Naproxen Safe?

[Zachzallen]

Is naproxen not good for me to take? I went into a fib while I was taking Advil consistently for headaches I was getting. Don’t know if they are connected or not but I am nervous. I have a slipped disk in my back and I’m wondering what I should take for this? Help!

28-male

[Hidden]

Naproxen is definitely not a good idea. It actually promotes irregular heart beats and should be used with great caution if at all. I know that it is extremely helpful for pain management for many but it is by far preferable to seek an alternative.

[jedimasterlincoln]

If possible you should look at alternatives, something heft like tramadol. It's well mentioned in here about the use of NSAIDs (Ibuprofen, Dicofenac, Naproxen) being bad for those with AF for a number of reasons.

The big one is the increased risk of a Gastro-intestinal bleed. The risks are massive if you're on anticoagulants too, even with an inhibitor like Omeprazole (prescribed with anyone on long term NSAIDs) so it's a massive no no

The other, like Yatsura mentions, is they have been linked with an increase in Af episodes for those with arrhythmia. I did a lot of looking into this myself, as I'm on regular painkillers for a sports injured right knee which hasn't got better with surgery.

On the study I read, risk of AF episodes on Ibuprofen was high even with prolonged usage. Dicofenac (the next strongest) was also similarly risky. Naproxen, whilst still causing AF in patients, was considerably lower risk than the other two... and the instances of AF actually dropped much lower still when usage went beyond a month or so. I can't recall what the exact pool number of participants was, but I remember Ibuprofen itself being in the high 200s whilst Naproxen was less than 20 (12 I think) over the time studied.

Obviously this still means it causes AF and none of the above are really ideal. Unfortunately as my pain is chronic these days and not acute, they don't really want me on an alternative like Tramadol for too long due to the risk of addiction. I take codiene on days I'm going to be active or have been active and when I am not on anticoagulants I take Naproxen and Omeprazole. It's a fine balancing act between my pain and my AF and not a position I really want to be in.