Safe to take Darvocet?

[Carole]

Question: i have a lot of inflammatory joint pain due to Ankylosing Spondylitis (a kind of RA that affects mostly the spine and large joints). It is very difficult living without something to take for pain relief from time to time that i've had to do since this LC flare started. I use external products like Lidocaine patches and Voltaran Gel, but it's barely a band-aid for the pain. I was taking way too much Hydrocodone for a over a year due to a failed neck fusion and once i got off it (thanks to a great pain clinic that burned some of the nerves causing the pain) i can't take it anymore - i get really nauseated and dizzy from it. I use Darvocet now which isn't as effective for the pain but doesn't make me sick. Anyway, i've been really afraid to take ANYTHING that might irritate my digestive system in any way. Do you think it is safe to try it now that i am finally on the mend?
Not only am i able to eat something besides rice and bananas, but i'm off the Entocort by about 10 days now and still doing okay. It took an 8 week course of it and i was really hesitant to get off it, but i test myself holistically everyday for the things i take and that's what my body wanted to do. At 6 weeks it went from 9mg to 6mg, then after only 2 1/2 weeks on 6mg it went down to 3mg. i was on 3mg for only a week when it quit testing at all. That was really scary but my body is seldom wrong in what it tells me. i was a bit more gassy at first but that has settled back down. Two things that seemed to help immensely were an Rx for Creon 20 to help with nutrient absorption and saccharomyces boulardii for probiotic. Dr said it was probably the anti-inflammatory that is a by-product of the s.b. that helped the most.
Still can't eat much in the way of fruit or veggies - (bananas, about 1/2 peach, zucchini, green beans, eggplant). i try to branch out, but no success yet. I know why they say "Patience is a virtue" - it's a tough one for me!
Thanks to drinking rice protein in rice milk twice a day and the fact that i try to eat every time i'm around food - and i get really tired of it! - in the past month i've gained back 6 of the 15 pounds i lost since May.
Also, I've finally found a margarine that works - it does have some soy but it is far down the list and doesn't cause me problems (Canola Harvest) and it's easy to find.
Thanks again to you folks who have been such a wonderful resource. I haven't written much lately as i have just been plugging along slowing trying to repair, but i read the posts frequently and use the site as a resource searching for all kinds of tips and information that can't be easily found anywhere else!
Sincerely,
Carole

[JLH]

Dee posted about this. I like it but it is a bit salty.

http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/#/products/soy-free/

[Gloria]

Hi Carole,

It sounds like you're doing great! Entocort seems to remain in the body for 5 weeks after reducing or discontinuing it. We usually celebrate when someone passes the 6 week marker without a recurrance of problems. Hopefully you're on track to make it past six weeks.

I'm curious about your statement:

i test myself holistically everyday for the things i take and that's what my body wanted to do.

What kind of test to you take? What do you look for as a result?

Gloria

[Carole]

It's strength testing - been doing it for 30 years. It was a real stretch for me to believe in since i'm a math/science person, but it works and you can't deny the physical evidence. The basic theory is that when something is bad for you, you strength level goes down dramatically. So if i touch something with my left hand and it's bad for me then i will have no strength in my right arm so that if someone pushes down on it i can't hold it up. Try this test: Have someone stand in front of you, facing you. Hold out on of your arms - straight in front of you (like you are reaching for something - it should be perpendicular to your body) with your palm down. Let the other arm hang down relaxed. Think happy thoughts and have the person facing you try to push down your outstretched arm. It should be hard to do. Then do it again only this time think of something tragic that you would really rather not think about. When they try to push your arm down you will not be able to resist. it's pretty amazing. It tells you that somethng that is "bad" (even bad thoughts) saps your strength - gives you an idea how much and how fast your body reacts to stress! Let me know if you try it - once you see how it works i'll tell you how to apply it to anything you want to test.

[starfire]

Here is a list of ingredients for Darvocet. I agree that it isn't the best painkiller in the world but I know your pain is severe. I'm really sorry you have to do with both MC and AS.

Just about the only thing I am familiar with in the ingredient list is acetaminophen so I'm not much help with saying whether it's OK for you or not. Plus I don't know what the inactive ingredients might be. I do know you really need something.


