Question: How does calpol and ibruprofen work?

Josh Meyers answered on 23 Jun 2015:

Calpol is a children’s medicine that contains the active ingredient Paracetamol.

Paracetamol and ibuprofen are both small chemicals which affect chemicals in the body called prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are substances released in response to illness or injury which tell the body to feel pain. Paracetamol and ibuprofen block the production of prostaglandins, making the body less aware of the pain or injury.

Both paracetamol and ibuprofen are small molecules (chemicals). When you swallow them, they dissolve in our gut. Then they pass into the blood stream and bind to proteins called Cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes. This interrupts response pathways in our body and causes production of prostagladins to decrease.

Many other drugs work in similar ways!