You might want to tell him to ask his doctor about a pain med called Mobic. It's primarily used in osteoarthritis, but it's been prescribed as an all purpose antiarthritic drug in general.

Since Vioxx has been taken off the market, the doctor that 2 of my sisters work for has been pretty busy writing out scripts for it. His practice started out being a Geriatric office, but he now treats all ages. He mostly caters to the Seniors group, though, since they were his patients from day one.

A lot of his patients have responded quite well to it, from what my one sister has told me. She said that one patient said that she feels as if it works better than Vioxx for her pain, and she has advanced stage arthritis. They've got a few patients who had gripes about the adjustment period from coming off Vioxx and starting on Mobic, but for the most part, there hasn't been too many complaints about it yet. He's heard more positive feedback about it than negative, from what she says.

It's only been a few days since Vioxx was pulled off the market, so his office is in a frenzy right now with patients making emergency appointments about getting alternatives to Vioxx. Some patients are asking for Celebrex, but for the ones who are willing to try Mobic, he's been dispensing samples and writing out prescriptions for his patients that are willing to try it.

I don't know much about the chemical makeup of the drug, itself, only what my sis has been telling me about how busy the office has been this week and that Mobic was one of the alternative medications that her boss has been prescribing. It might be worth it for him to ask his doc about it. Hope this helped!!

Take care & good luck,

Eeyore