Cycle and Ibuprofen

[gully90 214]

With the sleeve are we allowed to take ibuprofen during our cycle times? I only cramp on day one and I need something!!

[ThatGirl2121 11]

NO, Never take NSAIDs which include Ibuprofen ever again for the rest of your life. They can cause ulcerations after Gastric sleeve. You my take Tylenol safely
For pain.

[ThatGirl2121 11]

*may take

[gully90 214]

On 07/08/2018 at 09:57, ThatGirl2121 said:

NO, Never take NSAIDs which include Ibuprofen ever again for the rest of your life. They can cause ulcerations after Gastric sleeve. You my take Tylenol safely

For pain.

Okay. I have plenty of Tylenol

[sillykitty 10,781]

16 minutes ago, ThatGirl2121 said:

NO, Never take NSAIDs which include Ibuprofen ever again for the rest of your life. They can cause ulcerations after Gastric sleeve. You my take Tylenol safely
For pain.

Some programs do allow limited NSAIDs , especially if the patient is on a PPI, and sometimes taken along with an acid reducer like Tums. So it is not a cut and dry never again for everyone.

@gully90 I'd suggest asking your surgeon's office, if Tylenol doesn't work for you

[gully90 214]

On 07/08/2018 at 10:17, sillykitty said:

Some programs do allow limited NSAIDs , especially if the patient is on a PPI, and sometimes taken along with an acid reducer like Tums. So it is not a cut and dry never again for everyone.

@gully90 I'd suggest asking your surgeon's office, if Tylenol doesn't work for you

Thank you I’ll definitely contact him.

[ThatGirl2121 11]

Thanks silly kitty. It always astounds me how different the medical advice can be surgeon to surgeon. Mine advises that taking NSAIDs could be life threatening. Wish these doctors could come to a consensus for consistency sake.

[sillykitty 10,781]

15 minutes ago, ThatGirl2121 said:

Thanks silly kitty. It always astounds me how different the medical advice can be surgeon to surgeon. Mine advises that taking NSAIDs could be life threatening. Wish these doctors could come to a consensus for consistency sake.

I agree. And quite honestly I find blanket statements like "NSAIDs could be life threatening" to be scare mongering. Sure, maybe prolonged use, maybe high doses. We can survive having 80% of our stomach removed, but 1 Advil may kill you.

I think they just dumb it down to the lowest common denominator. So instead of saying limited NSAIDs might be ok, talk to me about it. They simply say never ever, and be done with it. I think it really short changes patients.

Sorry, off my soapbox!

[RickM 1,753]

The best advice on such things is to check with your surgeon's team and see what they say, and work under their guidance.

The bariatric NSAID thing has its roots with the RNY, which is predisposed toward marginal ulcers, and has little tolerance for any kind or stomach irritants; bleeding ulcers are not uncommon with NSAID use for RNY patients. While a sleeve patient may be somewhat more sensitive to NSAID use than those in the general population, they have a much greater tolerance for them than an RNY patient. As most bariatric surgeons have been raised on the RNY and no doubt have had some "exciting" experiences with their RNY patients and NSAIDs. Overall, they tend to have less experience with the sleeve based procedures, so they remain gunshy about their use for all even when they know of the anatomical differences between procedures - they want to see it with their own eyes, but usually won't because they continue to advise all their patients to avoid them. Surgeons. Surgeons who were early adopters of the VSG - primarily those from the DS camp - tend to be more liberal in their allowance for NSAID use as that is what their experience promotes.

Tylenol is generally the first line of treatment as it is considered to be the most benign, though often less effective. Caution should also be applied in its use as the toxicity levels for it are not much higher than the therapeutic levels, so acetaminophen poisoning is not unheard of - many feel that as it is an OTC drug that it is "safe" and a little extra won't hurt, or aren't aware of it being in multiple medications that they may take (pain remedies, cold remedies, etc.) As bariartric patients who often have the "no NSAID" thing drilled into us, we are more susceptible than others to overdoing the Tylenol since we don't have other convenient pain relievers available.

[SouthernGirl76 74]

Contact your doctor. Today he told me it was ok for my excedrin Migraine. I’m one year out. Before that he only allowed Tylenol

[kygirl68 58]

Hello ya'll! I'm new here...this is my first post/reply although I've been reading a lot of posts for the past month...

As a former gynecology nurse, I will tell you that Tylenol is NOT an anti-prostaglandin whereas ibuprofen IS. The cramps we experience during our cycle are due to the hormone prostaglandin which causes the uterus to contract. Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil, Aleve) and Midol etc. are anti-prostaglandins as well as anti-inflammatories/pain relievers and that's why they are recommended over Tylenol/acetaminophen.

Having said that, of course the wise thing to do is to check with your clinical team

[Creekimp13 5,840]

Talk to your doctor! My doctor allows me to take ibuprofen a couple of times a month for Migraines associated with perimenopause. I don't take much, and only for a day or so...but it makes a massive difference for me.

Would Tylenol be better for my sleeve? Of course....if it worked...which it doesn't. My doctor is comfortable with me taking ibuprofen with an antacid sparingly in these circumstances. So far, no issues. No reflux, no pain, no problems.......but this is individual and should be cleared first by your doctor. It's essential that it is not abused.

[Buonnatale 22]

My first cycle post op was a painful one. I found if I stayed ahead of the pain by taking Tylenol, perfectly timed, that it was definitely manageable. I just don’t think its worth the risk to end up with a marginal ulcer.