The dangers of Nurofen - wife almost died

[Pinch]

Hey all

Have only just been able to put this together to post. Bear with me as it is a bit long winded, but it might just come in handy.

The full story. My wife has had chronic neck pain since 2001 from 2 car accidents where she was hit from behind. Among other treatments she has been taking anti inflammatories on an ongoing basis as directed by her Dr.

Fast forward to late 2008 and she developed a pain that seemed to be high in the chest. Her GP diagnosed this as Tietze Syndrome which is an inflamation of the rib cage following a chest infection. The treatment was anti inflammatories.

The pain went away, but returned in April this year. From then it never really went away. The Dr advised that Tietze can return and it must be the second wave. Again anti inflammatories were prescribed.

As it turns out my wife never had Tietze. It was a stomach ulcer caused by anti inflammatories. Being educationally and legally trained, my wife and I never questioned the Dr or the constant pain. Big mistake.

The ulcer kept wearing through the lining of her stomach until it reached the artery. It is likely it reached this stage while we were in Thailand (early July) as the pain increased markedly. At one stage we were on the Thai-Laos border in the middle of nowhere. We flew home as planned but my wife was in huge pain.

It was a few weeks later my wife had slept again all weekend as all she was managing to do was go to work, come home, then sleep. Again we didn't question it. On the Monday in early Aug she was sick still so I stayed home to take her to the Dr. I actually had a big court case that day, but for some seriously unfathomable reason I didn't remember when I called in absent. Had I of remembered, I would have gone in. Took my wife to Dr but still saying just a virus etc even though she had no colour, no energy and was dizzy. They didn't check her blood pressure, but did ask for a pathology test. Went to the place upstairs there but my wife couldn't get up the 15 stairs. Eventually managed it after 10 mins. Almost collapsed again up there and pathologist marked it urgent. I then got her home.

About 8 she collapsed unconscious in the bathroom after vomiting blood. Called an ambulance, but she came to before it connected. Said she was ok but couldn't get off the floor for 30 mins. Duty Dr at the medical centre then called saying they had bloods back and her haemoglobin was about 45 (should be 115), she was really anemic and had to get to hospital. Had come to that conclusion anyway but that confirmed it. My Dad came over but we Couldn't get my wife to walk, then collapsed again so just got the ambulance. Then taken to hospital and was pretty stable for a while.

Had 4 blood transfusions that night and I left at 2 am. Specialist came 4 pm next day. Said was stable and would do an internal exam via camera on Thurs (this was a Tues). Just then it all let go and the artery started bleeding out. Ended up being like a Grey's Anatomy scene or something people coming from everywhere and we were pushed out. Rushed to theatre then for an emergency op. They were still only going to do a check for the bleeding with a camera and maybe try and burn the bleed a bit to stop it.

Outside theatre my wife then almost lost all her blood so they just did the major op straight away and oversew the artery. There wasn't much in it. Minutes, seconds maybe, but they got it. When the surgeon came down he looked really unsure. Will never forget that look.

Anyway she made it then, and the rest is history.

If in constant pain - always question it regardless of what your Dr says. I can't ever recommend anyone taking Nurofen now - even if directed by a Dr. This stuff is seriously potent and should not be sold in supermarkets. I think this is actually under review.

Just about everything that could have gone right did though. If one little thing changed, or had of happened at any other time, then this story would have a much different ending. I owe someone, or some god/being/deity/whatever BIG time.

While its a long recovery - not back at work this year, it looks like a full recovery will be made.

I hope by posting this someome else might avoid such a near miss.

Life is precious and fickle people - treat it as such.