Pain Killers -v- Blood Thinners

victor34

Has anyone overcome the problem of needing anti-inflammatory medication but being prevented by being on blood thinners? Paracetamol just doesn't cut it for me now and I am getting such pain in my knees that I fear I am not exercising as I should to keep going (I mean just walking). If I have to make a choice - is there one? What risks would be involved? I am an 82 year old male and active up to six months ago.

moderator

Welcome to Arthritis Care Forums victor34 from the moderation team

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bubbles

Hi Victor34
Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear that you have a lot of pain in your knees. I assume you are taking warfarin? There are quite a lot of medications that you cannot take at the same time and drugs like voltarol or ibuprofen are not recommended.
I know that paracetamol is not the best drug in the world for relieving pain, especially joint pain. It might be worth asking if you can try co codamol, or a low dose of tramadol. There are also patches, butrans fentanyl etc that could help, so that you can carry on walking and exercising gently.
Have you had a diagnosis for your knee problems.

Take care Aidan

victor34

bubbles wrote:

Hi Victor34
Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear that you have a lot of pain in your knees. I assume you are taking warfarin? There are quite a lot of medications that you cannot take at the same time and drugs like voltarol or ibuprofen are not recommended.
I know that paracetamol is not the best drug in the world for relieving pain, especially joint pain. It might be worth asking if you can try co codamol, or a low dose of tramadol. There are also patches, butrans fentanyl etc that could help, so that you can carry on walking and exercising gently.
Have you had a diagnosis for your knee problems.

Take care Aidan

I have had a hip replacement and knee replacement. The other knee is due for replacement but not before the other strengthens post op. My arms and hands are now getting painful and I would normally be on regular anti inflammatory treatment, but of course the dabigatran (Pradaxa) blood thinner precludes this. I have atrial fibrillation which is why I take the blood thinners. I am asking myself whether I should elect to come off the blood thinner so that I can have a better quality of life without the pain, and just take the risk as it would be worth it....

barbara12

Hello Victor and welcome to the forum
I have just had my second hip replaced and had blood thinners by injection, but was still taking the cocodamols..and also the butran patches ...has for the antiinflams I had to stop the a couple of years ago due to kidney probs
its such an hard decision, that I would have a word with your GP and get all the ins and outs..sorry Im not much help , but I do hope you can get some advice on this..I do understand were you are coming form...

stickywicket

I think you need a good chat with your doc(s) about this, Victor. I think the danger is that you could have a bleed as they interact but it might be that a low dose of both would be possible.

Why anti-inflammatories, though? There are plenty of straight pain-relieving meds around which would probably not preclude a blood-thinner. Again, your docs would be best to advise.

How's the latest knee? I hope it's all going well. I've had both knees and hips replaced (R.A.) and I'm a big advocate of them.