Re: Aspirin and milk miracle mix signals

 But are any of those options ones that work like NSAIDs do? By that I mean, you take a couple of pills and within 30 minutes or so the pain is less or gone?

Ginger is a natural NSAID due to the gingerol, which has a very similar structure to aspirin.  Wintergreen or birch essential oils can be applied topically to painful areas for their anti-inflammatory properties due to natural aspirin compounds.

Yucca root Devil's claw and licorice root are steroidal anti-inflammatories and so are actually stronger than NSAIDs.

Or are you speaking of options that you take all the time and take a month to work?

All of those work quick, and there are still other options depending on what pain is being treated.  If you can find Indian pipe this is a narcotic pain reliever.  Very strong, very fast, but hard to find though.  The only pain reliever I can think of that is slow would be DL-phenylalanine (DLPA), which takes about 2 weeks to kick in.  But this is more for chronic pain as from arthritis or other more chronic condition.  It is slow to kick in, but once it kicks in the pain relieving effects are long lasting, usually for about a month.

So again the best choice for a pain reliever will depend a lot on the pain being treated.

Sometimes the best way to deal with pain is not to mask it but to address the cause.

Is there ANY WAY to take NSAIDs with something ELSE to make them less damaging?

Not really.  NSAIDs can cause a variety of issues including heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, liver failure, etc.  And contrary to popular belief this does not require overdose or long term use.  NSAIDs can cause these issues in some people with a single recommended dose.  I know 4 people who had their kidneys shut down and one person develop liver failure after taking a single recommended dose of ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, Nuprin, etc.). But these issues are not limited to ibuprofen.  Other NSAIDs can cause some of these same side effects including naproxen (Aleve) and celecoxib (Celebrex).

During clinical trials there were 2 dozen deaths reported from ibuprofen induced liver failure.

The most common cause of death though from NSAIDs is from internal bleeding.  By interfering with prostaglandins NSAIDs prevent the formation of the stomach's protective mucous lining.  So the stomach acid can directly attack the stomach wall leading to bleeding ulcers.  Even taking something like slippery elm to coat the stomach wall is really not going to help though since the mucilage from the slippery elm will not remain in the stomach to protect it at all times unless you were taking the slippery elm frequently throughout the day.  And the only other option really would be antacids or proton pump inhibitors (acid blockers), but these are just going to create a whole new set of heath issues including nutritional deficiencies, allergies, infections, increased risk of heart disease, etc.