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Pain killers

Wibbles

I was prescrbed Naproxen, 12 months ago - specifically for knee pain (knee replacement gone wrong) - I am still taking it 2 * 500mg per day - but now my shoulder pain has got far worse - diagnosed as rotator cuff by physio.

Is it worth my asking my GP for an alternative pain killer or does Naproxen cover both ?

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Comments

poppy123456

Naproxen is an anti-inflammatory used to treat pain and swelling in joints and muscles. If it's not helping then yes you need to speak to your GP. https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/naproxen/about-naproxen/

Wibbles

poppy123456 said:

Naproxen is an anti-inflammatory used to treat pain and swelling in joints and muscles. If it's not helping then yes you need to speak to your GP. https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/naproxen/about-naproxen/

It still helps with my knee pain - but not as much as it did when I started taking it !

I have always wondered how pain kilers know where to go in the body

janer1967

The brain sends out the pain relief signals to affected area

Cher_Alumni

@Wibbles It's amazing to think how medications interact with the body to relieve and treat symptoms. Where would we be without them eh?

I hope you manage to get a GP appointment fairly quickly to discuss this some more with them. It also sounds like you've explored physiotherapy but maybe discuss a referral to a pain management clinic with your doctor to see if they have any other recommendations. I hope your pain eases soon.

ShirleyW

Naproxen is an non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkiller, NASAID for short.

It reduces the pain because it it reduces inflammation and swelling wherever it is in your body.

Be careful to follow the instructions especially not taking them on an empty stomach as they can damage the stomach lining and give you an ulcer.

I hope your doctor has prescribed a proton pump inhibitor tablet as well to protect you.

I was on NASAID tablets for 20 years and ended up with a stomach ulcer even with the protective tablets.

Wibbles

I have been taking 1 gram of Naproxen per day (2 * 500 mg) for over 2 years - for back, shoulder and knee pain - along with Omeprazole

My GP asked me to stop and start on Codeine for a month to allow my stomach to rest

I tried this and within 24 hours, I was constipated - on just one tablet

I was unable to poo for almost 5 days (I usually poo at least 2 time every day) - at the start of day 5, I managed to get a phone call with my GP, Who has now prescribed SENNA (1 or 2 tablets per day) to counteract the effects of codeine - this gives me diarrhea (just taking one tablet every 2 or 3 days)

In September 2023 – I started to notice a small “lump” in the right had side of my belly, about an inch below my belly button. I also was getting quite a lot of blood in my poo (I assumed from burst piles) So I asked my GP when I would receive my 60+ cancer (FIT) kit and was told that they were being delayed a while but in the meantime use THIS one and gave me a kit which I used and result was ZERO. A few weeks later, I received through the post, the national one – same result ZERO – But I investigated how these work and discovered that as long as there’s no blood – result is always ZERO !
But the blood in my poo – comes and goes and at the time of the FIT tests – it was gone - so results, both negative.
My GP arranged for an UltraSound scan – which I had in mid October – this, as far as I was aware was to check for polyps on the bowels – but they found a small (3mm) benign polyp on my gall bladder and couldn’t scan the bowels as they are too deep (I asked the Dr who carried out the scan at the time.)
So what was the point of the US scan ?
The “tenderness” has now spread across to my belly button and really hurts when I bend over but it is secondary in terms of pain to my shoulders, which are now 9 out of 10 on the pain scale – but there’s apparently nothing more that they can do about them.
My wife calls it my “imaginary lump.
My GP has told me to use Ibuprofen gel to ease the pain on my belly – which doesn’t touch it
So, as you can tell – my body is a mess- and I don't know what to do
Any advice welcome......