienced a nightmare problem while taking it.

That being said, I'm a veteran of tooth pain and would like to offer a possible solution for you. I was born with bad teeth, as were my parents, and have had problems with them my whole life.

If the pain you are facing now is due to an infection (an abscess) let me first say, I am sorry. That pain is worse than ANYTHING i have ever been through and I have also known many a woman that said it was far worse than child birth ever would be. Second, get some colloidal silver. Your best bet there is to go to a natural food store in your area. As soon as you get it put around 7 to 10 drops directing on tooth and a few under your tongue.

I have found that this method tends to knock the infection out faster than penicillin ever has and with the infection goes the pain.

Of course, keep your dentist appointment and if he says you need a root canal, trust me on this, tell him to go ahead and pull the tooth and get you an implant. Root canals cost approx. 200 to 500 dollars and then you have the 1200 to 1500 dollar crown to buy. And then they have to be watched and the crown is "recommended" to be replaced every 5 to 10 years as they tend to break down. An implant, if done right and taken care of, is for life.

Jasn

From my personal experience, I would have to say that yes, Advil can cause horrible nightmares and even night terrors if you take enough of it. Those things go right away when you stop taking that stuff.

On the plus side, a couple of Advil Liqui-Gels can even knock down a migraine in progress and allow you to function without having to hide out in a dark room in agony.

Nightmares? Night terrors? You bet.

You mean...

Originally posted by SimiusDei
Second, get some colloidal silver. Your best bet there is to go to a natural food store in your area. As soon as you get it put around 7 to 10 drops directing on tooth and a few under your tongue.

This colloidal silver?

I think not... I would also recommend to all to not take medical advice from discussion boards.

I've never heard of ibuprofen causing such an effect, but if you shouldn't be taking too much of it anyway since it's hard on the stomach.

If your dentist doesn't fix the problem, make sure he gives you a prescription for Tylenol #3 or Vicodin or something like that.

Originally posted by Mirthful Me

This colloidal silver?

I think not... I would also recommend to all to not take medical advice from discussion boards.

Sorry mirthful, but I have been using it for quite some time now and it works perfectly for me.

Notice I also recommended that he did indeed see his dentist.

I was just throwing out a possible help to the OP. If it doesn't work for them it just doesn't work. But, I myself have had some tremendous success with it.


Jasn

EDIT: As a side note, there ARE cases of people who swear by colloidal silver and use it in EXTREME amounts. A few of these cases are talked about on the page provided by mirthful. You should check them out and also keep in mind that you shouldn't drink entire bottles of nyquil at once either. That doesn't mean that it doesn't help/work in the recommended amounts.

EDIT 2: Here is a link to some Pros and Cons of CS. Just so you can check it out yourself. CS. Pros and Cons



[edit on 10-8-2007 by SimiusDei]

[edit on 10-8-2007 by SimiusDei]

I'm not sure about Advil causing nightmares as I don't think I've ever experienced it. However, I will tell you that the Hot Sauce from Del Taco does cause really bad nightmares. I don't know what it is about that stuff, but I've had some serious nightmares/terrors after eating Del Taco late in the evening.

Does anyone else know of any other foods or medicine that they have had experience with causing nightmares?

Yeah, I cant really give a good opinion on this since my body is almost immune to all meds. at this point. But, I will say that if one wears a nicotine patch to sleep, be aware. This, in fact, causes very, very bad nightmares. Taking it off before bed is the best bet, but then you want a cigg. in the morning, so... choice is yours.

I will say though, that any kind of chemical can react negatively to any one persons body, but not always to all people. Hence the, 'Do not take this medication if.....' with all medicines

Originally posted by Vinadetta

Does anyone else know of any other foods or medicine that they have had experience with causing nightmares?

I have had some pretty vicious nightmares while taking Ambien. Diphenhydramine (in benadryl and most OTC sleep aids) can also give you wicked nightmares if taken in a high dosage (around 200 to 500 mgs).

