Oh Laurie,

I am so sorry to hear about this. Not the kind of problem you need right now, or ever. I have seen some warnings about Celebrex on TV, but based on your case, the warning should have been lauder. Thank you for posting this, you may help other to avoid the kind of damage you have to suffer. I only hope that it is not permanent, as maybe in your case they caught it early. But what abummer!

Keep us posted about your follow-up results.

Wishing you the best,

Kin

Thanks for bringing this up Laurie. I've been on Celebrex for about 2 wks now. It has helped with my leg pain. My ns wanted me off the prednisone & put me on Celebrex. After I read all the precautions from the pharmacy I looked it up on the net. I think I will question my ns on the next visit. I have a baseline on my blood work from February from my GP.

HI Laurie and All, I am sorry to hear about your reaction to celebrex. I sure hope you don't have any further trouble. And thanks, also, for warning all of us. I have taken a lot of Celebrex over the years, but only off and on. It was given to me by my PCP and ortho doc for arthritis in my shoulder and later for my knees. Then when the Vioxx was pulled, my ortho doc stopped using the Celebrex as well. He said it wasn't worth the risk. Maybe he was right! Neither of my old drs did blood work to monitor, though.

Two months ago my new rheumy dr gave me some celebrex samples. So I tried it again. And it does help my hands and feet, but not as much as the steroid. Without it, my hands are worthless. But I go every 2 months and they do blood work each time.

Honestly, you don't know what to take. It is a very big worry, because all of these drugs have their side effects. Laurie, how did your epidural go? Did you get any relief from that? I had an epidural "accident" last summer. It turned into an absolute nightmare! So now I would be scared to death to ever get another one of those. You just don't know.

Hope everyone has a happy Fouth and a good weekend,
Marti

Thank you Laurie for the warning about celebrex...I have taken myself off of it because I have been having nosebleeds since I've been on it and can't figure out why...it's a good med and I think it does help but at what cost....I hope you are going to be ok and please keep us posted.......happy 4th!

hi! perhaps you need to take a more active role in your recovery process. you knew you needed to do the blood work but you did not push for it or mention it to the appropriate people. taking center stage in your care may prevent these kinds of problems. noone is going to look out for you but you! take care! Jenny

Im diabetic and monitor my kidney functions closely. I have tried most of the nsaids out there over the years. These days its ibuprophen only for me as far as nsaids go. last thing I need is organ issues on top of the rest of my issues.

Better a little more pain than some unexpected side effect years later. Alot of these newer drugs scare the crap out of me when I read the side effects. No i'm not taking a drug with kidney failure or death as a side effect.

Good warning post!

Bfromaz

I think celebrex has good and bad points.
I took it until I developed an allergy to it. I was also told it has the potential to cause blood clots...jade

All these drugs have can dangerous side effects. other supplements and meds, disease states can interact.

Even the OTC's do. its a risk benefit analysis and all we can do is involve our health care provider, watch our bloodwork carefully and make decisions with our docs.

We have to be on the alert and get out bloodwork checked regularly even if we take Tylenol, Iboprofen daily guess what? both these drugs can and will hurt our organs in the right dosage/setting.

I'm so sorry Laurie that your kidneys have taken a beating and sadly this is not uncommon...I am a nurse and many dialysis patients happily popped iboprofen for years unaware what they were doing to themselves. We need better education out there.

Thank you for the info, My doctor wrote me a perscription for celebrex last week all the news and internet warnings i refused to fill and now i see your post thank god. I asked him why are you giving me celebrex i thought it was recalled he said no its safe that was vioxx, another drug i was on in 2005 i only took very little thank goodness.

You know my father almost died from celebrex also,HE NEARL BLED TPO DEATH FROM 4 BLEEDING ULCERS DUE TO CELEBREX YEARS OF TAKING THEM.

He lost half his blood atleast, he is lucky to be alive. He always says its ashame too because they where the only meds that really worked.

i will keep you in my prayers and i hope all the damage can be reversed. tzake good care of yourself. And thanks for sharing this important information .

even though there are many warnings the doctors are still writing this often.

DAWN

Celebrex like any and all drugs, can and does have "potential" side effects and risks.

I've been on celebrex since vioxx went off the market.

I always discuss each medication being prescribed with my doc and the pharmacist. Staying informed is the key for me.

"C"

I am really confused ..... I have lots of pain from Lower back issues. Herniated Disc ( L4-L5 ) Bulging Disc ( L2-L3 )
Scoliosis 38 degrees and lots of OA..... I take 2 Aleve per day and 4 Vicodin ( 2 am 2 pm ). I'm still in a great deal of pain ..... What the heck am I supposed to take ? I know you folks can't give out medical advice but good grief !! this is really frustrating. I'm 57 years old AND hoping to be around for a while.

