Back Pain: The Cure (was: What Causes Back Pain?)

Q: Thanks to all who responded regarding the back pain problem that my friend was having. Last night he took some prescription medicine that another friend of ours just happened to have in her medicine cabinet. It had originally been prescribed to her for shoulder pain. Charlie was quite aware that it's unwise to take someone else's prescription drug, but he was in such distress that he basically didn't care. The drug he took was Naprelan. He told me that within 1/2 hour the pain began to dull a bit, and within an hour or so it was completely gone. Today he spent all day at a swim meet - and felt fine the whole day. He explained that Motrin didn't do a whole lot, and neither did Ben Gay, but that a heating pad helped some. Also: the pain didn't really seem to be muscular, rather more like a nerve thing. He showed me where it had been located - about fist's distance from the spine, on the left side of the lower back. He also said it was more of an internal pain than external pain. (Pardon my utter ignorance on these matters.) He said the difference before and after he took this Naprelan drug was almost miraculous. He was totally incapacitated by pain before he took it, and afterward, it was as if nothing had ever happened. Not a trace of pain. Now he wants to know why. How could those pills make such a huge difference in how he felt, and what, if any, alternatives are there? (I have given him a printout of all the messages that you folks posted, as well as the Email I received.) Charlie is very apprehensive about whether the pain will come back again. Naturally he's taking things very easy at the moment. No more landscaping for the time being. (By the way, all of his swimmers did quite well at the meet - an "Early Bird Long Course" competition sponsored by Potomac Valley Swimming.)

A: Best I can tell is that is Naproxen sodium or an anti prostaglandin (just as is the Mortrin he had been taking) and there is a whole list of stuff (both prescription and over-the-counter, depending on dosage size of pill) that does the same thing. These are very effective medications for such problems, i.e., arthritis, muscular pain, etc., requiring an anti inflamatory agent that is non steroidal... If you want to look these up, I suggest: http://www.rxlist.com/ as a source for such information... Just finished my pharmacology class for my Oriental medicine degree program (last night was the final). Naproxen is in the same class of agents as Ibuprofen. According to Lippincott's PHARMACOLOGY, the side effects of Naproxin are: 1. GI distress ranging from dyspepsia to bleeding. 2. Blood: Reversible acetylization of platelet cyclooxygenase resulting in inhibition of platelet aggregation and prolonged bleeding time. 3. Central Nervous System: headache, tinnitius and dizziness.

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