Q. I broke my wrist, and my surgeon recommended Aleve cream for the first week. It works great for the inflammation. Also, I suffer from neuropathy and find it helps ease that pain. Is there any reason I should stop using it after a week?<\/p>\n
A. You\u2019ll need to pay attention to which Aleve product you are buying. Aleve Arthritis Pain Gel contains the NSAID diclofenac, just as Voltaren Gel does.<\/p>\n
A product with a similar-sounding name, AleveX Pain Relieving Lotion, contains the natural compounds camphor and menthol, somewhat similar to Vicks VapoRub. The manufacturer warns that if symptoms persist for more than a week, you should \u201cstop use and ask a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Topical diclofenac is less likely to cause stomach ulcers than if you were taking it as a pill. Nonetheless, symptoms such as stomach pain or acid reflux have been reported. Some readers of this column have experienced elevated blood pressure as a reaction to using topical diclofenac.<\/p>\n
So far as we are aware, daily use of menthol and camphor should not cause any serious adverse effects. Redness, rashes and other allergic reactions have been reported, however.<\/p>\n
* * *<\/p>\n
In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email them via their website: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com. Their newest book is \u201cTop Screwups Doctors Make and How to Avoid Them.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Q. I broke my wrist, and my surgeon recommended Aleve cream for the first week. It works great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[97,243],"class_list":{"0":"post-188644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}