NSAIDS - even once?

That answers my question...

You could get an ulcer even if you don't take NSAIDs orally.  There was a women here who was given an injection with NSAIDs and got an ulcer.  Somewhere I read an explanation about it but I can't remember where.

NSAIDS can cause ulcers because they cause the lining of the stomach (the old stomach and the pouch) to thin out.  This does NOT happen when the medication enters the pouch or touches the pouch.  It happens when the medicine enters your blood stream.  That’s why you can get ulcers in your old stomach.  NSAIDS taken by mouth don’t touch the old stomach but can still cause ulcers there.  Any way you take an NSAID – pill, liquid, shot, IV, patch, gel – it gets into your blood stream. 

Thank you ladies for helping to jolt me back into reality.  I am going to suffer through it. I took a couple of T3s and also an ativan.  Hopefully I will find relief with this ****tail.  Desperation can sometimes lead to poor choices.  This back pain counts as desperation!

Thanks again!

Jenn

My surgeon has told me I can take a dose of Advil on the first day of my period for cramps, but no more than that.

I have been struggleing with back problems for years.  I thought it was magically gone when I had the surgery, but once I became active again it was back in full force.  Turns out i have all these lower back issues, with discs, and narrowing of my spine.  So, my primary care doc gave me two scripts for percoset.  This helped, but I kept asking for something not as addictive and I dont want to be seen as a junkie lol.  Finally she just stopped giving me anything and said I have to see a specialist.  I was on my own.  I called my surgeons office and they gave me a prescription for cytotec to take every day, then I can take ibuprofen.  It coats your stomach so you can handle the nsaids.  This helped a real lot.  Finally I got to the pain management doctor and he wants to do spinal injections which I am putting off for now at least, I just dont want to go through that yet.  He gave me a prescription for Lidoderm, which is a lidocaine patch that goes on the site of the pain and stays on for 12 hours.  It seems to help some.  I hope this information helps you.  Its really hard to not be able to have an anti inflammatory.  I dont think a few pills would hurt but no more than that.  Good luck.  Any questions let me know.

Just to repeat what Kelly has already repeated - NSAIDS don't cause ulcers through contact  with the stomach lining. I have uterine fibroids, and for years used Ibuprofen through every menstrual cycle for bad cramps, on the advice of a doctor, who told me - correctly, at least in my case - that with such severe cramping it was better to get the anti-inflammatory action started before the pain really picked up, and that way it would take less meds in the long run to manage it than letting things get bad and then trying to take enough to get back to normal. So I had been taking Ibu for years, literally, with good results.
When I asked my surgeon pre-op how big a deal the 'No NSAIDs" thing was, she looked pretty concerned even by the question, and she isn't a dogmatic type. I was nervous about giving up proven pain relief, and asked her about the patches, and she told me the same thing. How it's administered is not that issue. It's the action of the NSAIDS after they've entered the blood stream that leads to ulcers, not the process of being absorbed. That's why they can cause ulcers in the stomach remnant, an area where they cannot even come in contact with the stomach. A side-effect of those medications is that, once entering the blood stream, they cause the stomach lining to thin itself out.  In some significant number of people that thinning can be severe enough to allow the natural stomach acids to reach the exposed stomach wall and start "digesting" it the same way the acid digests a piece of beef.
Voila.
Ulcer.

And there you have it. Another lengthy post to state, in essence, "Yeah, I agree with what Kelly said."

 OK - so what do you take for pain/headache if you cant take NSAIDS. Tylenol is a joke. Is there anything (prescription or OTC) that can be taken on a regular basis for pain?

Thank you everyone!  I am so glad to have learned the way NSAIDs invade the lining of the stomach.  I was never sure.  I remember that an ER doctor once wanted to prescribe NSAIDs via suppository for a pretty aggressive ovarian cyst - but upon calling my surgeon, I was told - "no way."  As I said, until my pregnancy, I was so careful about NSAIDs and poof, not so much.  You guys got me right back on track!

My back injury occured as the result of a very minor fender-bender just before I got pregnant.  Percocet worked for the pain, but I very quickly knew that I could become dependent on it.  I stopped taking it and now use T3s regularly, but as I said, they have lost their power on me.  Tramodol works on my back but gives me a headache.  Someone suggested Tramocet, so I may look into it.  I also need to look at some alternative therapies like chiropactic care.  Now that my infant is here and I am on Mat Leave, I have the time.  I guess I should also exercise and improve my core's condition (urgh, I hate exercise).

Thanks again everyone.  This Board rocks!

Jenn