Warnings Aside, Some Still Want Their Painkillers

By ABBY GOODNOUGH

Published: April 9, 2005

MIAMI, April 8 - Bextra was Burt Wolfson's wonder drug. So the news that it was coming off the market amid new safety concerns made him panic.

Mr. Wolfson, a physical therapist who suffers chronic knee, hip and shoulder pain, was not fearing the adverse effects of the medication so much as life without it.

"My first thought was, Who do I know who has some but isn't taking it?" Mr. Wolfson, 61, said. "How can I get as much of it as possible before it runs out?"

As Pfizer removed Bextra from the market this week under pressure from federal drug regulators who also issued broad warnings that other popular painkillers could hurt the heart, stomach or skin, people who rely on such drugs responded with dismay and a sense of weariness.

In interviews around the country on Friday, many people expressed skepticism about the new warnings and said they would rather tolerate health risks than constant pain.

Peggy Hunt, a retiree who was playing a midday golf game in Atlanta, said her 86-year-old mother treated her arthritis with Celebrex, a prescription painkiller that studies suggest increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Though Celebrex will remain on the market, its label will now feature stark warnings about heart risks, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday, as will the labels for Mobic, Naprosyn, Voltaren and more than 12 similar drugs.

"I really think a lot of research companies come back later and find out there is not a problem," Mrs. Hunt said, adding that her mother could not walk without taking Celebrex. "At one point, bacon caused cancer. Do you remember that? For me, her quality of life is more important."

John Lo, who helps run his family's lumber supply shop near the Bowery in Manhattan, said that he recently stopped taking Celebrex but that his father continued it because nothing worked better. Mr. Lo said his father eased the effects on his stomach by taking Prilosec, a heartburn medication.

"He's tried everything," said Mr. Lo. "He tried acupuncture, massage tables and aspirin. But the pain is very intense."

Others said their own wariness about prescription painkillers like Bextra, Celebrex and Vioxx, which Merck withdrew in September after a study showed that it more than doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes, had sent them searching for other remedies even before the announcements on Thursday.

Frank Mancini, a deliverer for Anheuser-Busch in New York, said that because of his high blood pressure, he had decided that exercise and stretching were wiser antidotes to pain.

"I really don't take painkillers anymore," Mr. Mancini said as he hauled beer kegs to the basement of the Thirsty Scholar, a bar in the East Village in Manhattan.

If the strain of hoisting 170-pound kegs all day becomes too intense, Mr. Mancini said that in the past he had turned to over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol or Aleve.

Neither acetaminophen, sold as Tylenol and other names, nor aspirin are affected by the warnings, although those medicines are not problem free. In high doses, Tylenol can damage the liver, and aspirin can hurt the stomach, though it can be good for the heart.

Professional athletes are struggling along with regular people to make sense of the warnings.

Jorge Posada, the Yankee catcher, said Aleve, which will have to note risks to the heart, stomach and skin on its label, had become his painkiller of choice. The drug agency has tagged the active ingredient, naproxen, as potentially dangerous, but some experts say it is safer than other nonsteroidal pain pills.

"If they take that off now, that wouldn't be good," Mr. Posada said, adding that he preferred Vioxx but stopped taking it after it came off the market. "It's a long season, and we need to use painkillers. Hopefully, we'll end up with something that's safe and that we can take."

Gary Sheffield, the Yankee right fielder, said he had resorted to Advil because Aleve made him groggy.

"It ain't worth it to me," Mr. Sheffield said in the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium. "I'd rather not take something than take the chance."