 [ Symptoms ] what is the difference between acetaminophen and ibuprofen and what are the dangers of each [ Disease ] acetaminophen is used more as a fever reducer and for pain ibuprofen which is also known as motrin or advil can be used for pain that is caused by inflammation so the theory is is that if the area is inflamed that is really what is causing the pain acetaminophen or tylenol is also referred to as apap in some formulations you want to be careful you want to make sure that you do not exceed more than 4 000 milligrams a day for an adult if you are an elderly person you do not want to exceed 2 000 milligrams a day and you would want to avoid things like alcohol they are noticing that there have been some challenges with acetaminophen in the cases of people taking too much of it they were not aware that they were taking prescription medications with acetaminophen in it so you want to talk to your pharmacist first before you consider choosing these products on the advilmotrin side once again you do not want to drink alcohol with them it really helps create nausea it could upset the stomach if you have an ulcer it is not recommended if you have asthma it is not recommended either because ibuprofen is a sister to aspirin and it could trigger an asthma attack that is really some people are very sensitive to this class and that is why they should not be taking it so once again you want to come to the pharmacy you want to ask for the pharmacist you want to come with your medication list show us what you are taking and then tell us what are your symptoms in some cases if you have had a pain for a while we might refer you to a doctor or a healthcare provider to have it further evaluated