Hi there,

i have fibromyalgia and we are investigating lupus. (i'm not too thrilled with some of these ''specialists''--do they take anything seriously they cannot see? It does not seem so...)

anyway, I thought i'd pass along something I discussed with one of my better doctors last week, concerning the risks associated with taking those cox-2's like celebrex, in my case bextra. He told me that if you take an aspirin per day, 81 mg., like st. Joseph's or something, that will offset the risk associated for heart with cox-2's. I told him he should write an article or something because it is such a hot topic now. I'm sure that he is going by the results of clinical tests that associate lower risk with an aspirin per day, and that this recommendation cannot blanketly apply to anyone because of each individual's medical picture. However I am going to start the aspirin (he says he takes it himself) and because it is a low dose it is ok to take along with an ibuprofen or cox-2. I take the bextra only when my symptoms are making me crazy, so not very often.

Other meds for pain I have had good experience with is a low dose actiq, either on a stick or the durogesic patch. First time I really slept in several months of breakthrough pain flares was when I put that patch on (same med as actiq, fentanyl, but on a patch) last week. The cycle was broken and I take less pain med during the day wearing the patch. The actiq on a stick does not make me sleepy at all, which is so much better than other painkiller meds. The durogesic patch does make me sleepy but so far I can just take it off if I am too sleepy. The first time I put the patch on I slept through the night and was ok during the day in terms of daytime sleepiness. But I put it on another time and felt sleepy all day so I took it off--couldn't stand it. The pain cycle was broken though at least for a while.

Personally I was extremely dependant on vioxx before they pulled it off the market- I took 50mg a day and was able to function at about 75% of my former level (also on plaquenil at the time). Unfortunately the same time vioxx was pulled my blood work suddenly turned neg and my dr un dxed me and pulled the plaquenil too. I spent a year trying to find a dr who was willing to take the positives turning neg after 3yrs on plaquenil as a sign it was doing its job. But during that time my disease took a nasty turn. I have been bounced from one nsaid to the next in the search for effective pain relief- nothing has been as effective as the vioxx. I wish I could offer more help- what I can say is have your dr try the older medications I take a generic with a long name that begins with a whose name brand begins with an r and it is more effective than anything else we have tried thus far. I hurt too much to get up out of bed or else I would go grab my pill bottle and tell you the generic name. Just talk to your doctor and also think about seeing a pain specialist.