Thanks
Rich

Laurie,
I'm sorry to hear about your problem, that's tough news to hear.

We all need to be our own advocates and know what we are taking. I had a similar experience with Requip (ropinirole) although there was no permanent damage. But by not realizing the symptom was a rare side effect, I was put on other drugs to deal with it and they might have caused problems as well, not to mention the added expense. My doctor said he'd never seen this side effect before and he has a number of patients on Requip long term with no problem, but there it was, listed on the FDA site for Requip. I only discovered what was happening when I stopped the Requip because of another very well-known side effect that was causing problems. Since that time, I always read the side effects and keep a log on when I start something new and if any new problems crop up.

But it's all individual. I don't know how I could get through the day without Celebrex, and I was starting to show kidney and stomach problems from all the aspirin and ibuprofen. It was agony to not have it during the 3 months after my fusion surgery. That really made me realize how much Celebrex was helping. I haven't had any stomach problems on and I'm very lucky in that my employer has a wellness program and you can get free blood tests every 3 months if you want. I just fax them into my PC, so we can keep track of any kidney or liver problems. I do wish others had this option, it gives me a lot of confidence in taking these drugs.
DebH

Hi: I stopped taking Celebrex after taking it for one year. I had all my blood work done and everything including my kidneys was all fine. I personally had other issues that I can only connect to taking the Celebrex and that was that my blood pressure got high and sometimes it felt like my heart was ready to jump out of my chest and therefore I had anxiety. My Mom took it for 8 years and her kidneys came out clean but she stopped taking it after I did and now takes Mobic w/no problems. Mobic didn't help me when I had tried it before so I just take a Naproxen when I need it for inflamation. Best of Luck. I knew the Celebrex could be a problem of sorts but I think as do many medications, they work differently on different ppl. I'm happy to be off of it because I feel so much better.
_____________

Osteoarthritis, bulging disc at L4/5, spinal stenosis. I've had most injections invented and recently had my second RF L4/5 and S1.

Sorry to hear of your issue with Celebrex.

I had been on this for 24+ months. Had some symptoms, like extreme exhaution, can't climb a flight of stairs without having to stop, out of breath with really no exertion, Stomach pain and really bad chest pain, tightness in the chest-in the middle of the night, wakes you from sleep to awake in seconds.

I stopped the celebrex on a guess - 50-50 on which meds it could be causing the problem, so I quit it for a week. and within a week, I began to notice sutle symptoms subsiding. Not quick, just slowly.

Been 4 weeks since I stopped and slowly I feel better. I have been a real pain in my Dr side, as I get the drug monographs of anything that is prescribed for me and then I take this to the pharmacist to see what they have seen happen to most patients, in the side effects. With this-I'll make a decision about trying something. So- I found with Celebrex that the side effects were so slow in onset that you never really noticed them. Kind of like my journey through this life with my back, slowly I lose some ability and it is only when I notice that I cannot do something-no matter how I try that I realize that is is gone.
Agreed - we need to be careful of the side-effects and keep tabs on them as quick as possible.

Thank you for starting the thread on this.

When I was 1st diagnosed I was told DDD then later told herniated disc. To help with the back pain from the arthritic disc. I was given Celebrex for a month to try. For a couple of weeks it helped a lot then diminished. So doc bumps it to 2x day. Works but now I get gastrointestinal problems. I quit taking it and went back to Advil with about the same results in pain relief.

Next doc says let's try Daypro (Oaxprozin). I try that and it works really well. No bad gastro pain. The relief falls off after about a month. So I stopped taking it and went back to Advil.

Any NSAID and many pills have bad effects on your liver if you take them long term. The NSAIDs say pretty clearly that you have Cardiovascular Risk + Gastrointestinal Risk.

What is sad is two fold. Celebrex costs over $200 for a month supply. This is supposed to be the wonder drug to replace Oxaprozin and the like. Much less side effects. BS! Failed. The Daypro in generic form was about $20. Bottle of Advil for that same period was about $10. None of them are "good for you". They all have diminishing returns.

It is your responsibility to get your blood work done more often if you take medications for long periods. That probably applies to most people on this forum. Guess what? You are the long term guinea pigs in those studies you read about

I have been taking Celebrex since it was put on the market. I have extensive bloodwork 4x a year cause the type of cancer I had.

THANKS FOR WARNING EVERYONE!!!!!!!

I am sending big hugs and kisses your way. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Once a patient has had a fusion with hardware, it is usually recommended to have the MRI with "contrast" which means a drug (gadolinium) is injected toward the end of the MRI that is supposed to increase the contrast.

