Hi Tom, I have been having a good result from Celebrex. My internist prescribed 2 100 mg./day, and told me to take more if I needed it. I went to 4, two before bedtime, one in the early a.m. and another one later in the day when I start to feel like I want it. I had been in a lot of pain the week before, as well as swelling in my wrists and knees. Both went down a lot. I am no longer taking Advil. I know the FDA says Celebrex isn't any stronger than Advil, but I think they are wrong. I think it made a big difference in the swelling, which is a big part of the pain.
On the other hand, a couple of days before I started the Celebrex, I was desperate for something to help with the pain and swelling, because I was taking 800 mg Advil every four hours, and still in agony, and knew that dose was self-destructive. I started using MSM, methylsulfonylmethane, a supplement which is related to DMSO, and is sold at health food stores. That helped, too.
My family went to North Carolina this weekend, to visit my father's wife who is having brain cancer treatment at Duke, and I was able to move pretty much normally the entire time, it was unbelieveable. Until yesterday, when I "froze up" again in the car on the way back. I was in a lot of pain yesterday evening. I had cut back on the MSM, and I went back to the dose I had been taking, and also took a long nap, and have been feeling incrementally better ever since.
I am telling you about the MSM just to be totally honest, I think the Celebrex was more to thank for the incredible improvement.
My first prescription, 30 100 mg. cost $55 at CVS. That's $1.83 a pill, $7.33 a day, $2,676 a year. I am going to call Dr. this a.m. and ask for 4 100 mg. a day, hopefully a 200 bottle, and get it filled at Costco, which should be cheaper. |
