What pain medication is safe to use?

[Sweetness_1]

Hello

I am wondering what over the conter pain meds are safe to take when you have a headache etc?

I have PBC with cirrhosis diagnosed in Sept 2016.

Thanks

[BellaKik]

Stay away from acetaminophen. Check this article out and speak with your doctor about what is the best option for you.

theepochtimes.com/n3/197837...

[Gioielli]

Hi Sweetness, sorry to hear that you have cirrhosis. I have been advised only to take paracetamol. Need to avoid Ibuprofen, aspiring and codeine.

Good luck. X

[DoreenD]

I only take paracetamol, my doctor said I could take up to 6 a day. I could not cope each day without my paracetamol as I have constant pain from osteo-arthritis and fibromyalgia, back pain and RA.

[Noidea63]

Paracetamol every time. Good luck.

[JaneIng]

I am not familiar with Paracetamol so I googled it. Wikipedia says "Paracetamol is also known as acetaminophen or APAP". Drugs.com also says Paracetamol is the same as Acetaminophen. If there is a difference between the two, which brand name drug has Paracetamol instead of Acetaminophen?

Thanks,

Jane

[Becca75]

nothing really. My specialist said once in a while I can take Tylenol but it's not great as it is processed in the liver. So I try not to take anything.

You were diagnosed in Sept. and you're already in cirrhosis I'm sorry to hear that.

[Nhaamor51]

I was told that I could not take either Tylenol because it is processed by the liver or ibuprofen because of past abd surgery. So I take Tramadol and Flerile and have Oxycodone for bad pain. I don't know how you guys function without pain meds. I am in so much pain everyday that I would not be able to eat.

[liver-bird]

I was told to take paracetamol and avoid aspirin and ibuprofen. hope this helps.

[Hidden]

Hi Sweetness,

I'm also in Stage 4 (cirrhosis stage) and have been advised by my specialist to only take Paracetamol-Osteo for my joint/muscle/bone and liver pain - no more than 6 per day. To be honest, the Paracetamol-Osteo only just takes the edge off the pain, but as I have advanced cirrhosis it's all I can take.

What I did do, was take a free (here in Australia) course in Pain Management - while many of the strategies they suggested for managing pain were ones that I had already put in place, there were others that I had not thought about (not all of them worked for me though). The use of both the Paracetamol and the pain management techniques, whilst not stopping all the pain, does alleviate it somewhat making life a bit more enjoyable (for me at least).

As always, you should check with your specialist before taking any herbal remedies, or over the counter medications. Or in fact, any new drug prescribed by GPs, or other specialists - I've learnt this through personal experience - given a new drug by a cardiologist and after two weeks of taking it I began to be very ill, when my GI specialist saw which drug I was given he told me to immediately stop taking it, I did and after about a month I began to feel better - and this was before I had moved into cirrhosis stage.

I have been diagnosed for 28 years and for the last 10 years have made a point of doing some research into anything new that doctors prescribe for me - in the case of a hospital admission etc. I get the medical staff to check with my GI specialist before I will accept a drug I'm not familiar with - can't be too careful with PBC whatever stage you are at.