The first time I realized I was suffering kidney problems from Celebrex was when they drew blood prior to the MRI to be sure my kidneys could handle the dye. They test for the creatine to see what the GFR is. (glomerular filtration rate). This is probably more info than anyone wants, but just in case, this is a rare side effect of the use of gadolinium:

"Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) or Nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy is a rare and serious syndrome that involves fibrosis of skin, joints, eyes, and internal organs. Its cause is not fully understood, but it seems to be associated with exposure to gadolinium (which is frequently used as a contrast substance for MRIs) in patients with severe kidney failure. It does not have a genetic basis."

***It is important to have this blood test before having a MRI with contrast. I had NO IDEA I had any potential kidney disease and this came as a complete shock.

There are some more natural ways to deal with inflammation that do not damage the kidneys and liver. This is just one thing that we spineys need to be aware of, in addition to everything else....

I was on celebrex for knee pain, it helped some but not a grea deal. while I was on them they yanked viox of the shelfs due to possible heart problems. I spoke to my Dr. and he thought that the celbrex was safe for me seeing it was very close to viox I was nervous ad stopped taking them. Not long after this I had a heart attack. Pretty scary when your are 43 , no BP problems or anything else that would make put me in the catergory for heart problems.
karen

for the warning Laurie!!! My 78 yr old mother has been taking celebrex for few months now for her back and hip. She has an appointment with her PM the 1st of December, I need to make sure I remember to mention something to him. My mom certainly doesn't need anymore health issues, enough is enough!! Thank again for your post.

Thank you for this post. My surgeon just wrote me a prescription for Celebrex and told me he wanted me to use it now instead of the Percocet that I've been on for 3 months. The Percocet work well for me and I really don't want to switch. I decided to go online and google the side effects and info about Celebrex because my surgeon didn't tell me ANYTHING about it. Now, with everything I'm reading about Celebrex there is absolutely no way I am going to put that into my body. I do realize that there are harmful side effects for almost every prescription drug on the market and it depends on each of our bodies... I am just not willing to take that risk right now. I think I will call my surgeon's office and pain management doctor's office tomorrow and tell them I am declining this medication.

I'm sorry to hear you had these problems. Celebrex makes such a big difference to my pain level that I do take it and know of the possibilities. But thank you for the warning. The lab work is very important!
Good luck, Jim

Works for me!

I used it for months after my shoulder replacement, helped a lot.

I'm glad I came onto this forum to read about everyone's experience with Celebrex. My heart goes out to the woman that has kidney troubles from it. Some posts were apathetic to her situation about getting blood tests but if you have a good doctor like I do, he takes mine at least once a year. I myself would not go that often but he does it right there in his office.
But I started this drug on Thursday (today is Sunday)as I have this herniated disc pressing on a nerve root. I am not going to list all those LS numbers some posts list as I have it and MRI shows it. But I got so sick the 3rd day into taking Celebrex. I felt like I was getting the flu, nauseaus, achy, feverish etc. I don't like to read side effects first as then I would not take anything & they don't give the % of people that got these conditions. But I was in pain too & wasn't sure it was the Celebrex or a bug. But I stopped taking it after 3 days just to see. The first pill did great but the 3rd day dosage did me in. It is nice to be able to go on a website and see one is not alone with reactions to medications. But I do know one thing, I will not take it and will be calling my doctor this week. Thanks everyone for sharing.

I see my post - back about a year ago.

Well - I used it for about 2 years, off and on. I found it took a couple weeks to work for myself. And then as time went on - I had side-effects coming on - all of those listed in the site - for Celebrex.

I don't wish to alarm anyone - but I would use it short-term for myself - but not long-term.

Since I stopped - I lost 20lbs of fluids. I stopped waking in the night with severe chest pain {yes - I was checked for heart issues} The soreness and weakness in my legs dropped off after a month, and I began to walk better doing stairs and such. Stamina began to come back and shortness of breath released.

I could probably chock some of this up to something else, except I was only on 2 meds. And stopped each separately, and then reported the results back to my Dr. He agreed with stopping it, as he wishes to only have me on things that actually work.

JMHO

I am a nurse and I used to work for a company that defended Merck in their class action law suits for Vioxx. There were thousands and thousands of cases against Merck due to the Vioxx side effects...the major ones being heart attack and stroke. A couple years ago my PM gave me celebrex to try for my migraines...just a different avenue to try as I had tried many others. Knowing what I knew, I took the celebrex as prescribed at the onset of a headache (was also on topamax so they were very infrequent at this point). I would have never taken it over a long period of time, but taking it once or twice a month did not worry me so much.

From what I've heard from those with severe athritis...some would take all the "life threatening" risks of vioxx/celebrex for the pain relief hands down b/c it was so effective. As we all are chronic pain sufferers, those are the kinds of decisions we have to make about our treatment just to try to live a "normal" life. It's sad. However, it's fact.