Does Excedrin Extra Strength Really Work in 15 minutes?

Today I am posting the new article from Consumer Reports because this one interests me personally. I use to live on Excedrin and monthly shots of Sumatriptan. Sumatriptan is produced and marketed by various drug manufacturers with many different trade names such as Imitrex, Imigran, and Treximet as a combination product with naproxen. I suffered for years with monthly migraines. Thankfully, I only experience migraines occasionally now.  I have no idea what the catalyst was but am so glad it happened! I still get a lot of headaches and Excedrin always helps alleviate the pain for me (takes a little longer than 15 minutes though). 

Does Excedrin Extra Strength Really Work in 15 minutes? 
We take a closer look at how fast you can expect relief from your headache  
By Steve Mitchell
September 13, 2015

When you’re suffering from a pounding headache, the quicker the pain fades the better. So a new television ad promising that Excedrin Extra Strength—a triple combination of acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine—can start to provide relief in just 15 minutes sounds promising. But you could be waiting a lot longer for relief—about two hours—according to the research we found.

Novartis, the manufacturer of Excedrin Extra Strength, said the claim in the ad was based on a proprietary study they refused to share with us.

We found just one relevant study of Excedrin Extra Strength published in the journal Headache in 2006. In that study, people with migraine headaches who took the drug didn’t experience any more pain relief after 15 minutes than those who took a placebo. In fact, people didn’t experience any more pain relief than the placebo group until 45 minutes had passed. They also didn’t rate the amount of pain reduction as meaningful until more than 2 hours had gone by—or about 8 times longer than the claim in the TV ad.

Bottom Line

Excedrin Extra Strength can help relieve headache pain, but it might take a couple of hours to kick in. Instead of paying more for the brand-name product though, we recommend considering a generic version, which contain the same active ingredients (250 milligrams of acetaminophen, 250 mg of aspirin, and 65 mg caffeine per tablet), but is usually less expensive.

Because Excedrin Extra Strength contains three different compounds, it poses several different risks. Its first ingredient, acetaminophen, can cause severe liver damage, so don’t take more than 8 tablets in 24 hours. And check any other medications you take to see if they contain acetaminophen to be sure you’re not taking too much. Consumer Reports medical advisers recommend taking no more than 3,250 mg of acetaminophen in a 24-hour period.

Aspirin can cause stomach bleeding, especially in people age 60 or older and those who have had stomach ulcers or take a blood thinning (anticoagulant) or steroid drug. And if you’re sensitive to caffeine, cut back on caffeinated beverages, such as coffee, tea, and sodas, to reduce the risk of nervousness, insomnia, and rapid heart beat.

If Excedrin Extra Strength doesn’t relieve your headache pain, talk to your doctor. You might have a migraine or another type of headache that requires a different medication.

For more on treating migraine headaches, check out our Best Buy Drugs report.

Editor's Note: These materials were made possible by a grant from the state Attorney General Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Program, which is funded by a multistate settlement of consumer fraud claims regarding the marketing of the prescription drug Neurontin (gabapentin).