Medicine for ankylosing spondylitis

I have had ankylosing spondylitis for many many years and I had been on many different types of medicines including Vioxx, Bastra, Mobics, Celebrex, Vicodin, Enbrel and Remicade. Couple of those are actually been taken off the market because of the danger of causing heart attack. I use to take one of those above medicine alone with Vicodin just in case I have more pain than I can bear. The most recent medicine I am on is Remicade and been on it for a couple of years now. it is the best medicine ever. Over time times, I even drop vicodin and was no longer needed while I was on Remicade. Remicade was administer every 6 weeks for me. That works great up until recently, I have change my insurance and it took me 5 months to get the insurance working. At this poing, the remicade in my body had been worn out and I was in extreme pain. the first time I got back on Remicade, It lasted for only 3 weeks, than all my pains came back. I was taken some Mobic and even some vicodin in addition to the Remicade. I felt a little weird, my stomach has completely ack up, because I also had GERD and Ulcer, Mobic just made the damage worst. also, I been having sudden dizziness, headaches and ringing in my ear at all times. Also I felt very tire and week at all time. I was not sure it was caused by the addition medicine I was taken. Just recently I had taken my second Remicade. I thought I would have more luck with the first injection, but not really, the second injection lasted for a little over 2 weeks, even shorter than the first injection. I spoke to my doctor about my issue. He had mention the dizziness, headache and ringing in the head could be causes by my ankylosing spondylitis, Gave me some muscle relaxant medicine for the dizziness and headache. I been on it for a few days, but didn't feel the different. Also, my doctor had also mention about taken some Celebrex if I needed rather than the Mobics.

Sorry for the long history, my main question is to see if someone can give me some suggestions with being on Remicade and Celebrex at the same time? I always worry about taken too much medicine, it can really screw me up, and I really worry about medicine interaction. can someone give me some suggestions please? thank you.

Hi Swon and welcome to Healing Wells chronic pain forum. I am sorry to hear of your situation and sure wish something out there would give you some relief, long lasting. I have crohns disease and I was on Remicade infusions every four weeks for 3 and a half years. I developed antibodies to it, developed Lupus plus it just lost its punch with me. I know of other on the crohns forum that has AS and they were on Remicade and it helped them pretty much. I would have thought by now something new would have been on the market for AS other than what you have been on.

 

I don't know if there would be a problem taking Celebrex and Remicade, why not ask a pharmacist this question. They know drugs better than anyone about the combination of the two. I do know about Celebrex being taken off the market but drs are allowed to rx it again they just monitor the patient more closely. I read everything I could get my eyes on about Remicade and never found any problems listed with anti-inflamms. Be careful taking Vicoden on an empty stomach, it can cause a lot of nausea if taken on an empty stomach.

 

I am sorry I am not of any help, but I would check with a pharmacists about the two meds you are speaking of to make sure. If you see the Remicade is not helping much you may want to consider being referred to a pain mgt dr. But, with pain mgt you are likely going to be on different medications, that just part of it. None of us wants to take medication but sometimes we have no choice.

 

Take care and let us know how you are doing.

will, yesterday i had spoke with the Remicsde specialist and they told me thry do no have any information on taking Remicade and Celebrex at the same time, but the did say it is not a medicine that will interact with each other. They said refer back to my doctor. Will, since my doctor gave me some celebrex, I'm sure he knows it ok to take it. I was brave enough to do so yesterday, and boy, what a bad idea. I got overdose. I had all kinds of problem except for chest pain, which was a good thing, i did not go to the hospital, but i am following up with my family doctor just to make sure everything is ok. It's been over 24 hours since i took the celebrex, i just hope the medicine is completely out of my system and will not give me more complications. So, just a FYI for anyone that is going to take remicade and celebrex, don't do it.

my last infusion was on May 26, 2010. so this is just about 3 weeks. for some reason, the last 2 infusion, the Remicade did not last as long as before, before last year, it can last about 3 months without me having any pain. weird. well, the side effects were, confusion, drowsiness, nausea and felt like vomiting, pale skins and cold sweat with a bit of shallow breathing, but no chest pain, which was a good thing, otherwise I would end up in the hospital already.

Thank you for you suggestion, I did google some information and I also contacted Remicade directly and spoke to one of their specialist. they said they do not have any information on both medication taken together, but they said both medication are in a different class and they should not be interact with each other. They would not suggest you take both together, but they also would not suggest you not to take it. all they said is refer back to your doctor. Anyway, thanks for your suggestion, I took it already and not going to do it again, because I did found out there is a problem. I need to find an other way of managing my pain.

Spxyz,

A couple of things - this thread is from 2 years ago.... so I'm locking it... feel free to start a new thread if you would like. We encourage new members to introduce themselves so that others can greet you and we can get to know you a little.

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Take care --Tina