Jasn

i'm not too sure that advil would 'cause' a nightmare. in order to do that it would almost need to know what terrifies you, in a sense. only your conscious/subconcious and things like that can cause a nightmare, because afterall your mind is the one thinking of it. so does advil influence your mind when your asleep? i personaly dont know. but what i do know is that while the stress that your body is experiencing that led to your use of advil might have a role in the whole nightmare thing. so while advil might influence a nightmare-ish(word?) state it probably doesnt cause it.

but then again who knows? and even if they did their probably not going to tell anyone.

[edit on 8/10/2007 by agent violet]

Hey Jasn or SD -
Yes, ambien can be pretty awful to your mentality asleep or awake. It can lead to a hypnotic trance where you are almost unaware of what is around you, that is if you take it and stay awake purposely. But, like all other meds. (almost all, i should say) it is fine for your body if used correctly

Wow! Thanks for all of your replies and suggestions! I checked here this afternoon but there were still no replies yet so I was pleasantly surprised to see so many posts on this topic just now! Thanks so much and all of you have suggested or said one thing or another that I can connect too.
That colloidal silver suggestion is an interesting one and I will read up on that. I've got a long road ahead of me as far as tooth problems go where it was not until recently I had problems at all in this area ... but now I do and right now I'm experiencing quite a bit of pain that's somewhat kept at bay with advil.
And yes, such pain can be as horrible as childbirth or even worse because I experienced that years ago right after the removal of an impacted wisdom tooth. I should have waited until the antibiotic cleared up the infection before I had it removed by an oral surgeon but at that time I didn't know better and let me tell you! the pain I experienced that day was indescribable!! Funny someone here mentioned that but it's true!

As far as those nightmares I had last night that kept me up all night... wow! the moment I would start to doze off I was 'attacked' by 'something'... and yes there were monster-like faces.. it was horrible and I can't recall ever really experiencing anything like that before at least to the level and frequency that I did last night, but I do think it's connected to all of the advil I was taking over the past 2 days.
So I'm wondering, wow! is this stuff even safe? Sure, I suppose anything can have side effects if you take more than the prescribed amt. but I never to the level I experienced last night.
As far as those nightmares reflecting my state of mind at the time .... well, I'm fine. Other than this on and off toothache, I'm not experiencing any mood changes or anything like that, at least on a conscious level -- so I do think it's the drug. But could be the stress of the infection and the combination of side effects from too much advil ... plus my mind set... combine all of these and presto! nightmares!
Who was it, suicidevirus? You said that advil has that effect on you too.. need to read over your post again but this is what I wanted to find out... (just read your post over... yes, night terrors would be a better description of what was happening last night) if anyone else here has suffered any kind of side effects like nightmares for example. This is good to know. I'm going to talk to the dentist about this tomorrow. Maybe some of us are allergic to this drug... that could be it too.
Thanks again for all of your comments! Really appreciated it! You've all been a great help!



[edit on 10-8-2007 by Palasheea]

Take my word for it - Advil causes nightmares. For me it is almost a sure thing if I take Advil before going to bed that I will experience nightmares - nasty and upsetting. There is something wrong with this stuff!!

I have frequent migraines and use ibuprofen along with a number of other medications for them and have never experienced increased nightmares as a result of taking ibuprofen up to 2000mg before bed.

I did some looking for an actual study on ibuprofen relating to sleep and found this one:


Effects of ibuprofen on sleep quality as measured using polysomnography and subjective measures in healthy adults.
Gengo F.

DENT Neurological Institute at Millard Fillmore Hospital, Buffalo, New York 14226, USA. [email protected]

