For three years consistently I took Naprosyn 500mg twice daily because of foot pain (sesamoiditis and neuromas - I could write books on these, but this blog is not the place for it). I saw doctor after doctor, trying to resolve the sesamoiditis, trying to shrink the neuromas... went to physical therapy for three months, had injections of all sorts, wore inserts, lived in sneakers... did everything I possibly could to get rid of the pain. Nothing helped. So for three years I took pain medicine every single day.
None of the doctors warned me about problems this could cause to my body. Not one single doctor. Until this past summer I started having pains in my chest and I wondered if I was having a heart attack. My doctor ran a bunch of tests and found out my heart was perfectly healthy, but they thought I had a stomach ulcer. They sent me to a GI doctor, who performed an endoscopy, and sure enough, there were several ulcers, polyps and massive inflammation from my throat down to my small intestine.
Do you know where I'm going here friends? I'm 38 years old. Way too young to have these problems, at least that's what the doctors have all said. And they all now pointed to Naprosyn as the culprit. I had to immediately cut it (and all ibuprofen products) out of my life, change my diet to exclude coffee, tea, caffeine, alcohol, tomatoes, red sauce, citrus fruit and juices... the list went on and on. I was put on a regimen of 40 mg Prilosec (Omeprazole) daily.
I felt trapped in my own body this past summer, unable to enjoy any of the summer fruits or drinks, and it was all because of the damned Naprosyn. Thankfully the ulcers healed after a few months, and I have slowly incorporated most foods back into my diet (although not coffee, it was a bear to withdraw from).
My warning to you is this - take the pain medicine for a short while. But only a short while. If you are recovering from surgery, a few weeks should be plenty. If you find you are still experiencing pain after that, I'd highly recommend talking with your physician. Do not continue to take pain medicine long term. I wish I had someone slap me back then so I wouldn't have had to undergo so many tests and deal with problems caused by the meds. So please take my warning as advice for your own recovery.
And if you have any questions on the parotid surgery or recovery, please don't hesitate to ask.
xoxox,
Kym
