NSAIDS - can we ever take them?

 It's been almost 3 years since my RNY.  Since last November I've had pain in my neck radiating down my arm.  I had an MRI in Jan that showed a herniated disk, stenosis, and arthritis.  At the beginning of March I got a cervical epidural steroid shot.  It took away all the radiating pain in my arm for about 5 weeks.  The pain came back about 10 days ago.  I got another shot today.  The Dr (anesthesiologist)  would like me to take Aleve or Motrin.  I told him because of the RNY, I'm not suppose to take that kind of medicine.  He wondered if it was taken with an acid reducing medicine, if that would be okay.

Any thoughts?

This is definitely a question for your surgeon.  I was told to never take one by my surgeon, but I have seen others who have taken them very judiciously with prevacid or something like it.  NSAIDS can cause ulcers in RNY patients, so you have to be very careful.  Good luck!

You could take them with prilosec.  When my asthma flares up and I end up with pnumonia, I have to take steroids for weeks at a time, so to prevent my pouch from going crazy, I take Prilosec.  Now I take it routinely.  

My surgeon is more lenient than others...He allows Celebrex at 2 years out with oral Pantoloc (protein pump inhibitor),. Although Celebrex does dick all for me, even before WLS, I do take Diclofenac 50 mgs suppository on prescription  ( to bypass direct contact with  my pouchie although it becomes bloodborn after absorption, so systemic) ...and find relief for my arthritis, spinal stenosis, spinal bone spurs, disc problems, etc etc..just as long as I take an oral Pantoloc to protect my pouch and blind stomach from ulcers and intestinal spontaneous bleeding which NSAIDS can cause...

Diclofenac is the generic name for VOLTAREN.

My surgeon said it comes down to the lesser of the two evils.  FYI, cortisone shots are also hard on the stomach, so beware of that too. . .  but basically he said that taken with prilosec, it should be ok, further out from surgery, but should you develop stomach pains, do not ignore that sort of thing.

 Thank you kind ladies.  Sounds like there is some hope.

I would check with your bariatric surgeon.  Mine says no, because they thin the lining of the stomach (both pouch and part of the stomach that has been stapled off -- if you have an RNY). They enter through the blood stream, not through the stomach, so nothing like Prilosec prevents against this.  Prilosec (or similar) helps with Tylenol (really the only "pain medication" you should take with RNY.) If you had another kind of bariatric procedure, then this might not apply; I just know about RNY,