Help!! Advice needed from all you lovely people.

[Caza]

I had my appointment yesterday at the hospital, very confusing time,at the desk I was told that I'd seen the doctor already & why did I need to see him again!! As I'd only just arrived I was a bit puzzled,I told the girl it couldnt of been me & had she got my name right,she then said ohmygod someone has messed up.so someone else had gone in & had been seen but with my notes. Not a good start & a very unhappy n stressed doctor.

Anyway Ive been in quite some pain unable to sleep at night etc....the doctor has prescribed celebrex 200mg & omeprazole 20mg. The question is am I to take these everyday or when Im in pain? I dont have a 'team' or a nurse & my gp wont talk to me about RA as she doesnt know enough about it,her words not mine. Thank u x

[sylvi]

First off you need to complain to pals about this. There is negligence in there. I would ask your practise if there is a dr there who knows something on ra and i would make an appointment to see them. sylvi.xx

[Hidden]

Oh help that's awful Caza? I'm sure Sylvi knows what she's talking about re Pals. It sounds totally off and I'm not surprised the doctor was unhappy and stressed too if they had been given the wrong notes. My rheumy never has my notes at all - I have to remind him of everything but then he's a visiting consultant so it's maybe not surprising and far, far worse for you and for the person seeing the doc in your place too? They might have made all sorts of wrong medical decisions about him or her as well. I wonder if they will try and hush that up?

No wonder you are feeling so unconfident about the new medication. I can't help you on the medication you've been offered but it should say on the box re when to take it? If it's a NSAID it's probably more effective if you take it at regular intervals all the time for a while but I could be wrong.

You do have my sympathy for not having a rheumy team as I don't have one either. However at least my GP is pretty good as long as I stick to stuff he knows something about (and he knows more than the average GP I believe). GPs should be fine to discuss your pain meds though as that's their job! Tilda x

[Caza]

Hi sylvi, I like the doctor I see at the hospital. Its a big london teaching hospital. They always seem to be so busy. I dont know how far the consultation went before they realised there mistake if indeed they did. Yes I should sort out another gp. But do you know about the meds? X

[Caza]

Thanks tilda,it just says on the box one twice a day,it doesnt say when needed, I think I'll leave it for awhile until I find out. Its a right old game isnt it!! X

[lorann in reply to Caza]

Caza, I do take both of those, and yes they are to be taken everyday. Celebrex is pretty mild and the Omeprazole is for stomach irritation , so you should be taking them together. Are they the only meds you have for RA? You may need more aggressive drugs, such as Dmards, if Celebrex doesn't let you sleep well. I'd go back and let the doctor know how things are, don't wait too long and just get worse! All the best, Loret xx

[cathie]

Your GP ought to be able to find out how you should be takiing these meds. Its possible that a good pharmacist would be able to give you professional advice. But GPs should have an emergency line to the consultant if its really that difficult. I've taken celebrex as a painkiller in the past - the GP should be able to tell you about that. The omeprazole info on the web doesnt make sense in your context. I'd try a pharmacist until you can see your GP. But neither seem to be specialist meds which suggest that you should get advice from GP.

[helixhelix]

hello,

Celebrex is a NSAID (a non steroidal anti-inflammatory), and the Omeprazole is a stomach protector (proton pump inhibitor) which you take alongside the NSAID to stop any nasty effects on your stomach lining. It's best to check with your doctor about how they think you should take them as we are all different, but generally you need to take NSAIDS regularly to keep down the inflammation in your joints. They aren't pain killers, although by reducing the inflammation they do actually help alot with pain. Especially if you are yet to start on any of the longer term medicines them NSAIDS really do help control the RA, and stop your joints being as damaged. When I was first diagnosed I took them daily, but now the other meds have kicked in and my inflammation is under control I rarely need them. But your GP can advise on these drugs as they are not specific for RA so any GP with an ounce of sense should be able to tell you about them. Polly

[Caza]

Hi polly thanks for the reply, I take hydroxy but Ive been a lot worse with stiffness & pain of late,I think he meant for me to take them daily but wasnt to sure x

[cathie]

That makes sense Polly. I used to take things without really knowinig what they were. Which is silly. Glad everyone else is more sensible and cautious.

[mistymeana]

Hi Caza, sorry you had such a traumatic experience. I think the advice to bring it to the attention of PALS is very sound. All staff at the hospital should be checking your address, GP name and date of birth to confirm they have the correct patient details and they clearly didn't when you visited. As for Celebrex, I've been on it for several years as the brufens all gave me awful stomach pains and nausea. This I've found much milder and stomach symptoms are generally well controlled (I've also just been upped to a PPI as the previous meds weren't doing their job as well and so far so good). As It's an anti-inflammatory the effects are cumulative so you need to take them regularly to get the benefit, unlike a painkiller which responds quickly on an ad-hoc basis. One thing to be aware of is that there is a slightly increased risk of heart attack or stroke with the cox 2 inhibitors so it's a good idea to minimise any lifestyle risk, although I doubt you would have been given them it the rheum thought you were at risk. So, good diet without too much fat or artificial cr**, sensible alcohol intake and no fags. That was the good side effect for me when they discovered the link to heart disease - I was changed to Celebrex on the understanding I'd give up smoking. Just the kick up the butt I needed and diet change lost me three stone so impact on joints reduced. A win win situation. I hope you find the new meds effective and go fight your corner, you deserve the best treatment! x

[Caza]

Thank you for that very helpful. In that case I need to see my gp my sister died of a massive stroke & it runs in the female side my dr at the hos wouldn't know that x

[earthwitch]

Yes, you definitely do need to check about the celebrex. There are a whole lot of different NSAIDs that you could be taking so it doesn't make sense at all to give you one of the ones that has the highest risks for heart/stroke problems if you have a family history of it when there are others you could have instead.

As far as the doctors not knowing about your history, I would have thought that any sensible doctor would have asked first if either you or a close family member had a history of problems like that. Family history of both stroke and heart problems should be recorded in your file.

[Caza]

Thank you for all the replies ,what would I do without you all. I've decided to write to the consultant & hope I get a quick reply, for the last few weeks I've quite a lot of,which painkillers are not touching. Thanks again x

[Caza]

Ooops quite a lot of pain x