Ibuprofen does unspeakable things to my GI tract. Tylonel makes me dizzy and doesn't kill the pain (this is apparently a problem for some women: no pain reduction effect from tylonol and its clones). I take aspirin, which is old, well tested, and relatively harmless if taken appropriately, as long as your stomach is healthy. The only other painkiller I've ever used was prescription codeine for a severely damaged ankle.

But I am a believer in killing pain before it gets too bad, with an anti-inflammatory like aspirin - a lot of pain is caused by inflammation, and more pain increases inflammation, thus increases pain, and slows down healing.