You know the cycle. Morning stiffness so bad you negotiate with your own body just to get out of bed. Knees that crunch on stairs. A back that locks up after sitting for 20 minutes. The activities that used to define you — now a mental calculation of "is it worth the pain?"
So you reach for ibuprofen. Or naproxen. Or whatever's in the cabinet. And it works — for a few hours. But here's what your doctor probably didn't tell you: