Some people find ibuprofen to give satisfactory pain relief, but regular use of Ibuprofen can cause significant gastrointestinal issues or damage. I make a topical ibuprofen lotion or spray to minimize the potential for these gastro issues and to also minimize the amount of systemic ibuprofen. This method allows for higher local tissue levels of ibuprofen with lower amounts of systemic ibuprofen and lower amounts of ibuprofen in the gastrointestinal system.
I'm not recommending this, just describing what I do to make an ibuprofen spray or lotion for topical pain relief. I believe ibuprofen cream is available in the UK, but not in the US.
Consult your doctor to make sure this will be safe for you and will be compatible with all of your medications and health conditions.
An easy way to test if it will be helpful for you before making a full batch is to take a shot glass half full of lotion and add the contents from two ibuprofen soft gels to the lotion by poking a hole in the soft gels with a pointed wooden toothpick and then squeeze all of the contents from the two soft gels into the lotion. Use the same toothpick to stir the lotion very well. Once stirred very well, try applying it to the painful area. If it works and you find it effective, then you can consider making a good sized batch such as an eight ounce batch.
If you want your batch to be lotion based, then take an 8 ounce jar of lotion. Take ibuprofen tablets that are white in color. Use enough tablets to equal approximately 5000 mg of Ibuprofen. I generally use 400 mg prescription tablet ibuprofen because these are always white tablets and it only takes 12 to 14 tablets. Most 200 mg tablets that you buy at the store have a color coating and you can't use these because the color on the tablet will stain everything. If you don't have white tablets, you can use 25 to 28, 200 mg soft gels the same way you did for the initial testing. Puncture the soft gels and squeeze their contents into the 8 ounces of lotion. Shake very well and it is ready for use.
For the white tablets, I grind the tablets in a bullet type blender until it is a very fine powder. I add this powder to the 8 ounce jar of lotion and shake very well. Allow to sit overnight, shake well and it is ready for use.
If you want to make a spray, take 8 ounces of 50% isopropyl alcohol or if you don't like using isopropyl alcohol use 8 ounces of gin and put it in the bullet type blender. Add the 5000 mg of white ibuprofen tablets and blend until there is just liquid and no more tablets or powder. Pour this liquid into a spray bottle and it is ready for use.
Again, if you can't get the white tablets, use the contents from the appropriate number of soft gels in place of tablets. Shake well and add to a spray bottle. It is ready for use. That's it.
Art