I need advil, please advise, i was told to stay away from it.

Hello, I have not had any ibuprophen since Feb, when they told me not to take it.  That was when I was diagnosed with ulcerative proctitis.  My knee is acting up, It has done this in the past, advil will help, I know.  I'm afraid without it, my knee will get worse.  Don't you think I could take it for a day or two?  I think I'm going to, let me know.  I took extra stregth tylenol, that does nothing, I need the anti-inflammatory.  I do not want to go to the doctor or call.  I'll gamble on this one.  Thanks, Bellski

Lori, I would say if you think it will help then taking it for a day or two probably won't hurt. Some people are more sensitive to it, but I know I still take Ibuprofen more than I should because I get such wicked headaches and migraines that Tylenol won't even put a dent in, and when you get desperate you just have to take the chance.

I was in your position yesterday. My neck was all cramped up from 2 days of 9+ hours in the car. I could barely turn my head to the right. I knew if I took 2 advil it would feel better. If not, it would get worse, and I would end up on muscle relaxers. While the relaxers are non NSAID they knock me out and I can't work on them. I took the 2 advil and felt fine. I think the problem is if you take them for a couple days or even multiple times in one day. For me it was worth it. Also, aspercreme has topical anti-inflamatory properties.

My regular doc gave me Celebrex for pain. I'm not sure how much better it is as compared to ibuprofen or aleve, because it's in the same drug family, but they seemed to think it's less of a risk for bleeding. (I never really took it, so I don't know how well it works.) It's an anti-inflammatory, though.

you never know, I was always fine taking aleve and advil when I was dx'd w/proctosigmoiditis, I took it monthly for my menstrual cramps. After my major flare on 10/07 I have not taken any of it and I took 2 tablets of aspirin for two days and went into a flare, this is after my dx of pancolitis.

I had never in my life taken aspirin before, so who knows, maybe i'd be ok w/advil again but I will never try it.......only b/c of my experiences

Why did I take the aspirin? My other Doc told me to and honestly, I never gave it a second thought b/c I had never taken it before and for some reason it just did not 'click' I know not to take it.

Hope you will be ok, not sure if my post was helpful.

Thanks Judy, I'll keep that in mind. Do you have arthritis? Is that why you take naproxen? It is h--- getting old. lol I guess I have to get used to this. The advil I took helped a little. I'll need more though.

I've always taken aspirin and neither my GI nor my doctor have had much to say about it.

The recent series of articles on UC in the NYTimes mentions that the caution against NSAIDs with UC had been discredited.  I've looked at some of that information, and it seems the biggest beefs (beeves?) with those studies is that the sample size is way too small and some of the science behind it isn't particularly stringent. 

NSAIDs can cause gastric upset and may promote bleeding, and they're not particularly good for you in the long term or in high doses.  But it is likely that they do not cause a flare.  That's my take on what I've read recently.

 

If bleeding alot is one of your typicaly symptoms from having UC I'd avoid any NSAIDs products because it promotes bleeding in the bowels (and that's really the only issue with an IBDer taking NSAIDs), otherwise use it as a last resort and as short a term as possible (max a couple days in a row).

:)

Hi - got another related question: I know codeine is not an NSAID but can it also promote bleeding during a flare (had a couple last week and it seemed to have this effect)?

Yes codeine is nice for me otherwise :)

Hope you find relief Bellski

Thanks so much. We are all different, I think I can handle it when needed. I will not overdo it though.