Pills VS Injections | Arthritis Information
Which is better? I have generally bad stomach problems with just about any medication I take, even vitamins and suppliments. I tend to stay away from all of them because of this. I would just rather deal with pain than be nauseated all day. I am trying really hard to continue taking the Tylenol Arthritis and Relafen that the PCP prescribed, but I just get so acidy and nauseated.
OTC anti nausea meds do nothing for me except make me vomit, and Phenergan puts me out cold so I can't use it at work.
I know when I go to the RA Dr in a few weeks (for my 1st visit) I will be prescribed more meds since all I am on now is NSAIDs. Should I just tell him how I react to most pills and see if injections are possible? I am more likely to take my meds on a regular basis if they don't make me nauseated.
I am afraid of needles but will do what I must if it keeps the nausea at bay. If I'm going to be nauseated either way, I guess I'd rather pop pills.
I guess it depends on what meds he prescribes. Enbrel, for instance, can only be taken by injection, and to my knowledge, does not have nausea as a common side effect. I've been on it for over 2 years and have never felt ill on it, as I did while on methotrexate. Mtx can be taken orally or injection, and both of those made me very sick at my stomach. I think there's a psychological element to it also, because I would often feel sick at my stomach just 'before' taking mtx.
It does help when taking meds that can cause nausea, to take them with food. Maybe that will help.
Jen,
I have similar issues w/my stomach. I started taking naprosyn and trilisate back in 1977, added methotrexate in 1986. After problems with my stomach a few years back I discontinued naprosyn and trilisate, and switched to injectable methotrexate, I'm also on enbrel.
NSAIDS can be very hard on the stomach. Be sure to always take them w/food, a carbohydrate, careful with coffee, alcohol. Speak to your doc about a medication like nexium, prevacid (I forget what they're called - proton pump inhibitors????) they help reduce acid in the stomach. At one point when I was on naprosyn, I was taking cytotec (there's a generic version - misoprostol???) and nexium.
Good luck, I hope you find some relief from the nausea soon.
I take pepcid ac, and do take my meds with food. It still upsets my stomach. I can't tolerate Naproxan at all. I think I have issues because I have reflux and can and get heartburn with foods you'd never think would give someone heartburn. Alieve always gives me heartburn, and nausea. I guess it does depend on what he prescribes, but I thought it might help to let him know about the issue beforehand so he can take that into consideration when he is prescribing the meds. I hope I can be a good patient and continue my meds like I should.
Hi Jenmommi,
You should definately tell the Dr. about that. I have a terrible stomach (4 surgeries) and am very difficult to treat. The NSAIDS to look at taking might be a Cox-2 like Celebrex. A lot of NSAIDS are Cox 1 and Cox 2. It's the Cox 1 drugs that destroy the mucous lining that protects the stomach. I recently found this out because of the difficulties I was having taking relafen. It did great for my arthritis but raised holy cane with my stomach and reluctantly, I had to stop. So an injectable form of Relafen would not be the answer (believe me, I checked). I'm also a type 1 diabetic so injections don't bother me at all as I inject up to 5 times a day anyway. Good luck with you appointment. Please feel free to send me a private message if you would like to discuss stomach issues. I can surely understand...Hiking_gal
absolutely let your doctor know of your stomach issues. That needs to be taken into consideration in your treatment planJennmommi. I feel bad for you. You are under so much stress right now. Have you tried sipping coke from a can, no ice. it is pretty effective for simple nausea. Nausea is part of this disease for some of us. I would try injections if you have problems with nausea. They may work better for you.Jen,
Some people just can't take naprosyn, so definitely tell your RA doc about all stomach problems and all the meds that make you nauseous. If he suggests an injectable, its not that bad, you get use to it, and it really doesn't hurt, the methotrexate anyway, biologics like enbrel have a little sting but ain't bad. Good luck.
p.s. after i had some surgery, i had to take a bunch of pills, so I would eat one of those little Activa yogurts when I took my pills which helped stave off the nausea.
[QUOTE=lorster]Jennmommi. I feel bad for you. You are under so much stress right now. Have you tried sipping coke from a can, no ice. it is pretty effective for simple nausea. Nausea is part of this disease for some of us. I would try injections if you have problems with nausea. They may work better for you.[/QUOTE]
I second the Coke suggestion. It's a miracle drug!The coke suggestion is an excellent one. If you can't take the carbonation, simply stir it real hard and sip it flat because it's the syrup that calms the sick stomach. Good luckI'll try that. I generally don't drink soda, but it may work and I like coke, I'll just have to buy some and hide it from the kids.
If you aren't on any sort of RA treatment yet; you're unlikely to start on a biologic right away....which is probable for the best. MTX taken by injection by passes the stomach and goes directly into the blood stream so that's probable the way to go.
Hope everything goes well at your first appointment.
Be careful what you take with your other medications. Drugs such as pepcid can make the release of some medications be delayed. Of course, however, you don't want an Nsaid such as Naprosyn to eat your tummy up either. I would suggest that you take Naprosyn with food. Make sure you mention this to your doctor, be sure to tell him that you've been taking the pepcid and perhaps he will have an answer for your problem.
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