Overdosing on Ibuprofen Causes Stomach Bleeding

Overdosing on Ibuprofen Causes Stomach Bleeding
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Overdosing on Ibuprofen Causes Stomach Bleeding

Overdosing on Ibuprofen Causes Stomach Bleeding

Many adults who use ibuprofen and other so-called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs take too much, increasing their risk of serious side effects like internal bleeding and heart attacks, a US study suggests.

About 15 percent of adults taking ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) or other NSAIDs like aspirin, naproxen (Aleve), celecoxib (Celebrex), meloxicam (Mobic) and diclofenac (Voltaren) exceeded the maximum recommended daily dose for these drugs, the study found.

“NSAIDs are among the most commonly used medicines in the U.S. and worldwide,” said lead study author Dr. David Kaufman of Boston University.

“These drugs can have serious side effects, including gastrointestinal bleeding and heart attacks, and are often taken without medical oversight because many products are available over-the-counter,” Kaufman said by email. “The attitude that users can choose their own dose regardless of label directions, along with poor knowledge of dosing limits, is associated with exceeding the daily limit.”

For the study, 1,326 people who reported taking ibuprofen in the previous month completed online medication diaries every day for one week.

All of the participants took ibuprofen during the diary week, and 87 percent of them only used over-the-counter, or nonprescription, versions, researchers report in Pharmacoepidemiology & Drug Safety.

Overall, 55 percent of participants took ibuprofen at least three days during the week, and 16 percent took it every day.

In addition to ibuprofen, 37 percent of the participants reported taking at least one other NSAID during the week, most often aspirin or naproxen. Less than half of them recognized that all of the products they were taking were NSAIDs.

One limitation of the study is that researchers only focused on recent and current ibuprofen users, which may not reflect what doses might be typical for sporadic or new users, the authors note.

Even so, the findings highlight a potential downside of making NSAIDs widely available without a prescription, said Dr. Gunnar Gislason, director of research for the Danish Heart Foundation in Copenhagen.

“I believe that the message sent to the consumer when these drugs are widely available in convenience stores and gas stations is that these drugs are safe and you can use them safely for pain relief - thus no need for reading the label,” Gislason, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

Even when people do read the label, they may still ignore it.

“If the recommended dosage does not give sufficient pain relief, it is easier to take more pills than seeking professional advice from a healthcare person or doctor,” Gislason added.

While doctors may prescribe NSAIDs for some muscle and joint disorders and certain other health problems, these drugs aren’t appropriate for many of the reasons that patients may buy them at the drugstore, said Dr. Liffert Vogt of the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

“In my opinion NSAIDs should not be available as an over-the-counter drug, because of all their deleterious effects,” Vogt, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.

“For occasional use, acetaminophen (again in the right dose) is a much safer option and very efficacious as a painkiller,” Vogt added. “But we know that many people use NSAIDs for indications other than pain, such as flu, allergies, fever - and there is no medical base that indicates that NSAIDs or acetaminophen are of any use under these circumstances.”



Spain Says April Blackout Was Caused by Grid Failures and Poor Planning, Not a Cyberattack 

This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
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Spain Says April Blackout Was Caused by Grid Failures and Poor Planning, Not a Cyberattack 

This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 
This photograph shows a general view of Barcelona at night, partially without electricity, with the Sagrada Familia seen on the right, following a massive power cut affecting the entire Iberian peninsula and the south of France, on April 28, 2025. (AFP) 

Spain's government said Tuesday that the massive April power outage across Spain and Portugal that left tens of millions of people disconnected in seconds was caused by technical and planning errors that left the grid unable to handle a surge in voltage.

Ecological Transition Minister Sara Aagesen, who manages the nation's energy policy, told reporters that a voltage surge led to small grid failures, mainly in the south of Spain, which then cascaded to larger ones and brought the system down in the two Iberian Peninsula nations.

She ruled out that the failure was due to a cyberattack.

The outage began shortly after noon on April 28 in Spain and lasted through nightfall, disrupting businesses, transit systems, cellular networks, internet connectivity and other critical infrastructure. Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity, or about 60% of its supply. Portugal, whose grid is connected to Spain's, also went down. Only the countries' island territories were spared.

“All of this happened in 12 seconds, with most of the power loss happening in just five seconds,” Aagesen said.

Several technical causes contributed to the event, including “poor planning” by Spain's grid operator Red Eléctrica, which didn’t find a replacement for one power plant that was supposed to help balance power fluctuations, the minister said.

She also said that some power plants that utilities shut off preventively when the disruptions started could have stayed online to help manage the system.

Power was fully restored by the early hours of the following day.

The government's report included analysis from Spain's national security agencies, which concluded, according to the minister, there were no indications of cyber-sabotage by foreign actors.

The government had previously narrowed down the source of the outage to three power plants that tripped in southern Spain.

In the weeks following the blackout, citizens and experts were left wondering what triggered the event in a region not known for power cuts. The outage ignited a fierce debate about whether Spain's high levels of renewable power and not enough energy generated from nuclear or gas-fired power plants had something to do with the grid failing, which the government has repeatedly denied.

Spain is at the forefront of Europe's transition to renewable energy, having generated nearly 57% of its electricity in 2024 from renewable energy sources like wind, hydropower and solar. The country is also phasing out its nuclear plants.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez pushed back against such speculation and defended the country's rapid ramping up of renewables. He asked for patience and said that his government would not “deviate a single millimeter” from its energy transition plans, which include a goal of generating 81% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.