The ingredients in brand-name Darvocet A500 tablets are as follows:

•Propoxyphene napsylate
•Acetaminophen
•Anhydrous lactose
•Colloidal silicon dioxide
•Crospovidone
•Magnesium stearate (powder)
•Microcrystalline cellulose
•Povidone
•Pregelatinized corn starch
•Stearic acid (powder)
•Carnauba wax
•Hypromellose 2910 6cP
•Polyethylene glycol
•Purified water
•Sodium citrate
•Titanium dioxide
•FD&C Red No. 40 Aluminum Lake
•FD&C Yellow No. 6 Aluminum Lake.
The inactive ingredients are necessary for various purposes, such as fillers to make the tablet large enough to handle. Other inactive ingredients may be necessary during the manufacturing process or may serve other purposes (such as making the tablets easier to swallow).

Love, Shirley

[tex]

Hi Carole,

I don't see anything in Darvocet that should cause any significant problems for someone with MC - in fact, it will tend to suppress D. Propoxyphene is an opioid analgesic, (IOW, a narcotic). Like any narcotic-based painkiller, it will tend to slow down motility, so if you begin having significant constipation problems, you may need to take steps to prevent it, since regular use of narcotic-based painkillers can sometimes lead to serious impaction problems in the colon, if not compensated for by diet adjustments, or other means. When taking Darvocet, drugs that have anticholinergic activity should be avoided, because the adverse affect on bowel motility may be accentuated, resulting in significantly worse constipation. Such drugs include dicyclomine, (Bentyl), some antihistamines, [carbinoxamine, (Rondec), clemastine, (Tavist), diphenhydramine, (Benadryl), promethazine, (Phenergan)], some phenothiazines, [for example, thioridazine, (Mellaril), triflupromazine, (Stelazine)], some tricyclic antidepressants, [for example, amitriptyline, (Elavil), amoxapine, (Asendin), clomipramine, (Anafranil), protriptyline, (Vivactil)], clozapine, (Clozaril), cyclobenzaprine, (Flexeril), and disopyramide, (Norpace).

After your gut has had more time to heal, you'll be able to add more of those foods back into your diet. If you know for a fact that you are sensitive to soy, however, I would strongly urge you to switch margarine brands, and do whatever is necessary to avoid all traces of soy, because most people who are sensitive to it, are highly sensitive to it. You might not notice any adverse effects from small amounts of soy in your diet at this point, but after all the budesonide is depleted from your body, the situation may be quite different. Remember that it's very easy to fall out of remission, but it's usually much more difficult to reclaim it.

I've heard of the testing procedure that you use. I know of a local doctor who uses a variation of it, to determine items that should be avoided. Instead of having the patient extend an arm horizontally, he has them raise their arm vertically, and if the other hand approaches, or touches, a contraindicated item, the vertically-extended arm will tend to fall, due to loss of strength. I know at least one of his patients personally, and he insists that it works, but I believe that he has only had one office visit, so far, so it may be too soon to tell what the final outcome will be. He went to this doctor, because of panic attacks, which were causing a problem with irregular heartbeats, and supposedly, the doctor used the technique to determine that the patient's hypertension drug was a major part of the problem. After one week off the drug, he reports no panic attacks, and lower blood pressure.

Tex

[Carole]

Thank you for your replies. Sounds like i can be a little less afraid of trying my Darvocet again. When i switched to Limbrel from Celebrex it took a lot of getting used to - the level of pain became higher but still manageable. From a health perspective, i decided not to take the chance on heart problems from Celebrex and deal with it, but along with the MC, i am flaring everywhere from my back to my wrists plus i have iritis in both eyes so i it seems quite systemic at this point - tho everything is calming down VERY slowly. It will be nice to Darvocet back for the really bad times.
Yes, the strength testing is both astonishing and to some, unbelievable. But having done it for so long for myself i wouldn't trust ANYTHING else! My husband and i have only been married for 8 years (2nd marriage - we had to practice to get it right *grin*) and he was VERY skeptical but it didn't take long to make a believer of him. When he starts feeling sick i can test to find out what he needs and just how much. Except for the swine flu that hit him so quickly we just went straight to our homeopath, he just comes right out of anything in just a matter of a day or two. He used to get colds every winter - he hasn't had more than a day of sniffles since i've been able to test him. Plus, i can even test for what he has - viral, bacterial, flu, cold, etc. and it will tell me that too. Not everyone can manage to develop the skill to do it - for me, i think it's a gift from the Lord who knew i would be better able to do his work if i could take a bigger part in managing my own health.