Prednisone, ibuprofen & naproxen

To tell the truth when I was pre-diagnosis in the classic painfully stiff disabled stage I was almost grateful when I'd get a headache and would take aspirin alternating with tylenol for the headache because it really did slightly relieve the other pains.  (My doctor at the time was prescribing celebrex but I did not fill those prescriptions.)  I suppose this is because there was more going on than just the inflammation of PMR, there must also have been pain caused by overly tense muscles. I've posted elsewhere about my unhappy - in retrospect I now understand life-threatening - experience with naproxen, pre-PMR days.  Never any problems with aspirin.  I've never taken ibuprofen and read recently that there are a lot of potential problems with that drug.  With regard to your particular situation, as you have never had adverse reactions, as long as you avoid taking the medication within a few hours of the pred dose and are careful to take with food to guard your stomach, occasional use probably will be okay.  The serious problems seem to occur mostly when the drug is taken often so it might become risky if you are taking it nearly every night.

Hi Daniel, they don't help my PMR pain but  I have taken occasional paracetamol if I get a different pain. If pain is PMR related I up prednisolone incrementally until I'm  pain free then reduce after a few days. it seems to work for me 

Ibuprofen, Naproxen, and Celebrex are all NSAIDS - nonsteroidal antiinflammatories - so take just one. Naproxen and Celebrex are time release meds and Ibuprofen is not.  The efficacy of all these is about the same. Tylenol (acetaminophen) has a different mode of action for pain contorl and  also isn't thought to be as effective as the NSAIDS. A recent study said it was not effective for arthritis pain, although it's been prescribed for that for years. 

Aspirin is also an anti-inflammatory but at the doses required to be effective causes too many side effects.  And there are side effects to all these drugs so read the fine print. The most common are gastric upset and gastritis and if you're on prednisone the risk of a complication is much higher.  A lot of doctors prescribe omeprazole and other H2 blockers for reducing gastric acid and they are very effective in countering the gastric side effects - but arent' supposed to be taken for long periods of time.  Again, read the warnings on the drug labels.

Personally, I found Ibuprofen a godsend when I suffered a PMR flare a few months ago.  I was taking 600mg to get out of bed in the morning and then another 600 early afternoon and another 600 at bedtime (max daily dose Ibu is 2400mg).  Of course I got heart burn but took some omeprazole for a few days and that was very effective.  Now, back on prednisone, I get occasional heartburn even without taking any Ibuprofen and have to take an occasional antacid or omeprazole which seems to help.  

I'm afraid to take any more Ibuprofen at this point, trying rather to control my symptoms wtih the prednisone dose, but, as far as a pain med is concerned, it's a wonderful drug.  Most surgeons, at least orthopedic surgeons (of which I am one), use it for post operateve pain control, either alone, or along with Tylenol and opiates as needed. Adding several drugs with different modes of actiopn seems to avoid overdoes of each separately.

Sorry for the lengthy response.

You shouldn't worry too much about having to taper again. If you catch the flare at the start with an increase in Prednisolone, you can come back down quite quickly when the flare us under control. 

I had naproxen and co-dydramol before I was diagnosed PMR. It took a few days to kick in and I found it easier to cope with the pain I had but still quite bad during the night till morning. I had naproxen in the morning and co-dydramol at night which helps me through the night. When the results came through I was prescript Pred and now I am back to 99% pain free. Tapering down from 15mg to 12.5mg now and I keep the fingers cross and hope for the best.

if you are still on Pred all in the morning maybe you can use the painkiller at night or at lease 4 hrs gap. Make sure you have something with it. 

I was prescribed by my doctor Naproxen, Prednisone and some bental (however it spelled) all in the name of some back stiffness which he pegged as muscular.

Today since last year June 23* 2019 I have stomach issues and IBS digestive issues with poo that always looks different.

This idiot didn't know whAT tF. I was not sure why I trusted this 3 different prescription but he is a doctor! saying take this and it will all be gone in a week--he said in confidence.

Did not help me at all and gave me a whole new set of issues.

Also my eyes turned yellowish and I had alot of tests done since:

Blood testsss

pee

poo test

CT scan

x ray

MRI

ultra sounds - saw 4mm sludge in gallbladder but said not enough to cause problems or be removed .

endo + colonoscopy.

even: cy-ro-practor (to lazy to spell check).

Physical therapy

second, third, fourth opinions, different hospitals.

Holistic doctors DOs and spent hundreds on probiotics the garden of life etc.

Wasted easily 1 year of my life on Google and just causing headaches to my girlfriend / wife--can't believe she even married me!

Read some where that prednisone can cause more problems if you are having autoimmune issues or infections... Not sure if I was.

I was 5'9; 165 lbs and was great shape doing 4 sets of 10 pullups with a 45lbs plate between my legs previously. I am 35 Male.

After the meds:

Lost 20 lbs in a month; gained yellowish eyes and have gut/digestive issues.

I will add I had previously no other health problems.

Today a year later, I'm not dying, I regained my weight and appear (I'd say) normal. But my eyes kinda look f'd up up close. Also was diagnosed with pingeucula (eye liason on white part of eye)--benign. They say it happens from the sun... and if you dig forums, also says reasons unknown... I peg alot of this to the meds that possibly pushed my autoimmune system for the worst and my stomach has not fully recovered.

1 nurse practitioner said the gut flora / micobiome was likely kilt by the strong meds I was prescribed--Thank you original doctor. Another doctor I spoke to in the Uber I was driving (who I was dropping off in Birmingham MI) said it was unfortunate I was prescribed that concoction of a mix. He would have not done that...

Here I am typing these pointless stories that will do nothing but maybe a lone wolf response that might gain a view--likely when its too late not to accept these blood sucker idiot doctors that have no idea about a nutrition class.