[Thanos]

I hurt my back pretty badly in early July. I went to a walk-in and got some painkillers and anti-inflammatories (NSAIDS). I held out and didn't use the NSAIDS for as long as I could because I don't trust them and am well aware of the damage they can do to the stomach lining, kidney, and liver. I underwent physio for the back and was doing better but in late July I had a bad spasm that caused a severe and painful setback. In desperation over the course of a week I took four anti-inflammatories out of a bottle of about twenty. Things went OK at first and the NSAIDS did their job in reducing some of the pain.

But a week after I took them I started getting bad nausea. It's abated somewhat in the last five weeks or so since I had the last NSAID but I still get bad bursts and waves of a really upset stomach. My doctor said the NSAIDS irritated the stomach lining really badly and caused the acid production to kick up into high gear. He gave me the go-ahead to double up on my anti-reflux meds (Pantoloc) to see me through. They help a bit, at least the first pill in the morning does anyway, the second one in the evening not so much. The problem is that I'm still getting bad moments of stomach upset with incidents of vomiting. I've been sticking to a really bland diet for the most part (nothing spicy, no chocolate, no extra-sugary or salty things) and it also helps somewhat. But unfortunately I'm still getting some really bad moments out of all this.

I can hardly believe that taking only four anti-inflammatories (Naproxen, by the way) could have caused so much lingering damage that's lasted for so long. Like I said it's been five weeks since I last had one of the damn things and my stomach still goes topsy-turvy, like a bad motion sickness. Just wondering if any of your others have ever been through the same thing and how long did it last for you? Any advice any of you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

PS: things like Gravol and Zantac have been next to useless in helping and have sometimes made the nausea worse instead of better. Also, the back is a lot better now but I'd honestly rather put up with the pain for the rest of the year than have to deal with the stomach problems caused by those goddamn pills. Fack!

[Hyack]

I've used Naproxen 500mg X2 daily off and on over the years for miscellaneous back pain and have never had any kind of problem with it. Don't know what I can say to help you out.....sorry

I've also used Celebrex 200mg daily for the same problems, it could be a possible alternative for the Naproxen.

As for the length of time you've been having the problems after using only 4 Naproxen, I would want to see if the problems might be caused by something else!

[Thanos]

I was worried that the intensity of some of the vomiting had caused my hiatal hernia to come back but I'm not refluxing at all, which happened quite frequently about a decade or so ago when the hiatal first happened. Odds are that it's just stomach lining damage taking it's own sweet time to heal and it isn't an ulcer or the hiatal again. Symptoms don't match up for an ulcer or hernia anyway. Just excess acid causing nausea with the worst moments happening simultaneously with hunger pains. I've been awful hungry for a long time because the bland diet is pretty poor nutritionally. Yet at the same time I don't want to over-eat in case it sets the acid off again during digestion. I'd rather ralf up a bunch of spittle and excess acid instead of a half-decent meal that I enjoyed.

The back is better enough now that I don't need to use NSAIDS again for it anyway, and I point-blank refused them when my doctor suggested a switch to Advil which is allegedly gentler than Naproxen. He prescribed some of that new Voltaren cream. It's anti-inflammatory but not an NSAID. I'm a bit gun shy on trying it though. I've kind of vowed over the last few weeks that I'll never take an NSAID ever again, no matter how much pain I end up or how much it pisses the doctors off.

[Zipperfish]

Marijuana--good anti-nausea medication. Tried it for seasickness once and it worked for me.

[xerxes]

I had to take Doxocyclone for something a few years back and that stuff did nasty things to my stomach. But nothing like what you have Thanos.

[Zipperfish]

I had some of that Doxy stuff a while back. Doc said to make sure to take it after a meal and drink a full glass of water after taking it, to limit stomach side effects.

[Tyler_1]

I have never been medicated, so all I can think of is ginger ale.

[Brenda]

Have you ever had a scope go through your stomach to see what is really going on? It might br an ulcer, or something that has nothing to do with Naproxen.
This is ridiculous and should be addressed properly.

[ShepherdsDog]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

I had some of that Doxy stuff a while back. Doc said to make sure to take it after a meal and drink a full glass of water after taking it, to limit stomach side effects.

Drink or eat a live culture yogurt, as that stuff will kill your gut bacteria too. A guy I worked with quite a few years ago picked up some parasite from the jungle. The drugs he took killed everything. Took him a while and quite a bit of yogurt to get everything back.

As to the stomach problems facing Thanos....alcohol and many meds will do wicked things to your stomach too. add to that stress and you've got a hole being chewed in your stomach.

[herbie]

No,I took that stufffor my back 20 odd years ago and lost 30lbs cuz I felt nauseated all the time.
Smoked dope back then, it helped but I still didn't feel like eating much.

[Thanos]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

I had some of that Doxy stuff a while back. Doc said to make sure to take it after a meal and drink a full glass of water after taking it, to limit stomach side effects.

Drink or eat a live culture yogurt, as that stuff will kill your gut bacteria too. A guy I worked with quite a few years ago picked up some parasite from the jungle. The drugs he took killed everything. Took him a while and quite a bit of yogurt to get everything back.

As to the stomach problems facing Thanos....alcohol and many meds will do wicked things to your stomach too. add to that stress and you've got a hole being chewed in your stomach.

I thought it was stress related too but none of the nausea appeared at all until I took the Naproxen. There's also no abdominal pain either and none of the other symptoms that might indicate an ulcer. Urine and all the other toilet activities are 100% normal. Haven't had any beers in over a month too so even though I was on a weekly drinkin' schedule/Saturday night binges for a bit back in June and July I don't think any of it was alcohol related. It really came on me like a storm and the timing of it was too centered around the anti-inflammatories to be caused by anything else.

I looked it up as much as I could and nausea caused by NSAIDs isn't all that uncommon, mostly in women but not unknown for men. About 27% of users will get some kind of stomach upset from them and when I took them I did have food at the same time as indicated. Maybe my search skills aren't that good because I can't seem to find anything on the internet that would provide at least a ballpark estimate on how long this will last. I've got a potential job that might start by mid-month and can't afford to screw it up with nausea bursts. It's been five weeks since I took an NSAID, and it has subsided since then. I just need to know if there's any information on when it will be gone for good.

[stratos]

Thanos a couple years ago when I was laid up and even peeing made me nauseated the Dr. gave me some pills that worked fast to counter the nausea. If you would like I can probably find the old bottle and PM you the name. Maybe your Dr. can prescribe it to you. Send me a pm if you would like for me to find the name of the stuff.

[Thanos]

Thanks but I tried a prescription grade anti-nauseant, the kind of thing they give to cancer patients doing chemotherapy, a few years back the last time anti-inflammatories did something like this to me. It didn't work because with my problem it's a matter of timing anti-reflux meds properly to keep the overactive stomach acid production down. Anti-nauseants aren't made to help with stomach acid and are pretty much useless in a situation like this. Thanks for the offer anyhow.

My doctor is pretty conservative and over-cautious anyway so I doubt he'd sign one up for me either.

[Yogi]

Nothing anyone can do for you now Thanos. You are going to die!

[Thanos]

Only if I'm lucky, which I'm not.