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Celebrex & Inflammation

Jim

Senior Member
Messages
79
i have high inflammatory cytokines (IL 6, IL 8, etc), and dr mikovits recommended celebrex as an anti-inflammatory.

but i don't feel inflammation that i can tell (no stiffness or soreness, usually). still, can celebrex be helpful anyway?

thanks,

jim
 

Hysterical Woman

Senior Member
Messages
857
Location
East Coast
Celebrex

i have high inflammatory cytokines (IL 6, IL 8, etc), and dr mikovits recommended celebrex as an anti-inflammatory.

but i don't feel inflammation that i can tell (no stiffness or soreness, usually). still, can celebrex be helpful anyway?

thanks,

jim

Hi Jim,

I don't know about Celebrex, but Aleve certainly helps me even when I have no stiffness or soreness. I take it for the anti-inflammatory effects. I think that there can be inflammation in your body without feeling any pain.

Good Luck,

Maxine
 

Jenny

Senior Member
Messages
1,388
Location
Dorset
Advil and aleve

Can anyone throw any more light on the rationale behind Dr M's recommendation of advil and aleve?

I'm not familiar with these brands as I don't think we have them in the UK, but I think advil is ibuprofen and aleve is naproxen.

Ibuprofen has never done anything for me for any pain whatsoever. I sent my husband out yesterday to try to get some naproxen and all he could find was Feminax (250mg naproxen). This was quite expensive for what it was (9 tabs)and the pharmacist said that anything of higher strength was only available on prescription. The instructions say 'not to be taken by women over 50' so that should count me out, but I took one this morning. Nothing's changed, but perhaps you wouldn't expect that with one dose.

What I would like to know is:

Is Dr M just recommending these for pain relief, or do they have some longer term more profound action?

Should we try taking them long term anyway, even if they give no immediate benefit?

Anyone any ideas?

Jenny
 

Hysterical Woman

Senior Member
Messages
857
Location
East Coast
Anti-inflammatories

Can anyone throw any more light on the rationale behind Dr M's recommendation of advil and aleve?

I'm not familiar with these brands as I don't think we have them in the UK, but I think advil is ibuprofen and aleve is naproxen.

Ibuprofen has never done anything for me for any pain whatsoever. I sent my husband out yesterday to try to get some naproxen and all he could find was Feminax (250mg naproxen). This was quite expensive for what it was (9 tabs)and the pharmacist said that anything of higher strength was only available on prescription. The instructions say 'not to be taken by women over 50' so that should count me out, but I took one this morning. Nothing's changed, but perhaps you wouldn't expect that with one dose.

What I would like to know is:

Is Dr M just recommending these for pain relief, or do they have some longer term more profound action?

Should we try taking them long term anyway, even if they give no immediate benefit?

Anyone any ideas?

Jenny


Hi Jenny,

I am not sure I can answer all of your questions, but I can tell you my experience.

I take Aleve, and you are right, it is naproxen sodium - 220 mg for my tablets. Does the feminax have any ingredients other than the naproxen? I try to stick to medications/supplements/herbs/whatever that have only one ingredient. I am sensitive to a lot of ingredients (I believe lots of us are).

I am not sure why it would say that it is not to be taken by women over 50. Maybe it has other ingredients? Or maybe there is different research in the UK that suggest that it is harmful in some way for those women?

I sometimes have to take them for a couple of days before I feel any better. I usually take 1 a day, but go to two a day if I am feeling really badly. Unfortunately, again like a lot of us, I can't take them for longer than a week or so before I start having stomach pains and/or nausea.

For me, they give some immediate relief if I am in a lot of pain, but they also increase my energy, and increase my cognitive ability. I believe that Dr. M. recommends them because there seems to be a lot of inflammatory activity associated with being infected with XMRV. I am sure there are people in this forum that could explain more about that, but inflammatory activity in the body seems to be associated with a lot of illnesses.

If I understand her statements, I believe she feels that taking anti-inflammatories can help quiet down the infection? Please, somebody who understands this stuff more than I do jump in here. I would be concerned about taking them long term unless you are seeing a doctor and they are measuring liver enzyme levels, etc.

As to cost, I try to find Aleve when it is on sale and 2 or 3 bottles then. We also can get a generic version of naproxen here in the states - I don't know whether you have that option there.

Good luck, and please let us know how you are doing.

Take care,

Maxine
 

Jenny

Senior Member
Messages
1,388
Location
Dorset
Naproxen

Thanks Maxine, that's helpful.

I don't think I'll start taking naproxen regularly at the moment as I'm doing other things and it would be difficult to sort out what's doing what.

I would really like to know though whether Dr M thinks it has some long term effect on the course of the illness.

Jenny
 

*GG*

senior member
Messages
6,389
Location
Concord, NH
To Jenny

Not sure who Dr. M is.

But when I first diagnosed with CFIDS in 2005, the dr told me to take Naproxen for 2 months and see if it helped. Nothing significant.

You want to keep pain in check otherwise it can lead to "flaring" which is what I found out the hard way recently, 2month flare, and finally seeing 1
Dr it came up and learned of this!

My Naproxen tablets are 220mg and at most you should take is 3 in 24 hours according to the label.

I am currently on Meloxicam and can only take Acetaminophen with this medicine according to my Dr.

My copay was 50 dollars for Celebrex so I asked for an alternative. 1 Dr told me that it is 1 of the few drugs that has been out for some time that still costs a lot!
 

Jenny

Senior Member
Messages
1,388
Location
Dorset
Pain

Hi Ggingues

Sorry, by Dr M I meant Dr Mikovits.

You say pain leads to 'flaring'. In my experience my relapses involve severe flu-like symptoms and the pain only gets worse a week or so into the relapse. So it's not really that pain is followed by flaring. I have to say too that pain isn't my worse symptom - its the deep, deep 'malaise' and feeling poisoned that's so bad.

I've long abandoned trying to work out if anything leads to anything else in this illness - my symptoms seem to wax and wane and migrate all over the body quite randomly.

Jenny
 

faith.hope.love

Senior Member
Messages
118
Sorry to drag up an old thread, but I wanted to address something. If you have a sulfa allergy and take Celebrex, that could cause a flare. Celebrex contains a derivative of sulfa. I've been taking Celebrex for years, and never associated it with an "allergy" because sulfa just makes me itch, and I had no such problem while on Celebrex. HOWEVER, it's hard to say if Celebrex was adding to my increased joint pain or flares because I took it every day, kind of like the chicken or the egg question. It was my first "go to" drug for pain, but I never stopped to think it was ADDING to, or causing some of my pain and inflammation. I've been switched to Mobic (meloxicam), so we'll see if my flares decrease. Just a thought. I'm not knocking Celebrex -- it worked great on my pain, but for those with a sulfa allergy, just be cautious. It is a known trigger in other autoimmune conditions as well.