Re: Use of Vioxx after GBS

[Guest guest]

--- Well I for one will never take Vioxx again. Does anyone know

about the effects of Bextra? I was told by my PCP that it was ok for

my pouch. Bextra works great for me however, I would rather deal with

pain than have trouble with my tummy. I would appreciate any info

you all may have.

EJ Reece

Open RNY 1993

[Guest guest]

, Thank you for your story about Vioxx. I was put on Celebrex

after my WLS in 1999 because it was supposed to be safer than the

NSAID I was previously taking. (Can't remember what it was). I see

now how lucky I was to get a hip replacement in 2/02. I was taking

the maximum dose of Celebrex and it worked pretty well, but I still

had pain. Now I know I have arthritis in the other hip but am fine

w/tylenol occasionally and glucosimine/Chondroitin and MSM. I will

never take celebrex or vioxx again. Thanks for the info.

Diane

> There have been a few mentions of the medication Vioxx (similar, I

believe, to Celebrex) on this list recently, which have been of

interest to me. I do take Vioxx, although I try to take as

sparingly as possible because I am terrified what effect it might

have on my insides, but it makes my joints feel SOOOO much better.

After having few personal e-mails with Fay, she suggested others on

this board my want to hear my concerns and some info I received

privately regarding the possible effects of Vioxx. Soooo,

> I am including here a portion of a communication from a lady who

experienced severe complications after taking Vioxx. ,

thank you for pointing me in this direction a year or so ago!! I

know the writer wants to share her story to warn as many as

possible. Here goes:

>

> " In a nutshell, I had my RNY 10/3/00. Before the surgery I took

Celebrex for arthritis. It worked wonderfully. No pain from

arthritis, no nausea from the medicine. Dr. Champion said, and I

read it everywhere, don't take it. He finally told me if I had to

take it to take Prilosec with it to protect my stomach. I went

merrily on my way, taking both my pills every day and feeling fine.

On March 5 I woke up, got dressed for work and as I was standing up

from leaning over the sink brushing my teeth, I felt a pop, like a

button had popped open. I certainly felt no pain. By the time I got

downstairs I was bent double with pain. My husband had some pain

medication left from dental surgery so I took those instead of going

to the ER. The next morning he took one look at me and bundled me

off to the hospital. That night, Dr. Todd, one of the two surgeons

in Alaska that do the RNY, had to do emergency surgery. I had had

an ulcer for over a year and had no idea. Apparently, I don't feel

pain like most people do, plus my liver had grown to the ulcer

(according to Dr. Champion, this was my liver trying to keep the

ulcer from perforating). The pop I felt was the perforating ulcer.

By the time Dr. Todd did the surgery, I was full of abscesses. My

spleen was completely enclosed in one. He thought he was going to

have to remove part of my liver and my spleen but was able to get me

cleaned up without it. He said my stomach was so thin that when he

stitched me up to close the ulcer, the tissue just shredded and he

had to pull up more tissue and do it again before it would hold. I

had two drainage tubes and a gastric tube (for feeding me) in my

stomach. I was hospitalized a week. I went home on Tuesday, saw

Dr. Todd on Friday and felt okay. I woke up on Sunday morning at

3:30 am and sat up in bed. It didn't hurt and I had been in a good

deal of pain since the surgery. I went to the bathroom to see what

was different and a new abscess had formed behind the incision. It

got so full it burst the incision open and was draining. My bed was

soaked, my clothes were soaked, but I just felt relief at the pain

being gone. We had 28 inches of snow that day, and my husband had

to take me to the ER in that blizzard. Dr. Todd was on a plane for

California but the airport was closed so he came back to see me. He

packed the incision and left it open to heal from the inside out.

>

> I went back to work on April 22. I worked 3 and a half days and

started feeling bad again. I went to 3 doctors in a two week period

and told them I felt bad and they said it was muscle spasms, or just

my body still healing from all the abscesses. I worked 3 hours on

May 14, and on May 16 I went back into the hospital where they found

a soft-ball sized abscess behind my spleen again. Dr. Todd didn't

want to operate again so soon, so he and the radiologist decided to

put in a drain and giev me mega doses of high powered antibiotics.

This was not fun, . The drain hurt, it stuck straight out my

back and I couldn't lie flat or on my stomach. It hurt no matter

how I laid, but on my side was better. When the doctor made the

incision to put the tube in I smelled something so awful and vile I

have no words to describe it. I asked what it was and the assistant

told me it was me. Apparently the abscess more or less squirted

this nasty, awful stuff out when the drain went in. My husband

couldn't even stay in my hospital room it was so vile smelling. I

made him go home. My BP dropped to 80/40 and I spent 2 days in ICU

and then 2 more days in Progressive Care. I ended up being in the

hospital for 2 weeks the second time. I went home with that drain

in my back and a bag about 14 " x 8 " hanging off my back. I kept the

drain a week and a half after I went home. I had a two-headed PICC

line, which is an IV that goes in your arm and up to your heart, for

over 5 weeks. Even here at home I had the two antibiotics going in

me and two pumps that went everywhere I did, even to shower. I

didn't make it back to work until July 1 and that was just part time

for the first few weeks.

>

> All of this because I took Celebrex. Because I had absolutely no

pain I thought my stomach was being protected by the Prilosec. Our

new stomachs are so small that one little pill can give it a

powerful, concentrated dose of medicine it doesn't like. I thought

I had to have that medicine because it worked so well and I felt

great. Believe me, , I wasn't hurting that badly and you aren't

either. Dr. Champion said to take Ultram and I tried it. One did

absolutely nothing, but when I take two it works as well as the

Celebrex did and I'm not taking a chance with my stomach. My PCP

knows I have to take two, and he didn't tell me not to, so I'll

continue it.

>

> I saw Dr. Champion for the first time after my surgery last month

when we were home visiting. Michele was talking to some pre-ops in

the waiting room when I walked in and she was telling them about

me. I hope my experience will keep someone else from doing the same

thing I did. I'll be taking anti-ulcer medication the rest of my

life. I had to have a home-health care nurse, and she said I would

have been better off eating with the medication than relying on

Prilosec, but I would have been even better off to heed what I had

been told and taken something else.

>

> I don't know what you take Vioxx for. I know you have to be in a

great deal of pain or you wouldn't take it. Please stop it after

your surgery, . Believe me, you really aren't hurting that

badly. If you have any questions, please ask them. And good luck. "

>

> I had other warnings also about the Vioxx. I have no idea, but

would love to know, how many GBS patients are taking these

medications and what the PERCENTAGE of problems is. Maybe this is

an isolated case. After re-reading this, I can't believe I am

taking the chance and still taking the Vioxx. Fact is, without it I

feel like an 80-year old. With it, I feel great!! Difficult

decision!!

>

> H.

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

HI EJ~

I asked my PCP about Bextra, as I feel desperate sometimes to get some pain

relief! But she said she would not prescribe it for me. Guess, in her mind,

the same goes for Bextra as for Vioxx and Celebrex. Maybe someday they will

come up with something safe for " us. "

Regards~

Jacque

Distal RNY, 5/30/00

Drs. Fox and Oh

310~126

Beginning BMI 50.0

Current BMI 20.3

> --- Well I for one will never take Vioxx again. Does anyone know

> about the effects of Bextra? I was told by my PCP that it was ok for

> my pouch. Bextra works great for me however, I would rather deal with

> pain than have trouble with my tummy. I would appreciate any info

> you all may have.

> EJ Reece

> Open RNY 1993