Indometacin

Aimer66

Just been given the above NSAID to replace Arcoxib.

Any had any experience of it?

Thanks,

Mark.

stickywicket

It was the first NSAID I was ever given, years ago and it worked well for a long time. However, ALWAYS take it with food to protect your stomach and I hope you've also been given a 'stomach protecting pill' to take with it. They also used to produce it in suppository form, to bypass the potential stomach problems and, believe me, this is not a good idea for those of us with arthritic hands. I spent long hours chasing pills round the bathroom floor.

RichT

My first one too Always worked very well with me but I was took of it and put on arcoxia a couple of years ago reason being told it was out dated :shock: Arcoxia doesn't work as well in my opinion though.

MrDJ

my first one as well.
seemed to help first time round and then i was stopped for a while. think it was while i was having my hip replacement.
then they started me on it again and after first tablet i was in agony with the worst migraine i had ever suffered. stopped immediately after that.

jimmydave937911

Hi Mark,

Could I ask what you have been given indomethacin for? I have been on it now for nearly a year for a mystery illness which has still not been diagnosed and I am getting increasingly frustrated. I'm just trying to get a feel for the different illnesses in which indo. is given to help. I've had a few things thrown at me such as RA, Anklosing S and Reactive Arthritis but still nothing definite.

Many Thanks

Rob

frogmorton

Hi Rob

just in case Mark doesn't get in can l welcome you to our forums and say that the medication is a non-steroid anti-inflammatory. It therefore reduces inflammation and pain. I know some can reduce a high temperature too....ibuprofen does for example, not sure about this one though.

Sorry you are as yet undiagnosed. You are not alone in this, but if your symptoms are of a form of arthritis you will get so much support on here.

Love

Toni xx

Aimer66

Hi Rob, welcome to the forum. Like you I am, at present, undiagnosed. PA, RA, IA, Lupus, AOSD have and are all still being considered.

I think my Rhumey tries something different each time I see him with regards to meds. The best I have feltin 18 months was when I was on prednasolone for iritis (part of the arthritis "family"). INDOMETACIN is the latest. Seems to be controlling the joint pain but that's it.

What are your symptoms?

I suffer from a selection of the following - aching ankles, wrists, fingers, flu symptoms, hot spells, night sweats, iritis, headaches generally feeling very tired all the time.

Once again, welcome. There are some very good people on this site always willing to listen and talk.

Cheers,

Mark.

jimmydave937911

Hi Toni/Mark,

Firstly thank you for your quick replies. Secondly, I have just spent about an hour writing a response to you both and when i clicked 'submit', the page had timed out and I lost it all so I am going to have to try and fit everthing into a much shorter reply! I'll sum it up now and then probably try and write a more in depth message later!

Just briefly about me, I am 27, at the time of this developing was pretty fit and healthy and had no long term illnesses.

In the last year I have had pain in my foot, finger, back, spine, neck, thigh and chest (all these pains have usually left one place and started on another pretty shortly afterwards). It started in my chest (apparently this was costochondritis) and then spread. It got to the point where I could barely move out of bed so went to the docs and was given Indomethacin. The Indo helped but it wouldn't go away so was signed off work and referred to a rheumy. During this time was given citalopram as I got quite down (I am now off these thankfully). In the last 9 months I have had multiple blood tests, 2 xrays, 2 ultrasounds, CT scan and an MRI. Pretty much everything has come back with nothing apart from the ultrasound in which they have found that I have enlarged lymph nodes, going for a small op next month to have one removed for testing.

This is a hugely shortened version of events than it actually is but basically now I have gone from fit and healthy and 'normal', to being 100% reliant on these tablets and not feeling at all like the person I was a year ago. My concentration is poor, I feel pretty tired a lot of the time and unless I take the 2 tablets a day it hurts to even put my socks on in the morning. In the last 2 weeks I have also developed some kind of lump on the middle finger of my left hand, i'm not saying it is but I have researched rheumatoid nodules and these fit the bill pretty well. I've done a lot of research on most diseases such as RA, AS, Fibro etc and I seem to have a few syptoms of each but nothing definite. Reactive arthritis seems to be the best fit but my concerns are that a) I am now reliant on tablets b) will it ever go away and c) is it going to get worse? Obviously this all depends on what it is though.

