So THAT'S The Difference Between Tylenol And Advil

If you’re in pain and you’re looking for relief in the form of an over-the-counter drug, you’ve got a slew of options.

There’s acetaminophen, or Tylenol. There’s ibuprofen, which is used in products including Advil and Motrin. There’s aspirin, which, like ibuprofen, is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), and there’s naproxen, used in Aleve, which is also an NSAID.

So what’s the difference between these products? And why might you reach for one over another when you’ve got a headache or some other pain?

That’s why we — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast — asked Dr. Darryl Brown, a pain management and anesthesiology specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City when he stopped by our studio to chat about the best ways to manage pain.

Listen to the full episode by pressing play on the player:

“Over-the-counter medication works, and it should be our first line for pain that you experience at home,” Brown told us. “I like to break it down into two separate categories: There are medications that impact your perception of pain, and there are medications that actually treat the inflammation that’s causing your pain.”

Acetaminophen, or Tylenol, changes our perception of pain.

“It’s a very safe medication to take — you can even take it during pregnancy — but it’s not necessarily addressing the inflammation that leads to a lot of acute pain,” Brown said.

Doctors and scientists aren’t totally sure how acetaminophen works to tackle pain.

One “promising, yet still speculative, explanation” is that the drug might block the production of a particular enzyme in the brain, “thus blocking the further transmission of the pain nerve impulses.” That means the feeling of pain