Pain Med question

[twinmaker]

I have a question that I thought some of you all might be able to help me with. I'm fairly sure that I have Carpal Tunnel syndrome in my right hand. My internist agrees but I haven't been back in to see him about some solutions for this. Anyway, the pain is waking me up at night and I was wondering if there is anything over the counter that I can take to ease it. Everything I read over the net says to take aspirin or ibuprofen but with my Coumadin, I guess those are no-nos. My x-tra strength Tylenol won't touch it. Any suggestions? Linda

 

[rbl1999]

Hi, have you tried wearing some wrist splints, particularly at night? The only thing that ever helped me other than that is ibupropen.. You can buy the wrist splints at Walmart or a pharmacy.. Rose

 

[tobagotwo]

I assume tyou are saying that these are no-nos because you are on Coumadin. Otherwise, I'm not sure why you would feel that way. Most of the drugs that they recommend for carpal tunnel are likely going to be "wrong" for you. That is because NSAIDs are the best treatment for CTS because they are anti-inflammatory agents.

I would refer you to Al Lodwick for specific information about warfarin and NSAIDs.

However, from reading the postings, it seems that many people who take warfarin do not experience overt problems with NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs), which can cause stomach bleeding. I don't know how you can figure out whether you're one of them. There are a number of over-the-counter choices, including aspirin, ibuprofen, ketoprofen (Orudis), and naproxen sodium (Aleve). Perhaps your doctor or Al could help you determine how you could try one of these more safely.

If you did try them under your doctor's care, you would likely only want to take them with food, and wouldn't want to take more than an over-the-counter dosage.

I wish you luck with this pain.

Best wishes,

 

[twinmaker]

My INR has always been a challenge to keep in range. For instance, in the past week it has gone from 4.2 to 2.1. In 24 years, it has always been this way. I've pretty much tried to stay away from aspirin and other drugs like aspirin. Maybe I should just try one and see what happens.

 

[hensylee]

I had a VERY elderly neighbor who had the surgery. She suffered terribly because of the pain. She was in her 90s when she had it and was immediately relieved. Nothing, including her NSAIDS helped her, so she finally went for the surgery.

 

[twinmaker]

I did get a wrist splint yesterday from the drug store and wore it last night and I had my best night's sleep in a while. Maybe it's a fluke but I'll wear it again tonight and see what happens. I know surgery is always an option but I hope it doesn't come to that. But if it does, I'll do it. I can handle pain short term, but I'm kind of a wimp if it goes on and on. Linda