What do you think about metamizol (novalgin)?

[bradipa]

Hello everyone,

what are your experiences with metamizol (novalgin)?
Yesterday, my GP has prescribed me Novaminsulfon (500 mg metamizol sodium monohydrate), and I am trying to decide whether to take it. I am really scared of trying out a new med. I'm severe (2) and fear the next big crash might well reduce me to very severe.
Thank you for sharing.*

I am interested in:

1. How did metamizol affect your me/cfs? Did you experience a crash or a deterioration?
2. In which ways did it help you?
3. The thing I want to tackle is my sore muscles. Do you have an idea of where this state of permanent tension comes from? It's not a question of mind or emotions, it's a body thing.
4. Can you think of something less "brutal" to get my muscles to relax? I tried magnesium, magnesium malate (didn't help) and in the past a muscle relaxans, I don't remember the name, but didn't help and led to a crash.

Background:

I told my GP about my sore muscles problem. My muscles are always tense. During daytime, I can actively get them to relax a bit by doing a bodyscan every couple of minutes and then move, massage, work with heat and cold packs or simply tell them to relax. While sleeping, I can't do that, and the tension sort of accumulates. I figure if somehow I could get my muscles to relax at night, this would effect my sleep quality and my pain levels, and thereby my general state. Also, I wouldn't have to bodyscan that often, which of course costs a lot of energy. So I am trying to understand how I could influence the mechanisms that lead my muscles to tense up.

She got the pain part, and she is worried my taking ibuprofene might lead to problems - actually ibu works great for pain and does not have any noteworthy side effects for me. I am careful about not taking more than indicated and for the rest pretty much live with pain and sore muscles, which is not great, sure would be nice to not that often be in pain, but oookay for the moment. She thinks taking painkillers on a more regular basis could break a vicious cycle of tension and pain. I'm not sure about this because my body also tenses up when I am not in pain. If the metamizol would not work she would move over to antidepressants or neuromodulators.

* its just crazy that for medical decisions I trust more an online forum than my doctor, who, by the way, is a very fine person. I am really grateful I have found PR. It makes a big difference to have this possibility to connect and exchange.

 

[wolves2626]

i.m. version really soften my muscles during covid. I didn't use regularly so I do not know. oral one I did not use it too.
however i.m. 1000 mg version in covid daily for a few days is the game changer for me in pain and muscle soreness.
at that time I could not even go out of bed.

 

[wolves2626]

one thing more they do not prescribe the drug anymore in many countries because of the bone marrow supression.

 

[bradipa]

one thing more they do not prescribe the drug anymore in many countries because of the bone marrow supression.

Thank you, @wolves2626 , for sharing your experience. Good thing it worked for your.

Silly me, I forgot about that.
In march, my husband had it prescribed and sent home from the doctors when he presented himself with post infectious health problems. He had bleeding into the skin all over his legs and arms and was in a terrible state. He decided not to take it, since there was no indication and a colleague (he works in medical science projects) told him he stopped prescribing it after he had a patient die from it. A day later I had my husband sent to the emergency room, he was hospitalized for a week with thrombopenia and after that, he was fine.

Come to think of it, there is no indication in my case, either. The text (I'm in Germany) says it can be prescribed for colics and tumor pain or after trauma and surgery. Otherwise it can be prescribed only for pain and only if other schemes don't work or are contraindicated.
In my case, with ibuprofen I do have something that works not only for pain but also against inflammation - as long as I don't overdo it, and I don't. We didn't try anything else, for example physiotherapy. Also, ibuprofen switches off the pain, but that does not lead my muscles to relax, so eliminating the pain isn't the answer, at least not entirely.