relafen and stomach problems?

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Nann Bell - 13 Jul 2005 21:00 GMT

Anyone had the latter, thanks to the former? One of the reasons I've been so
quiet lately is what I'd been thinking was some persistent stomcah bug -
throwing up only a couple of times, but lots of queasiness and lots of gas.
Really unpleasant, especially as it's been hitting at a time when we're
really busy. I just realized that it seems to be worst for a few hours after
taking relafen and then gets much better as I near the next dose, then worse
again about an hour or two after taking it. Looked it up and I think it fits
the listed side effects. Got a call in to my RD's office, waiting on the
nurse to call back. I'm really crossing my fingers it's the relafen..... I'm
tired of this miserable stuff.

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Nann
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Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare

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Adelle - 13 Jul 2005 21:52 GMT

(in silly mood)

Pick me, pick me!!!!!! Am on 500 mg twice a day.

I'm ready to go out and get one of those charcoal pads for sitting on. And a
full stomach is a must.

The RD told me that before I even started taking the Relafen, I should to my
PCP and get meds which would protect my stomach more than just the
Ranitidine I was taking. Tried Ranitidine and Prilosec in combo, which
weren't enough. Am now on Axid and Protonix which works pretty well, as long
as I stay away from trigger foods (coffee, onions, peppers, vinegars, too
much citrus, alcohol....)

Am about to make chili lime chicken breasts on the grill. If we had any
strawberries left, I'd have a strawberry margarita, too. Love swimming in de
Nile ;-)

Adelle

> Anyone had the latter, thanks to the former? One of the reasons I've been
> so
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> I'm
> tired of this miserable stuff.

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Nann Bell - 14 Jul 2005 06:45 GMT

(You! You! - you are picked! but I'm on 750 twice/day.)

Ah, you are making me more certain the relafen is the culprit. And it even
fits with the two times I got so ill I threw up - and of course missed my
next 2 doses so as to not aggravate the stomach bug further... and got
better. Ranitidine (generic & OTC) and multi-symptom Rolaids have helped me
some, but man am I uncomfortable. Numerous attempts at changing
eating/drinking patterns did nada.

RD's office didn't call back today (it was late when I called htem, so I'm
not too surprised). I've pulled the relafen from the rest of my week's meds.
They can call in something else for me. life is too short to live this way.
I swear, if we had a way to run the car off my intestinal gas today, we could
have covered my trip to Rogers City to get my blood drawn! (30 miles away -
did a bit of shopping at the grocery store up there, too.)

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Nann
remove the Gator cheer to email me
Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare

> (in silly mood)
>
[quoted text clipped - 32 lines]
>> I'm
>> tired of this miserable stuff.

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Adelle - 14 Jul 2005 14:56 GMT

For me, a proton pump inhibitor was the key to feeling better. Rolaids is
far too wimpy to help in any way; Extra strength Gaviscon helped, too. But I
already have reflux and a hyper acid stomach (and IBS or something similar.
Thanks for the great genes, Mom! I inherited all that plus the RA from that
side of the family).

Maybe add in some Prilosec to see if you can calm the situation more?

Adelle

> (You! You! - you are picked! but I'm on 750 twice/day.)
>
[quoted text clipped - 61 lines]
>>> I'm
>>> tired of this miserable stuff.

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Nann Bell - 16 Jul 2005 02:58 GMT

> Maybe add in some Prilosec to see if you can calm the situation more?

naw, I can take other anti-inflammatories, we were just giving this one a try
after they pulled Bextra away from me. I'm just dumping the relafen, I
think. I haven't had any real reflux problems before, except the occasional
one from too much coffee or such. And the gas was the really torturous part
for me. Having skipped two doses so far, the bloating is down enough that I
can actually hold in my stomach occasionally again! The nurse is going to
call back again tomorrow and see how I'm doing off of it and we'll decide
where to go from there.

