Ibuprofen taken for endo possibly caused a stomach ulcer - be warned!

[Allison45]

Hi

Wondered if anyone else has this. I've just seen the doctor to explain that I'm now being sick when I have my period and also around ovulation time. It's not like being sick normally eg bringing up food , but more like vomiting water/ acid. She asked me if I took ibuprofen , I said yes. I'm now on pills for a month 20mg omeprazole to help me, for a stomach ulcer! I've also had a blood test to check my liver function. I feel bad because when I'm in so much pain I would take ANYTHING to stop the pain , I thought the these were a good choice to reduce inflammation. Anyone heard about this before?

Ally

[DSan]

Hi, yes I have been aware of this for a while which is why I refused to take ibuprofen after my lap until I had been taken off the free fluids diet and given something to eat. Didn't stop the nurses offering it to me though !!

[SallyBowles]

I became intolerant to ibuprofen/naproxen/diclofenac a couple of years ago after being on Mefamanic acid at my period time for about 20 years and then Naproxen continually for 2 years. It manifested itself as extreme heartburn and indigestion type symptoms and the GP put me on Lanzoprazole in combination to counteract it which worked for a while then I had to move onto Codeine Phosphate and leave off the NSAIDs completely. I'm often challenged by a particular GP about Codeine use but I'm afraid I stick my heels in, I'm not risking stomach problems on top of Endo!

[Rockflower]

hi. Yes, i recently went onto Naproxen, having had it a few times for short periods before with no problems. Within a few days i had awful pains in my stomach, right under my ribs. Dr thought it was irritated stomach lining from the naproxen I was also put on tablets to help protect my stomach lining like you have been. but i had to stop the naproxen as then stomach pain was still really bad after a week on the pills. Now i also avoid ibuprofen unless i can't as I'm so worried i will get the pains back and i used to live on ibruprofen with no problems. so annoying as can only take paracetamol and codeine and i don't find this as effective at all.

[NMcG]

Hi, I've actually worked on the ibuprofen drug for pharmaceutical companies for a number of years so I know a bit about it. Ibuprofen does have a high possibility of irritating the stomach and can cause bleeding/ulcers. Whenever you take ibuprofen you should always take with food, after rather than before, to make sure the lining of the stomach is protected.

Ibupfrofen/Naproxen/Diclofenac are all the same family of drug (NSAIDs) so have the same effects on inflammation, but also the stomach. They are different family to paracetamol and codeine which is why they can be mixed.

The best pain relief plan is to start taking ibuprofen before your period starts to keep inflammation down, and then once you have pain to take paracetamol and ibuprofen in alternate combination. So normal paracetamol dose then 2 hours later ibuprofen, then 2 hours later paracetamol and so on. Just be careful not to overdose in the 24 hour period, especially with the paracetamol. There are actually drugs out there for this that contain both paracetamol & ibuprofen, but its acutally better to have the delay between the doses rather than take one tablet combining the 2, it gives you more coverage over the 4 hour period.

As others have said some people are more affected by the side effects of ibuprofen than others and some are just intolerant. So you might just be one of those unfortunately.

Hope that helps anyway!

[MikkieG]

Hi, I had exactly the same thing as you, I was taking ibuprofen to deal with endo & back pain and then started to get really bad acid reflux. When I went to the doctors he asked me loads of questions (do I smoke? No. Do I drink? No. Do I drink coffee? No.) he finally decided it was because I was overweight (which is a bit rich as I'm only slightly and this is due to side effect of prostap injections). He gave me omeprazole too, which I completed, but I'm still having acid reflux, although not as bad.