Ibuprofen vs Magnesium for pain & inflammation
Short answer: For pain & inflammation, users rate them about the same: 96% report improvement with Ibuprofen (25 reports) and 93% with Magnesium (44 reports).
Ibuprofen has 511 meta-analyses and 1,743 randomized trials on PubMed; Magnesium has 82 and 210.
Based on 83 reports about Ibuprofen and 2,391 about Magnesium. Not medical advice.
| Ibuprofen Medication | Magnesium Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 62%helped50 reports · medium confidence | 73%helped956 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | AResearch: Strong |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 511 / 1,743 | 82 / 210 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Sleep % reporting improvement | 100% (3) | 88% (430) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 100% (5) | 90% (289) |
| Mood % reporting improvement | 90% (10) | 82% (118) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | 100% (2) | 75% (83) |
| Pain & inflammation % reporting improvement | 96% (25) | 93% (44) |
| Common side effects | stomach issues, headache, stomach ulcers, liver toxicity | diarrhea, drowsiness, stomach issues, vivid dreams |
| Typical dose reported | Not listed | 500 mg / daily |
In this study, use of ibuprofen vs acetaminophen for the treatment of fever or pain in children younger than 2 years was associated with reduced temperature and less pain within the first 24 hours of treatment, with equivalent safety.
JAMA Netw Open, 2020 ↗“I've always had a positive response to ibuprofen and would take it morning and night if it wasn't for the side effects and agmatine provides the same anti-depressant effects of ibuprofen.”
This review confirms that the quality of literature is substandard for physicians to make well-informed recommendations on usage of oral magnesium for older adults with insomnia. However, given that oral magnesium is very cheap and widely available, RCT evidence may support oral magnesium supplements (less than 1 g quantities given up to three times a day) for insomnia symptoms.
BMC Complement Med Ther, 2021 ↗“after supplementing with 400mg of Magnesium daily. Winter blues hit me hard and my multivitamin wasn't doing any justice, but once I began supplementing Magnesium, everything changed.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate