Is this a drug that has to build up some to work, or should one dose show results?
Thanks!
Moved to GQ.
Isn’t that where I put it? Sigh
Most Cox-2 inhibitors demonstrate some pain relief with single doses, but anti-inflammatory effects take several doses to acheive results. Or so I was taught. I’m not aware of any specific studies to this effect, but I assume they are out there.
Isn’t the pain relief found from Cox-2 inhibitors due to the anti-inflammatory effects of the medication? And if this is so, how could one experience immediate pain relief without immediate anti-inflammatory effects?
They tried me on it for my knees a couple years back. First day, it really didn’t do much, second day was a bit better, third day it did fine, though my ankles sort of ended up the size of volleyballs and the doc decided that it was probably a bad idea for me to continue taking it …
I would give it 3 or 4 days to impact your metabolism.
No, pain relief is separate from the anti-inflammatory effect. Same for the anti-pyretic (fever reducing) effect. Those two responses appear within minutes to hours of the first dose. Fighting inflammation takes up to two weeks or more for Celebrex and other NSAIDs.
Well then what is providing that pain relief? What aspect, or part, of the drug? (if that makes any sense) I always thought the pain relief was secondary to the anti-inflammatory effects of the drugs.
Although Celebrex is more specific/selective in its action than plain old aspirin, ultimately it works in the same manner, i.e. by inhibiting cyclooxygenase. Given that aspirin works “quickly”, then, so too can Celebrex (assuming, of course, there’s “quick” absorption through the gut, which there is; it’s peak absorption is around 3 hours after a dose.).
Here’s a reference (pdf) showing that, acutely, Celebrex works quickly to give pain relief, with a peak pain relieving effect around 3 to 4 hours after taking it by mouth).
There are many different chemicals that are end pathways from the prostaglandin synthesized by the cyclooxygenase enzyme. Some are pain mediators and some are inflammatory mediators
The short answer is that they do all work via the same basic method, cyclooxygenase inhibition, as noted by the esteemed KarlGauss. But said inhibition works quickly to modulate nerve fibers sending pain messages and to inhibit cells from releasing pyrogens, but it works more slowly to demobilize all the inflammatory immune cells which have been sent flocking to the area to deal with the crisis.
It’s late, or I’d hunt up some decent cites.