My doc told me it was okay to take advil. But a friend of mine who just had her surgery (band) said her doctor told her to stay away from it forever! She said, he told her that it could eat a hole in her pouch?

I Have been taking it for my back pain and when I am on my period. It DOES NOT go down easy at all, None the less, I have been taking it. YIKES! I plan to call my surgeon again and ask!

What did your doctor tell you about advil/ibuprofen?

What do you take for pain? I know about liquids, but what about pill form pain meds?

My surgeon said absolutely no NSAIDs ever. That includes Advil, Ibuprofin, Aleve, Motrin, and a Rx one I used to take for period cramps. When I went to see my PCP about this (because I get terrible terrible cramps), she agreed w/my surgeon's recommendation and gave me a Rx for Percocet (pain med) and Flexeril (muscle relaxant) instead. Percocet is highly addictive, but I only need to take 1-2 per month (just the first day of my period) so she said it is OK. The Percocet works great for the pain. The Flexeril basically just knocks me out which is good for night-time. The only problem is I can't take either of these and drive anywhere. The next thing I'm gonna try is going on Nuvaring to help my cramps. Hopefully the hormones don't bother me too much. We shall see...

It can be quite a challenge, though, to find adequate pain relievers other than NSAIDs. It takes some creativity. For muscle aches, I've started just using ice and that works amazingly well. I got a really nice flexible ice-pack that I keep in the freezer and use on my arm regularly now for a tennis elbow injury I have. Honestly, it seems to be working better than anything else I tried.