I have had it and I know a few other people who had it as well. Generally 2-4 weeks of light running, stretching, massaging the area and basically allowing it heal of it own.
If you can do some light running, swimming and toe raisers, you want lose much fitness. These small muscle injuries will reoccur w/o addressing the root cause, which is simple going every day and doing nothing but long runs. When you are healed, you probably should do some consistent track intervals, striders after your long runs, pylometrics, strengths training, etc. -I am not sure about the anti inflammatory drugs because they can dull the pain, and you need that sensation to gauge if you are getting better.
This problem, like shin spints is very popular among the weekend warriors, serious athletes rarely have these problems. Overall conditioning is necessary it you want to run fast and injury resistant.