Once again the drug most of us rely on is in the news.
Diclofenac, did anyone else see it? They put news out like this and then tell us not to worry!! how can we not worry about such side effects like this, increased risk of heart disease and stroke, I don't take the tablet form but i do use the gel, so it's still absorbed into my body.
We are told to contact our GP if at all worried! of course we get worried what do they expect when something like this comes on the news.
Ok, sometimes it's not worth getting stressed about I know and if we worried about all the drugs we took we wouldn't take anything at all.
I too read it in the newspaper yesterday. I was taken of it due to diverticulitus. Sadly for me i went on to get fibro. I was ok before, and since i've been in chronic pain. By the time we get put on diclofenic we are in so much pain that we don't care as long as we are free of pain.
As with all these things it is a matter of weighing up the benefits that the drug can do vs the side effects. It is rather scary the side effects that some of the medication we take can give, however left untreated most of use would have no quality of life at all. Mel
I was taken off diclofenac a year ago and had it replaced by Naproxyn. I had damaged gut due to steroids & doctors said Naproxyn did same job but was much kinder to the body. Suex
I saw it on Daybreak & then received phone calls from concerned folk about what I have. I originally took Diclofenac for 2 weeks, and it disagreed with me completely. Aside from which, I felt that I may have well taken Smarties for all the analgesic properties. I'm prescribed naproxen now: as Sue says, it's kinder to the stomach. However, I don't believe in taking in too much of this scaremongering. We hear different research results on a weekly basis. I don't want to live until I'm 100 years old with RA, thank you very much! One week I may be told that I drink too much tea, the next that tannin is an anti-oxidant, so have more tea & red wine! I see my dentist every 3 months: he told me to drink more tea. I remember news 2 years ago that eating sausages increased the chances of cancer by 40%. I eat sausages, usually mash & onion gravy with mushy peas. I don't blame my sausage consumption for my RA, so why on earth blame my GP for a new fangly dangly piece of research, yet to be proved?
well said.. the Daily mail ..does over dramatise.. that aside diclofenac does not suit everyone and can often cause bowel upset usually in the form of diahorrrea in susceptible people. it didnt suit me. but a lot of people take it perfectly fine.. I actually had to give some to a patient today.. main advice always.. with food
in reply to
I just get so annoyed that they do keep over dramatising these type of drugs, at the end of the day lots of people do take them and it causes them unnecessary worry.
We don't tend to worry as much because we certainly take much worse that can affect us in much the same way.
I tend to feel sorry for older people who see this on the news and it worries them.
I suppose you see a lot of that side of things, and they probably expect you to have the answers!
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Off topic -Flare we go again!
Round and round we go..
Diclofenac v Naproxen
Where do I go from here? 
