The short answer
This is my opinion. I think we treat ibuprofen like candy, and I believe it contributed to my father-in-law’s death and my friend’s hearing loss. I cannot prove either, and nobody ran a study on them.
The box itself warns about severe stomach bleeding and a higher risk of heart attack, heart failure, and stroke. Hearing loss is not on the box, and group studies on it are mixed. If you take a pain reliever every day, talk to a clinician or pharmacist.
Just so you know: I’m not naming either man, and I haven’t seen their medical records. What I believe happened to them is my belief. The research I mention describes patterns in large groups of people. It doesn’t prove what happened to any one person, and it doesn’t prove that earlier access to cannabis would have saved my friend’s hearing.
Why I’m writing this
How many ibuprofen do you think are in your house right now? Not just the medicine cabinet. The car, the junk drawer, the gym bag, the coat pocket?
When my father-in-law died, we found out his number. It was everywhere. His pockets, the drawers, the car, places you would never think to look. He was 71 and, as far as any of us knew, in perfect health. Then a major brain aneurysm took him.
I think ibuprofen killed him. I can’t prove it, I’m not a doctor, and nobody ran a study on him. But I believe it, and I’m not going to act like I don’t.
I also have a friend who wears a hearing aid at 54. He took ibuprofen every day for neck pain, for years. I’m convinced that is what cost him his hearing.
I’m not writing this to be careful. I’m writing it because I have the right to say what I think, and what I think is that we treat a bottle that can do real damage like it’s candy.
It works. That’s the problem.
Nobody is arguing that ibuprofen doesn’t work.
Doctors prescribe it too.
So you take it for a stiff neck, you feel better, and the next morning you reach for it again, and the morning after that.
The label tells you to use the smallest dose that works and not to take more than directed.
Ten days. My friend went years. My father-in-law carried it the way other people carry gum. It worked yesterday, it’s right there, so it must be fine. Familiar is not the same as safe.
Read the box
You don’t have to take my word for any of this. Read the box.
The Drug Facts say this class of drugs, NSAIDs, may cause severe stomach bleeding.
MedlinePlus, summarizing the same kind of required information, says the risk can show up at any time.
That’s what I mean by harm to the gut. Bleeding, ulcers, holes. Not some trendy microbiome story.
The same label says NSAIDs other than aspirin increase the risk of heart attack, heart failure, and stroke.
Stroke. It’s printed right on the box. I’m not saying the label proves anything about my father-in-law. It doesn’t. What I’m saying is that a man in perfect health with ibuprofen in every pocket died of an aneurysm in his brain, and the box in his pocket warns about stroke. I think that deserves more than a shrug.
The label also lists when to stop and get help.
What about hearing?
Hearing loss is not listed on those over-the-counter Drug Facts.
That doesn’t make me feel any better. MedlinePlus lists ringing in the ears as a possible side effect of ibuprofen.
For aspirin, a related but different medicine, ringing in the ears or loss of hearing is a reason to call a doctor right away.
Ringing isn’t the same as permanent hearing loss, and aspirin isn’t ibuprofen. I get that. But the ear is not off limits for this family of drugs.
Researchers who followed big groups of people for years keep finding the same kind of signal. Here is what they found.
| Study | Who | What they found |
|---|---|---|
| Men, 2010 | 26,917 men | NSAIDs as a class, used two or more times a week, linked to about 21% higher risk of self-reported professionally diagnosed hearing loss. Aspirin and acetaminophen were linked too. Not ibuprofen alone. |
| Women, 2012 | 62,261 women | Ibuprofen six or more days a week linked to about 24% higher risk of self-reported hearing loss vs. less than once a week. Aspirin was not. |
| Women, 2017 | 55,850 women | A slight increase after more than six years of NSAID or acetaminophen use. Not aspirin. NSAIDs as a class, not ibuprofen alone. |
| Review, 2015 | Systematic review | Results mixed. No formal hearing tests confirmed or refuted the questionnaire findings. |
That’s a pattern in groups of people, not proof about one man’s ears. I understand the difference. I’m still convinced about my friend.
When a drug is this easy to take every day, and researchers keep finding a hearing signal in people who take these medicines often, I don’t think the honest answer is to shrug.
Two years to try cannabis
It took me two years to convince my friend to try medical cannabis so he could sleep. When he finally did, it made a big difference in his life. I saw it, and I’m not going to talk around it.
One man sleeping better is not a clinical trial. It doesn’t prove cannabis is better for neck pain, easier on the stomach or the ears, or that it protects hearing. I’m not claiming any of that.
The public-health sources are a lot more cautious than the culture around the plant.
And a plant isn’t safe just because it’s a plant.
I’m not asking anyone to ignore that. I’m asking why the drugstore bottle is the default and the herb is the afterthought. My friend got relief that mattered to him. That should count in an honest argument.
The access argument I won’t drop
I believe government restrictions kept that herb away from my friend for years, and I think that delay mattered. I’m also not going to make up a law, a state, or a date I don’t have. Cannabis rules in this country have long been a mix of federal restrictions and state programs that differ by place and by year.
I can’t rebuild the exact barrier he hit, and I can’t prove what a different rule would have done for his ears.
But when a painkiller is as easy to buy as toothpaste, daily use can go on for years with no questions asked. When another option is legally complicated, people don’t try it until late, even if it ends up helping. That’s how a familiar risk becomes the easy road.
I want one standard. A familiar drug shouldn’t get a pass because it’s familiar. A restricted plant shouldn’t get a pass because it’s “natural.”
Ibuprofen’s gut and heart warnings are clearer than the hearing science, and clearer than a lot of the cannabis evidence for everyday muscle and joint pain. None of that research answers whether cannabis would have saved my friend’s hearing, and I’m not going to pretend it does.
The gray area: what regulators say about BPC-157 and TB-500
Some people online say they use peptides like BPC-157 and TB-500 for old injuries. That is what they report. It is user stories, not evidence, and I am not claiming it works.
Neither is an FDA-approved drug.
Ibuprofen has a mountain of research behind it. These have a pile of user stories. That is the honest gap.
My opinion is narrower than the one I started with. Covering up pain for years without asking what is driving it worries me. I am not saying any unapproved product fixes anything or is safer than anything, and the FDA’s own statement is that safety is unknown. I’m not telling anyone where to get these, how much to take, or how to use them.
So what now?
Works and available is not the same as harmless. Restricted is not the same as worthless. Adults living with pain and bad sleep deserve a conversation that takes the bottle in the cabinet as seriously as the options that are harder to get.
If you’re taking a pain reliever every day, talk to a clinician or a pharmacist. Daily use is exactly when how long you’ve been taking it, other medicines, stomach and heart history, kidney disease, and alcohol matter.
If your hearing is changing, ask about an audiology evaluation.
Get urgent care for vomiting blood, black or bloody stools, fainting, stomach pain that won’t get better, chest pain, trouble breathing, sudden weakness on one side, or sudden slurred speech.
This is my opinion. It’s not a plan to swap ibuprofen for cannabis or peptides, to stop a medicine on your own, or to treat pain or sleep without a clinician.
So go count the bottles. The house, the car, the coat pockets. How many did you find, and what are they covering up?
This is an opinion piece, not a medical guide. I am not telling anyone to start, stop, or substitute a medicine, or how to obtain cannabis or peptides. Personal decisions belong with you and a qualified clinician.
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