Vioxx v. Celebrex and Bextra....

 I'm one of those who took Vioxx for a number of years for osteoarthritis.  My PCP recently switched me to Celebrex.  I'll be honest, I filled the rx but have not taken a single pill.  After days of mulling and "noodling" this around in my head, I've decided to skip the Celebrex all together.  I'm going to just take Aleve. (in a couple of years there will probably be something wrong with that one too.  Vioxx and Celebrex are once a day drugs.  My PCP told me that Bextra is 2x's a day.  I don't know what the right answer is here or if there even is any right answer at all.  I just know that I'm more comfortable taking Aleve OTC than getting involved with another drug.  I called my cardiologist and am waiting for a call back re: my new plan.  Just this morning on the TV "crawler" there was an announcement from Pfizer that they've decided to fund a clinical trial to test Celebrex and its effects on heart function.  Hmmm, one more ingredient to go into my "noodling" soup.  Hugs all, Luci

Luci,

I actually take Celebrex 2x a day (200mg each). I had been on it once a day for arthritis, but my onc said that bc trials are showing that it is being tested as a prevention in bc recurrence. I'm still on it and haven't called his office to see if he's changing his view or not. I feel like we're da***ned if we do and da***ned if we don't. Sure wish we all had some answers.

Hugs, Rozanne

 Well for what it's worth......

I have an unstable spine due to a spinal surgery that went bad. Was supposed to get corrective surgery but got BC instead. I never got my spine fixed. I also have degenerative disk disease and alot of arthritis. To make this even better I can't take narcotics because I get violently ill from them...

I take 550 mg of Anaprox (RX version of Aleve) twice a day. I have to take OTC Zantac with that to protect my stomach. I also have a non-narcotic muscle relaxant called Skelaxin that I take twice a day.

On REALLY BAD DAYS (like when I can't feel/use my leg) I take the pill version of Toradol which is the strongest anti-inflammatory out there.

It is not perfect but it gets me through the day!

Now along with studying Celebrex as a cancer preventative- they are also studying non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (Advil, Aleve). Apparently they block prostaglandin production to reduce inflammation and over-production of prostaglandin is thought to encourage tumors to grow.  ( I am sure I have not spelled a few of those words right!)

So you might ask your docs about that if you are worried about these new tests coming out and Celebrex and Bextra being pulled off the market.

I have to add that I also take vitamin E, C and Bromelain for pain and anti-inflammatory effects too.

Love,
Gimpy

I was on vioxx for the occasional flare-ups.  When my doc changed me to bekstra, I was talking to the shrink I work with about it, our resident cynic.  He thinks it's probably a drug effect, not a class effect, meaning vioxx does it and not celebrex and bextra.  We were thinking about the comparison of zyprexa and weight gain, and how they all of a sudden started (paying for and) studying the other atypical anitpsychotics when zyprexa patients were reporting all that weight gain, and they concluded that all the drugs in that class caused the weight gain, only we never see it with the others, just with zyprexa.  In other words, ladies, it's big business trying to get the others to share the blame.  Just a cynical thought, but worth sharing.  I'll stick with beckstra, because anaprox doesn't help, and the vioxx was great, so I'm hoping the beckstra will be as good.  Haven't needed it yet, thankfully. 

The last time I saw my PCP I asked her about Celebrex, Vioxx, etc. and she flat out refused to perscribe them. Too hard on the liver, she said. So, it's Aleve or Motrin for me. Cathi, you are so right, they don't make it easy. Hugs to all who hurt, Lauri