BACKGROUND: Although some literature has suggested that NSAIDs may affect sleep physiology, this observation is not consistent with clinical use of these drugs and has not been verified using standard sleep-research methodologies. OBJECTIVE: This study was undertaken to determine whether ibuprofen 400 mg administered at 3, 7, and 11 pm (total daily dose, 1200 mg) produced any significant alterations in the character and quality of night-time sleep as measured by standard sleep laboratory polysomnography (PSG) and subjective measures. METHODS: This 4-day, multiple-dose, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in a hospital-based, sleep laboratory in the United States (DENT Neurological Institute at Millard Fillmore Hospital, Buffalo, New York). Healthy subjects aged > or = 18 years spent 3 consecutive nights in a sleep laboratory. Day 1/night 1 was for acclimation; day 2/night 2, for baseline PSG and subjective sleep assessments; and day 3/night 3, for treatment effects on sleep character and quality. All subjects received placebo on days 1 and 2. On day 3, subjects received ibuprofen 400 mg or placebo TID. RESULTS: All 30 subjects (15 per group) completed the study (18 men, 12 women; all white). The mean age (SD) was 28.6 years and mean body weight was 71.4 kg. In both groups, mean values for sleep efficiency and quality of sleep were significantly higher on night 3 compared with baseline; the mean (SD) changes from baseline were not significantly different between the ibuprofen and control groups (sleep efficiency, 0.4 [6.3] and 0.3 [6.2]; quality of sleep, 8.6 [26.8] and 3.3 [21.3]). Mean night-3 sleep efficiency in the ibuprofen group was 88.6%--substantially higher than the minimally acceptable sleep efficiency of 75% stated in the protocol. Three mild adverse events were reported in 2 subjects. CONCLUSION: This study found that in these subjects a total daily dose of 1200 mg ibuprofen did not produce any clinically or statistically significant alterations in the character and quality of nighttime sleep as measured using standard sleep laboratory PSF and subjective measures.

Here's another one, hope this helps:

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs affect normal sleep patterns in humans.
Murphy PJ, Badia P, Myers BL, Boecker MR, Wright KP Jr.

Bowling Green State University, OH 43403.

Previous studies have demonstrated that some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), specifically aspirin and indomethacin, have acute negative effects on sleep in humans and animals. Whether this finding can be replicated and extended to other NSAIDs, particularly the widely used over-the-counter drugs ibuprofen and acetaminophen, was the focus of the present investigation. Thirty-seven male and female subjects slept in the sleep laboratory on 2 consecutive nights; sleep was polygraphically recorded on the second night. Three doses of a prostaglandin-inhibiting drug (i.e., aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen) or placebo were administered, one each at 2300 h on the day prior to sleep recording, and at 0815 h and 2300 h on the day sleep was recorded. Subjects slept from 2400-0800 h both nights. Aspirin and ibuprofen disrupted sleep in comparison to placebo by increasing the number of awakenings and percentage of time spent in stage wake, and by decreasing sleep efficiency. Ibuprofen also delayed the onset of the deeper stages of sleep. Acetaminophen did not differ significantly from placebo on any measure of polygraphically recorded sleep. However, every index of objective sleep reflected slight, albeit nonsignificant, sleep disruption for each drug group relative to placebo. The mechanisms of sleep disruption after NSAID administration may relate to direct and indirect consequences of inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis, including decreases in prostaglandin D2, suppression of nighttime melatonin levels, and changes in body temperature.

It could be the pain itself causing nightmares and making it hard to sleep. Medicine affects everyone differently so it could be that also. Advil is an NSAID. It can change the the pressure on blood vessels. I get vascular headaches and NSAIDs help.

I hope you feel better soon!

reply to post by Palasheea


I have been taking Advil PM before bed everynight and I have been woken up everynight with nightmares one right after the other......weird.

I take benadryl before bed, and i get the most gruesome disturbing nightmares. They are usually black and white, but the blood is always red. it's trippy. They are always full of dead, mutilated bodies, gore, and evil creatures. i am also a writer and i get incredible story ideas from my dreams so i love nightmares, especially the "waking up screaming drenched in a cold sweat" ones. so advil? i'll try that next. anything else?

Advil is ibuprofen, which I have taken a lot of on the past couple of years. I don"t get nightmares from it. I was wondering if maybe the toothache itself is the culprit or possibly a fever? Infections cause fever sometimes. I have had some crazy dreams while feverish. Ibuprofen is a fever reducer, but maybe it had worn off when you had the dream or the fever was not completely reduced.

Both Levaquin and Cipro caused insomnia and night terrors for the first day or so among other things like anxiety, nervousness, erectile dysfunction, constipation, etc but they do what they are supposed to do and everything goes away when my prescription runs out.