Medication And Ibuprofen

[TypewriterGirl]

Hi everyone,

I was recently diagnosed with POTS and prescribed Acebutolol and Florinef. I was reading that the beta blocker can have adverse reactions when taken with ibuprofen, which I take pretty normally for joint pain. Has anyone else heard this, or do you have any alternatives that have worked? I took the beta blocker this morning, but am kind of scared to take the Florinef after hearing people's reactions to it...

Thanks for any advice!

[Aprilmarie52]

I dont have any advice on the ibuprofen, but I was on florinef for 7 years and it was a wonder drug for me. I did gain a little weight on it (maybe 15 lbs), but I didnt have any side effects. I went off of it because I didnt feel like I needed it any more to function. That was 2 years ago. My dr weaned me off slowly. It took a few tries before I was finally able to go off, but there was no withdraw symptoms. I know that everyone is different and it can have some uncomfortable side effects. Good luck!

[Jan]

I would suggest calling your pharmacist and seeing what they have to say. Sometimes the stuff we read about is only for rare cases.

[erik]

The fludrocortisone & salt should start increasing your blood volume. Ibuprofen is said to do the same (I don't know to what extent), so it might already be doing so a bit. These three should work together on building blood volume which could be good. Adding & removing ibuprofen might make BP go up & down, it seemed to do so for me. Just keep an eye on blood pressure over time, which you should do regardless... and keep a doc appraised if it seems to go up too much.

As for a chemical drug interaction thing, I don't know. It is very smart to ask, even about OTC stuff. I chat with pharmacists here and there... including about OTC items.

When starting fludrocortisone it can help to ramp up the dose slowly. I got nasty headache, fatigue & moodiness for a few days then it magically passed and I managed to get some use out of it.

[firewatcher]

I think it has to do with clearance by the kidneys. If you put too many things in your system that have to be cleared by them (even vitamin C) you'll get lengthened effective time. You could also potentially get kidney damage. Ibuprofen is hard on the kidneys and Florinef acts directly on the kidney as well, the two may push someone with questionable kidney function (like me) over the edge into renal failure. My nephrologist said that my kidneys were fine, but that he does not want me to take ibuprofen at all! (covering his donkey!)

[ajw4790]

Hi,

I also wanted to add to make sure and start on new med at a time. Give the first a couple weeks and then try another. Otherwise you won't know which is causing what positive or negative effects that you are experiencing. I tried Florinef, but it wasn't for me... I had opposite the desired reaction for whatever reason. But, I wouldn't have known had I not tried it. I think that it is good to be open to trying some of these meds or drs get frustrated with treatment. There are only so many things that are thought to be of help with POTS, and if drs feel you are not open to trying any of them they are less likely to be very helpful along the way. One of the most important things is making sure to have a dr. that understands what they are prescribing, how to correctly prescribe it, and how to adjust it as time goes on.

Hope that the BB trial goes well.