Do you have any similar experiences or have you read anything that looks familiar? Obviously it's getting pretty frustrating for me now and I appreciate there are people out there with a lot worse but like i said, i'm concerned that this is going to get worse???

Thank you so much for reading through this and hopefully i'll speak to you soon (and apologies for the bad spelling/grammar, i've been banging the keyboard in a rage since I lost the last message!!!:).

Rob

stickywicket

Oh oh! Banging the keyboard is very bad for the fingers, Rob Welcome from me too but I'm so sorry you had to find us.

It must be very hard to have gone from fit and healthy to aching all over in such a short time and hard to adjust. It's also frustrating being unable to name the beast. Unfortunately, it's a familiar pattern. Some forms of arthritis are readily identified: others take much longer. Meanwhile, the pain goes on....and on.....and on.

You ask 'will it ever go away?' and 'is it going to get worse?' Well, we're not doctors, Rob, and we're not qualified to answer those questions. Besides, as no-one seems to have definitively established what 'it' is yet, I doubt even the docs can yet. I presume you've seen a rheumatologist and it's him/her who is doing the investigations. Hopefully, there will be an answer soon. If it's some auto-immune variety of arthritis then you'll be given meds and, if lucky, they'll work. If not, you'll be given other meds and eventually they should find something that does the job for you. Meanwhile the indomethacin will hopefully reduce the inflammation and help with some of the pain.

The fact that there are people out there worse than you is totally irrelevant. We each have to deal with what we have and, sometimes, that can be overwhelming.

Can I suggest you copy and paste this onto a new thread, Rob, as more people will see it and I'm sure will want to help.

Aimer66

Rob, you are not alone in having multiple investigations. I too went through various scans (ct, pet, X-ray) and had bone marrow and lymph node biopsies.

It is the uncertainty that can very very hard to cope with. At least you are under a Rhumey so it looks as if they are heading in the right direction. On a positive note my consultant told me I was the healthiest Ill person he had met!!

Cheers,

Mark.

jimmydave937911

Sticky,

Thanks for the reply.

Ha ha yes, my questions were more just my thoughts coming out, I wasn't expecting answers as such! It's just nice (as it can be) to talk to people with similar experiences. I think, as you said, the most frustrating thing is not being able to label whatever this is. If I knew what it was I could at least know what i'm dealing with and be able to get my head round it! Ah well never mind, as i've said my rheumy seems to be doing a pretty good job and i'm sure eventually some kind of test will show something!!!!

Thanks again

Rob

jimmydave937911

Mark,

Interesting about the lymph node biopsy, did they find anything and were yours enlarged? Did you have just a piece removed or the whole thing?

Yeah i'm sure i'm heading in the right direction, just seems to be a very slow process! Always good to know you're not alone though (in a selfish kind of way!)

Rob

Aimer66

Hi Rob,

I did have 1 enlarged lymph node somewhere in the middle of my body that they took a biopsy from. That, along with the bone marrow, came back negative.

Your not being selfish, it's a normal reaction. As I said previously, the uncertainty can be worse than the knowing.

All the best,

Mark.

P.s. - nice to have another male poster!!!!!!!!

jimmydave937911

Mark,

Ha ha, glad to keep you company. Will have to wait and see about the node but not holding out much hope as everything else has come back negative!

In response to your original question about Indomethacin, I personally haven't had any problems with it since i started (about a year ago). Stomach protectors are advised as far as I know as they can cause stomach bleeding but this is usually associated with long term use.

I know the pharmacist at my local sainsbury's so if you have any other questions about any other meds, just let me know!

Thanks

Rob

Aimer66

Has to stop taking INDOMETACIN as it was giving me quite a reaction.

I guess it could be coincidence but I was getting very fevery and night sweats were getting quite bad. I stopped taking it and these symptoms disappeared almost overnight. Strange.

I am now back on Naproxin and have an appointment with the Rhumey next Tuesday. I will present him with another list of symptoms and blood results and see if we can get a clearer diagnoses.

Typical that I seem to be pulling through the flair when I see him.

Cheers,

Mark.