quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Are you allergic to NSAIDs, or do they just irritate your gastrointestinal tract?

If the latter, have you tried the topical diclofenac cream rather than just ingesting it in pill form?

Cirrhosis. Can’t take NSAIDs. I bought a tube of the house brand stuff a couple weeks ago without reading the label and haven’t opened it or returned it yet. It specifically warns of liver damage on the label.

It's a warning because there was a single case.

Otherwise the NIH says it's an extremely low risk.

Just don't eat it is what my doctor told me. He said I can bathe in it if needed.

I'll shoot my hepatologist a message asking about it. If it's something I can use and get relief from, I want to try it. I'm just hesitant because I'm already running so much goddamn medication through my liver that adding an NSAID gives me pause.

* Ok, from my hepatologist at Mayo Clinic: "The topical diclofenac should be okay from the liver standpoint for short-term use. And he understands that oral NSAIDs should be avoided. "

Alright, I'll crack open that tube of house brand diclofenac the next time my knees or back are so bad that Tylenol isn't doing much about it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: P220 Smudge,

Good deal. I hope it works for you. I've found it to be more effective on arthritis pain in specific joints to which it is applied than whole-body oral painkillers like Tylenol or Ibuprofen are.

Yeah, when possible and when they actually do something, I'd rather do topicals than pills.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I went ahead and tried out half the dose the dosage card recommended because it seemed like a lot. Split it up between both knees probably four hours ago. Pretty quick relief and still feeling pretty good.

I'm gonna go easy with this stuff and only use it when I can't deal, or in prep for, or recovery from a hike. Glad I read this thread and engaged, this is a quality of life improvement.

I thought that NSAIDs were hard on the kidneys and Tylenol was hard on the liver?

What works for me is Diclofenac and Turmeric Curcumin with BioPerine. Have arthritis in my hands, mainly knuckles, shoulders and spine. I’ve had two spinal surgeries to remove arthritic spurs. A coworker had a knuckle replaced with a plastic one. My barber had both thumb knuckles replaced with plastic. Both doing well.