If you have osteoarthritis, then your physician may provide you with medication to treat the disease. Medication is likely to include an NSAID pain reliever, and this medicine can seem similar to the ibuprofen or acetaminophen you can purchase over the counter. While this is true, the medicine is quite a bit different in several different ways. Keep reading to find out why.

You Only Take One Pill

You may have heard that certain pain relievers cause damage to the liver and the kidneys. The good news is that most pain relievers absorb directly into the body. Acetaminophen does not, but it has very little effect on the organs. This means that you can potentially take Advil and other drugs up to the maximum 2400 milligrams each and every day.

However, when you take medicine every four to six hours, you are unlikely to experience real and lasting relief. Instead, you will notice a teeter-totter of pain reduction and inflammation. When you take the medicine, your body is flooded with it and inflammation reduces. You start to feel less pain, but the medicine slowly starts to wear off. When this happens, the inflammation starts to build up again. You are never truly free of the inflammation in this scenario. 

If you take a single dose NSAID, then the medication works to reduce inflammation over a 24 hour period. This means consistent relief and only one pill a day. Medicines like Meloxicam, for example, control inflammation so joints can heal and so that stiffness can subside. 

It Reduces Gastrointestinal Issues

Many NSAID pain relievers cause gastrointestinal issues. Specifically, the medicines can cause some stomach bleeding, ulcers, and general nausea. If you take something like ibuprofen over a long period of time, then the chances of developing and issue increase substantially. 

Medicines like Meloxicam work differently than other NSAID pain relievers and stop a specific type of inflammatory compounds from being released into the body. This prevents many of the stomach and intestinal issues. Specifically, the medicine works to keep a smaller group of inflammatory compounds from being released into the body. Other NSAIDs treat the whole body, and this means taking stronger medicines. 

While all day NSAID pain relievers can provide consistent pain relief, it may take some time for you to see the full effect of the medicines. Take the medication for several weeks before gauging the overall results of the medicine. In some cases, you may need to take a somewhat stronger dose of the medication, so let your doctor know if you are not seeing the pain relief that you expected. 

For more information on arthritis pain relief, contact a company like Arthritis Associates of Kingsport.