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Nann
remove the Gator cheer to email me
Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare

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Nathan Engle - 13 Jul 2005 22:07 GMT

> Anyone had the latter, thanks to the former? One of the reasons I've been so
> quiet lately is what I'd been thinking was some persistent stomcah bug -
> throwing up only a couple of times, but lots of queasiness and lots of gas.

Relafen was once of the parade of NSAIDs I tried before
settling on Celebrex. As I recall it was one of the ones
that was hard on me (unlike Lodine which I strongly
suspected of being a stinking inert placebo pill).

Meds affect different people differently - unfortunately
the only way to tell for sure is to lay off it for a few
days and see if the tum improves.

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Nathan Engle Computer Support, IUB Psych Dept
nengle@indiana.edu http://mypage.iu.edu/~nengle
"Some Assembly Required"

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Alice Faber - 13 Jul 2005 22:13 GMT

> > Anyone had the latter, thanks to the former? One of the reasons I've been
> > so
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> the only way to tell for sure is to lay off it for a few
> days and see if the tum improves.

Lodine was the worst: expensive, and nearly inert, *and* causing extreme
queasiness (that's how I know it wasn't completely inert!).

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Navy1 - 13 Jul 2005 22:34 GMT

>> > Anyone had the latter, thanks to the former? One of the reasons I've been
>> > so
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>Lodine was the worst: expensive, and nearly inert, *and* causing extreme
>queasiness (that's how I know it wasn't completely inert!).

Has anyone figured out how one differentiates the symptoms of what you
are taking the med for from the side effects of the med? I get really
confused when I read the data sheet and the side effects are what the
med is supposed to cure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't read the data sheet!
Well, that is one solution. I'm still puzzled.
Loujean

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Nann Bell - 14 Jul 2005 06:45 GMT

> Has anyone figured out how one differentiates the symptoms of what you
> are taking the med for from the side effects of the med? I get really
> confused when I read the data sheet and the side effects are what the
> med is supposed to cure. Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't read the data sheet!
> Well, that is one solution. I'm still puzzled.
> Loujean

good question - I always had that problem with Benadryl. I'd feel like my
brain was fogged in due to allergies. Take Benadryl, fog didn't lift at all,
though my nose would quit itching. Luckily, that's been the only time my
symptoms and med side effects overlapped and I avoid Benadryl if at all
possible now.

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Nann
remove the Gator cheer to email me
Simply the thing I am shall make me live --- William Shakespeare

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Jo Firey - 14 Jul 2005 00:59 GMT

> Anyone had the latter, thanks to the former? One of the reasons I've been
> so
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> I'm
> tired of this miserable stuff.

Sounds like the beginning of my long slide into being unable to take any
NSAID

Jo

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Alison DeLorme - 16 Jul 2005 03:29 GMT

Sounds like you've already decided to stop the relafan but here's food for
thought... I was on it quite a while a go (10 years or so) and it was the
NSAID that ever gave me stomach problems (many were to follow
unfortunately). It took me quite a while to figure it out, but I realized
that I became very sensitive to certain foods while on certain NSAIDS. dairy
and corn products in partic. IT has to do with the lactose and fructose in
them. The NSAIDS tear apart the gut enough that the intestines can no longer
proprerly digest the foods - causes gas, bloating, diarhea, sometimes
nausea. Doesn't have to be all symptoms... It actually has a name - NSAID
induced Colitis, I believe... The only thing that helped me was to wither go
off the NSAIDS (impossible at the time) or change my diet. I began using the
lactaid pills and that helped tremendously. I also became very conscious of
which foods contained the High fructose syrups (ALOT of foods) and then
would be careful about how much I ate on a partic. day... When I finally
was able to get off the nsaids (went on pred. for preg.), within 3 months, I
had no more digestive problems. Unfortunately, within 2 mths of going back
on them, all the symptoms returned.

Like I said, just something to think about, partic. if you begin noticing it
happening with other nsaids.

alison

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