If you recognise the name of this medication, you need to read this and get rid of your tablets straight after.
Naproxen is a painkiller that has anti-inflammatories in it, the same as Ibuprofen and is prescribed for things like back problems and anywhere where you have chronic pain in your bones. I was given this for a pre-existing back condition that I was born with and always been completely fine on them until recently.
I first started with back problems around 5 years ago-ish and always thought it was caused by an injury that I did at school. As my condition became worse, I went to the doctors and they decided that I had a posture problem and sent me to a physiotherapist at my local hospital. As the physio kept going, it was not getting better at all and if anything it was getting worse. When I finished my physiotherapy, I went back to the doctors and that’s when I came across these tablets. At first, they were really good, they started to help me a lot and I was able to cope with the pain easier and eventually was only taking them on and off instead of every day and ended up not really struggling that much anymore, just when the winter months came along which I think is natural to everybody right?
Over the past couple of years, I started a new job that involved a lot of heavy lifting. I was fine at first and felt like it was getting the exercise that the muscles needed to recover fully but then my condition started worsening. I eventually decided to go back to the doctors and see if they could put me back on naproxen as that was the only thing that worked. I came back with a diagnosis of a Thoracic Kyphosis (an unnatural curve in the upper spine) and it turned out it was a condition I was born with. Luckily, mine is only a mild case and there are people out there who have to have pins put in to straighten it back up. Below is an example of what a major one looks like.
The doctors put me back on Naproxen and also referred me to the physio team for a second time. As I kept persevering with my physio, I eventually got discharged and told that it was manageable. I didn’t think it was at first but now I have been able to stop taking the Naproxen and not been in as much pain as I was. What i didnt know was how much these tablets had screwed up my body!
A few months ago, I started getting a lot of indigestion and heartburn so I started to take gaviscon quite regularly. I thought nothing of it as my diet at the time wasn’t the healthiest and it was probably just caused by all the crap I was eating. As time went on, it started becoming more frequent and my parents started to think that I had a stomach ulcer but when we checked the symptoms on the NHS website they didn’t match up so we were left confused. Anyway, we just left it and narrowed it back down to my diet.
About 4 months ago, I started having problems with swallowing food and drink and it kept getting stuck in my throat. It was becoming really uncomfortable and more frequent. I went to the doctors about it and they prescribed me with something called Lansaprazole which is supposed to stop stomach problems like acid reflux and things like that. As I kept taking them, the problem seemed to be getting worse. I was told by many family members that it can be psychological, so I just left it for a while and hoped it would improve.
About 2 weeks ago, I was eating something which got stuck and I couldn’t breathe. The pain was unbearable! No matter how many times I took a drink it was just adding to it and building up in my throat, to the point where I thought I was going to choke or bring it back up. My mum was panicking and so was I. We didn’t know what to do. This was when I decided to keep my upcoming doctors appointment and mention it to them because of how scary my experience was.
I went to the doctors last week at some point and he mentioned that my Naproxen could’ve burnt out my oesophagus and caused a narrowing in it. From the symptoms he mentioned it really made sense to me what had been happening. The doctors sent me for an x-ray which came back clear.
After this, they referred me to the specialist ENT team at my local hospital where I was diagnosed with acid reflux issues. They have said that's what it is but I'm still going through the same problems with the Lanzaprazole. I've given them a few months but I need to go and get this sorted! My family are currently wondering whether I am intolerant to gluten which will be a pain but if it's that I'll have to deal with it and eat differently. Naproxen can also cause people to become gluten intolerant as well as narrowing your oesophagus which the doctors still think has happened.
The whole point of this post is just to raise awareness that these tablets are horrendous! And not good ones to take. As good as they work for the pain, I strongly advise you to not accept these tablets from your doctors, unless you are only going to be on them temporarily and for a very short time, because of this issue I have been told to stop taking ibuprofen for any pain as well as this will make things worse! Please be so careful with these. They are so bad.
