Use of Vioxx after GBS (long)

[Guest guest]

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.