NSAIDS Said What ?
The NSAIDS
The medical field loves acronyms as you may have already noticed. Drugs, medicines, pharmaceuticals are notorious in this respect. This next group of drugs follows the pattern and the letters NSAIDS stand for NON STEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS. They are almost miraculous in decreasing inflammation and with that goes pain and swelling in most instances. They are so good at what they do, that they are often thought to be harmless by the public. They are not.
The main problem is that some people cannot tolerate these chemicals in any amount and others run into problems with long term or high dose use. I have seen these problems most often in patients hospitalized with acute kidney failure. These drugs have also been known to cause liver failure. They do best in calming symptoms but are not known to alter the course of the RA. Examples of NSAIDS are: Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), Naproxen(Aleve, Anaprox, Naprosyn), Celecoxib (Celebrex), Indomethacin( (Indocin), Diclofenac (Voltaren-xr), and Piroxicom ( Feldene). Are you taking one of these?……tell me about it.
Next up. Dmards and biologics…….stay tuned. Talk to me .Dr. M Listens .